Lets talk about Girths....

nat17

nat17

Minnie, Sam and Dolly
May 30, 2002
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Can anyone recommend a Dressage Girth Non Elasticated ( see thread in cafe)

I was looking at leather but dont want the maintenance of it, so synthetic would be good.

Girth is for a treeless saddle
 
As far as dressage girths go, I cannot recommend anything more highly than the Barefoot leather girth with elastic overlay.

It is padded, shaped and lovely!!!

Tobes is VERY picky about girths. I changed to a treed saddle and have him in an elevator padded girth with elastic ends on BOTH sides.

I personally like elastic ended girths and so does Tobes. You don't have to girth them up uber tight, they move with the horse. Personally, if I wasn't vain, I would rather have an elastic belt than a non stretch belt - you could move better with it!

I did have a Professionals Choice girth which is widely recommended. However, Tobes HATED it with a passion!

Leather is lovely Nat, and cleaning it will be good for your soul!
 
I too can recommend professional choice dressage girth.

Ive always struggled girthing my mare as very touchy and marish and got to the point she hated various girths so much she was snapping then refusing to be mounted and explosive when she was :frown:

Turned out girths got from saddlers were too short and rec by dressage trainer and bruising her :cry:

Then we tried some in proper size and she was better but not right still until got prof choice and we have never looked back :smile:
 
I have used the dream team and currently use a German air filled one. If I can locate a longer one I would get a spare. Cob loves it.

There is a list of girths on my site, couldn't tell you what ones are elastic. Maybe the flex I would suit you?
 
We have a poly pad girth which madam likes - much less sweaty under it though it isn't and doesn't pretend to be leather... And it goes in the washing machine :p
 
The prof choice is easy as minimises rubbing and wipes clean and velcro inner so remove and wash easily :wink:
 
I used to have a aerobourne cushioned humane girth for my big lad, I found it the best for him he had HUGE shoulders and girth size ( Shire X ) and easy to adjust. Few years later I read someone posting something bad about them though?? I would use them again as I only had positive feedback from it.
 
nat17 said:
I hate cleaning tack Sally.... would rather bin and buy new when dirty lol:giggle:
Click to expand...

Tsk, tsk!!!!

I wish I still had my barefoot girth because I would have sent it to you and you and Sam would have fallen in love with it!!!

Having said that, I know that Bodshi's Arab did NOT like it at all!!!

Some horses are VERY picky about girths, and some don't mind.

I think you have had a fright because you over tightened it - something my friend does on her cob ALL THE TIME and it DRIVES ME MAD, and I am constantly nagging her about it!!!!

I personally would rather have an elasticated belt on than a restrictive non give belt on if I was going to be doing exercise, and thats the way I look at it!!! Just don't overtighten it!
 
I have not ridden since, for some reason we have high winds every dam day!

I am not sure I trust myself not to overtighten, but you are right, he likes his girth but just not when its cutting him in too:giggle:

We have gone from a 30inch girth in october last year, to a 26in girth now, and I think we may need a shorter one to help me not overtighten it...:smile:
 
We have a Wintec one for Joe's dressage saddle, not sure if you class that as stretchy? It is synthetic and I have the normal version for Storm which goes down very well. Unlike my padded stretchy thing I used on her event saddle today (disaster!).
 
I would think going shorter on a treeless will make it unstable. We are 26/28 non elastic.
It depends really I do have a lovely girth, outgrown with elastic that you cannot pull. So you cannot over tighten but it will give it the horse.
 
It would depend on the saddle, horse and rider combo, i just know that when i went shorter the cob hated it.
I have two girths summer and winter and two pads summer and winter.
Either way I aim to have the ends of the girth above the elbows.

Just thinking that if you overtightened, it was because you wanted the girth to reach a certain hole that you have been, so a longer girth would reach that hole and you won't overtighten?
 
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I didnt want it too reach a certain whole, just felt like it would go up more.. but it was actually on one more whole up than usual. It well placed in regards the elbow:smile:
 
I am currently looking into the flexi girth, not tried before. Or as someone has said the Barefoot.
 
Friends cob bucked with a shorter girth on a treeless - the buckle dug in.

I found in my brief foray into treeless - Vogue, Barefoot and Freeform that the saddle was more stable with a longer girth with the end just at the end of the saddle flaps.
 
No Raf didn't like the Barefoot, but then he doesn't seem to like girths in general (physio told me some horses are just very sensitive). He does have a forward girth groove though so I think the barefoot was just too bulky when it slipped under his elbows.

With the treeless saddle we eventually settled on a Flexigirth which he seemed ok with, although I was still worried about slipping - saddle seemed secure enough when I was in it, but I daren't use the stirrups for mounting unless someone was hanging onto the other side. The other thing with the Flexigirth is that the instructions do tell you to be careful not to overtighten as theoretically they don't need to be as tight as a normal girth.

I'm now using a treed saddle and have got another Flexigirth as Raf seems ok with it once we're done and on our way, it's just the doing it up he doesn't like, same as every other girth I've tried!
 
Ordered a non elastic kincade so will see, annoyingly can't find another German one that she likes in a longer size.
I can mount from the ground but rarely do. I do the saddle up first though, just habit.
 
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Have you found a girth yet Nat?

I used the Kincade and so far so good, mini spook no movement, mini buck no movement, mounted from the ground OK.
Riding out to test the hills as we are not flat here and have a good rocky track she flies up usually.
 
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