04/09/2020
🐎Girths for thought🐎
As the dutiful humans that we are we spend an absolute fortune on expensive saddles and regular saddle checks to ensure that our saddles are perfectly fitted for our chosen disciplines and our horse’s conformation.
Most of us (including myself) don’t put half as much thought into the girths that we adorn our horses with. We absolutely should though! After all, the girth is arguably one of the most important parts of a saddle! Without a girth the lovely and expensive saddle is practically useless and if the girth doesn’t sit where it should then neither will the saddle. ❗️❗️
Here is a brief overview of different shaped girths and different shaped bodies! ⬇️⬇️
🐎 The Anatomical Girth
This girth is for the more ‘conformationally sound’ horses and ponies.
If you are lucky enough to have a horse where the saddle sits snuggly where it should and the girth naturally sits under it then this is the girth for you.
It has a cut back design to allow for freedom of the shoulder and elbow as well as equal dispersion of pressure along the girth line of the horse. This reduces any risk of wrinkling, bunching and rubbing.
🐎 The Athletic Girth
The key is in the name...this girth is ideal for the more ‘athletic’ horses and ponies out there...
Powerful shoulders, pecs to die for and a smooth and muscular top line.
Sadly, as a result of their envious physique, their saddles are prone to slipping a bit too far backwards which puts excess pressure exactly where it shouldn’t be.
The key to deciphering wether your horse requires an athletic shaped girth is to assess how easy it is to buckle the second girth strap in relation to the first. It will almost feel like the second strap needs to be one hole tighter than the first to stop it from slipping backwards.
🐎 The Crescent Girth
This shape is the shape to go for if you happen to have a short backed, wide rib-caged or rather ‘rotund’ horse or pony. 🙋🏼♀️🙋🏼♀️
I have my own very short backed and ‘rotund’ little tinker and have found that in any other girth than a crescent shaped one, the girth and saddle tend to ride forward.
If the girth rides forward then so inevitably does the saddle. The saddle then begins to interfere with the complex muscular attachments of the scapula affecting the ‘should be’ smooth forward and backward motion of the scapula and the forelimbs.
End result...choppy strides, unbalanced coordination and loss of power and performance throughout the body.
Noticed that this saddle is very similar to the athletico shape??
Look again and see that they curve in opposite directions to accommodate for the excess bulk.
If you have a horse or pony that requires a crescent shaped girth you’ll probably notice that it’s far easier to tighten the first strap when compared with the second strap and almost feel the need to tighten the first strap one hole tighter.
🐎 The Asymmetric Girth
This is definitely one of the more complicated shapes to understand.
These girths are ideal for horses with big and muscular shoulders but with a narrow girth groove/less defined girth area that sits closer to the olecranon or ‘elbow’.
It’s similar to the crescent although with a straight dorsal edge as it doesn’t have to conform to a larger rib cage.
Think Warmbloods and some thoroughbreds where the girth and saddle are prone to slipping too far forwards and end up interfering with the shoulders.
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🐎Definitely spare a thought next time you saddle up for what girth you use and what shape your lovely horse or pony happens to be 🐎
Girths are an essential bit of kit and are quintessential to the fit of our beloved equine’s fabulous saddle.
If the girth isn’t sitting where it should be then neither will your saddle.
*image obtained from a google search and accredited to Mattes Bespoke brand*
