Biting whilst doing up the girth

[Alex]

Help!

My 9 year old Australian Riding Pony mare, Milly, bites when her girth is being tightened. I try to do up her girth gradually (right now it takes about 10 minutes to get it done up to the correct hole) and this has helped a little, but she still tends to flatten her ears and bite the air when I do it.

If anyone else other than me does up her girth, she will turn around and give them a nasty bite. I guess I'm lucky that she knows not to bite me now, but I'd still feel happier knowing that she won't bite anyone else too.

I know that her girth isn't pinching her when it gets done up.

I stopped her biting me by using a Monty Roberts technique of VERY gently touching her leg with my toe every time she tried to bite. This distracted her from biting me as it made her focus on her leg instead of the biting, and she hasn't bit me since, which is great, but she still bites anyone else that does up her girth.

Any suggestions?

Love,
Alex

[cvb]

have you checked her saddle ?

If it is not pain (saddle fitting, or maybe some tightness round the girth area from a strain or something)

then it could be habit/memory from previous (now removed) pain.

The MRoberts thing does seem to work.

But what I also do is (a) take plenty of time (which it sounds like you are doing) and (b) firmly touch/massage where the girth is going to go before/as I reach for it

Only when she is comfy with the touch will I then gently reach for the girth and only do it up enough to be safe i.e. hardly any tightness.

I know saddle fitting is not necessarily the answer/solution. My mare sometimes pulls faces when I go to do/undo the front of her rug ! I am still in two minds whether this is a personal space thing or if she has some discomfort in her chest which is also affected by the girth. (There are no signs of such discomfort other than the face pulling.)

She is also perfectly comfortable when working and when untacking.

[Alex]

thank you so much for replying.

Milly is also comfortable when untacking and when working. Her saddle was professionally fitted, and all seems ok with that. The vet has checked that she has no injuries or pain anywhere too.

I love Milly to bits, and I'm happy to spend as long as it takes to make girthing up a pleasant experience for her and for me.

Take care,

Love,
Alex :D

[cvb]

one of the reasons I thought about pain between the front legs is that I know it has come up in a few of the 'case studies' in magazines with Richard Maxwell.

I have had a chiro out to my mare, and whilst he did pick some things up (her right hip), he did not find anything in the front at all.

But - a friend of mine is learning to do horse massage, and came to practise - and she DID get a reaction on those chest muscles.

So I am wondering if some of the horses which react to girthing have some kind of muscle ache in those muscles - which goes away with work. I have not had time to check this theory out at all. But this is why I use a firm touch edging on a massage to desensitie her a little before girthing up.

Do be careful - some horses react to massage quite strongly and may bite or kick ! My mare seems to want to react but not want you to stop, so she tends to find a rope or something to mouth on. And of course I am very careful when/where I get a reaction.

[julietcw]

I had a v.similar problem with my loan pony Bandit. His saddle didn't fit when I got him and caused him terrible pain so even when we bought a new, perfectly fitting saddle he still believed he would be in pain and would try to bite and throw himself around. To try to help mattersafter buying the new saddle, we bought a "humane girth" and it worked wonders for him. Albeit I still did everything v.slowly and only one hole at a time, first one side, then the other with lots of praise and breaks in between but it made a huge difference. After a few weeks, I could do the girth up with no biting or face-pulling (from him, not me, I hasten to add!)

I have heard however that humane girths aren't brilliant for all shape horses so it may not be perfect for your horse but worth thinking about. Bandit was a New Forest, 14.2 and quite wide girth.

Good luck.

[Alex]

thank you julie!

My mare is 14.1hh and a wide girth also.
I've never heard of humane girths before - can you tell me what they are?

Thanks again,

Love,
Alex

[julietcw]

They're designed for sensitive, girthy horses and the weight is more evenly distributed apparently throughout than ordinary girthes apparently. They are available throughout the UK (sorry, can't remember if you're in the UK or not and this link gives a brief explanation:

http://www.equestrianworld.co.uk/processtype.asp?ProductID=1688&ProcessType=2

Hope it works. If not, do a search for "humane girths" on google.co.uk and you should see a load of them their. They cost around £15.

With normal girths you're supposed to do up the holes evenly both sides but because of the even weight distribution and the way in which they're designed you can do them up unevenly ie 2 holes on one side and 4 on the other if necessary. This helps if the horse is unsettled when doing up the girth and means less fighting with the horse when trying to get the girth even on both sides as you would normally have to do.

As I said, it was a godsend for Bandit but I still took it easy with him even with the new girth when doing it up but it was brilliant for him.

Hope that helped and good luck.

[NZhorserider]

OMG!

There used to be this Percheron x Arab mare called Paris at the stud where I ride. Now this was a really tank 15hh cobby looking horse.

Before we got her a special girth, everytime someone went to do up her girth, another person would have to hold her head, she was that bad! She would literally take chunks out of you!

I just had to add that!

[julietcw]

Sorry, I also meant to add that a humane girth will not make up for any inadequacies of an ill-fitting saddle. I'm not sure Alex if you have had the saddle checked but I would highly recommend it. It's not just girths that pinch, saddles can pinch or cause pain in other ways so a girth will not solve that.

Apologies if you already have had this done, but if not, then please get a qualified saddler out to have a look at the saddle to rule out any pain caused by the saddle.

Sorry if it sounds like I'm being bossy, that's not my intention, just ruling out possibilities!:D

[Alex]

Thank you all so very much!

Yes, I have had the saddle checked. It was fitted to my horse when I first bought it, and have since had it checked again to make sure the fitting was correct. Apparently the saddle fits her well.

As for humane girths, thanks for the link. I haven't heard of them before, and neither has my riding instructor. I'm from Australia so maybe we don't have them here. Anyway, I'm going to phone my local tack shop and see if they can order them in, and if not, I'll see if I can get one from the UK.

Thanks again everyone.

Love,
Alex

[Missy2]

I had this problem with a new cob two years ago. Changed to a humane girth and the problem has disappeared.