What are the results of your trying various girths for issues that you suspect may be girth-related? Lengths, materials, shape? Also, general thoughts on elastic on both ends: The horsey blows up like a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade float. Girth has to come up a few holes with me in the saddle after a little warm-up because she likes to take a stroll as I mount, making it impractical to hop off and on, and I fear that more elastic will lead to over-tightening.
Ulcer treatment. Quiet slow girthing. Clicker training. Very comfy girths. I now have mohair string endurance girth on dressage saddle and washable fleece on jump saddle. It’s learned behavior that persists in anticipation of pain.
I can’t physically overtighten anything so I think double elastic is fine
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Well, what behavior[s] are you trying to resolve by trying different girths? And how is your tacking or grooming ritual contributing to that behavior?
At the end of the day I think most of us recognize that a girth is a fundamentally uncomfortable but necessary piece of tack to keep the saddle stable and secure. We can’t change this – but we can alter our behaviors and tack up routine to make it more comfortable for the horse.
Step one would be making sure the girth actually fits the horse. There is a lot of literature online that goes into finding the right shape girth for your horse, but the general rule of thumb is the buckles should be at or several inches above the elbow bone once fully adjusted, and preferably not lie direct against the horse’s flesh. There should be as uniform as possible a line straight from billet to girth - no pulling in two billets from two different zipcodes.
The two cheapest things to do are change how you girth (free!) and buy a girth tube, sock, fleece, or sheepskin ($5-$200). Make sure you are not throwing the saddle on their back and tightening the girth instantly. When you first do up the girth, always leave daylight between the girth and belly. Brush their mane or pick their feet after. Wait for them to relax before going up one more hole. Take them for a walk (don’t just walk them from place of tack up to mounting block!) for a few minutes to get the saddle settled into place and their breathing relaxed, then go up a hole or two again.
Never “pull” up the girth by bracing your weight against their body and standing on your tippy toes. No wonder horses bite the $hit out of people who do this. Always do up the girth one hole at a time.
Don’t worry too much about having the girth be on its “final hole” before getting on. Wait until the saddle has the rider’s weight in it before going for that goal - you don’t need to have a girth cranked to have the saddle stable.
See if you can fix that “stroll as you mount” behavior. That is very dangerous for you and her. It is often a sign of anxiety about being mounted, sometimes linked to early back pain seen in KS or SI issues. If you need to, use treats to reinforce standing at the mounting block until you clearly ask to walk off. This is one of the first things I drill into my horse, can’t stand a bargy horse around the block. Some very good riders (including Mark Todd) have gotten seriously hurt by horses “taking a stroll” from the block before their leg is swung over.
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Thanks so much, @beowulf, for the let-the-saddle-sit-there tip. Never thought of that. Also, the treats approach to address her taking a stroll: I’m going to try. It would be something if I could stop that habit. We do take a walk in the arena before I mount.
Horsey is an oldster who has an old gall that doesn’t appear to bother her. Has known arthritis. Takes some time to warm up but once she’s going, she’s GOING. Loves to jump more than any horse I’ve ever had. Wondering whether the slowness to warm up in part is her saying, “This girth is OWWWWWIE!” Certainly I’ll talk more to my coach about all this – always need her guidance and never make a change without her – but I was curious about others’ experiences.
My mare started walking off but now she won’t move until she gets her treat. I really am too old to have a horse motor away. She also stands stock still while I get off.
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I’ve had two horses that were very sensitive to girth type and fit, with a noticeable difference in behavior so I do think it matters to some horses.
Interestingly neither of mine seemed to care about elastic v. non elastic. They have both cared about shape and material. My current mare has a strong preference for an anatomic shape (Fairfax dressage, County Logic jumping) with a sheepskin cover.
It may be worth experimenting to see how your horse responds to something different.
ETA - I just read your second post about long warm up time. Every horse is different but for mine who cared about the girth they let me know right away by taking short steps or doing an exaggerated high step. I have had all my horses need a longer warm up as they’ve aged. It just takes a while to get arthritic joints moving and comfy!
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My warmblood mare has earned the nickname “the princess and the pea.”
If she has a girth on she does not like, she is tense the entire ride. She feels like a keg of dynamite ready to explode. She never relaxes. As the ride progresses and she starts sweating, she sometimes starts exploding.
She never acts girthy. It took me years to pick up on it. She prefers thin straight or contour style girths. Nothing thick, fuzzy, or anatomical. She is ok with smooth grain leather, neoprene, and fabric girths as long as they aren’t cushiony. She is fine with both elastic and non-elastic. Basically, the exact opposite of what you would expect a girth-sensitive horse to like.
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Yeah, I’ve been especially achy lately and with tonight’s ride I really paid attention to what hurt and for how long, and tried to “connect” with what horsey may have been feeling in her own old joints. It made for a good ride. During our stroll around the arena before I mounted I thought about how my stride and pain vary according to footing and slope, and how that must be the case for her as well.
Ahhh. Two old girls and their old-girl ouchies.
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I like the tad coffin girths a lot for the ones who are funny about girths. They are very wide and very soft but the elastic isn’t too stretchy. I know a lot of fancy shaped girths are on the market but I have never seen an actual horse care about it, they seem to be mainly for the benefit of saddle fitters. I am sure now that I say that 157 people will tell me that a zig zag girth solved global warming, but sometimes I think we over complicate things in that department.
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Girths and girth preferences are so individual to each horse, I think. The only girth my older guy ever reacted to was a Total Saddle Fit I got for him. He HATED that girth with a passion and was very angry until I switched it out for an old County girth I had. I have no idea why he hated it so much- he likes the anatomical girths that swoop back from the elbow as a rule, because he is a big tube with big movement and they don’t interfere with that, but he’s really pretty laid back. Someone once put his girth on backwards (so the wide center part and the swoop were facing in the wrong direction) and he didn’t really react, even though it gave him a tiny rub, poor guy! My new young horse had some ulcer issues and was girthy when I first got him, but now he’s pretty good, and again, doesn’t seem to care so much about the type of girth.
I ride both in their own Voltaire saddle and while I like the Voltaire long girth, I actually use Passiers on both- the long girth with the wide center part, elastic on both ends. It’s nice and supple, lays well on them, and they don’t react when I tighten it. The main thing I think is most important for both of them, since they don’t seem to care about the girth, is that their saddle fits. I never crank the girth right away. I have the girth pretty loose when I put it on, tighten so it is not gappy before I first get on and then just tighten as I go, checking after we’ve walked a while and so on. But both saddles fit their horse really, really well with just a square pad underneath, so unless I’m jumping I often have the girth not all that tight through my ride and the saddle just doesn’t move.
My old TB had somewhat more distinct girth preferences, but again, it was more about saddle fit for him than the girth. I rode him in an anatomic leather girth, which I very much prefer over fuzzy ones, but his lease kid used a fuzzy one, and he never seemed to care so long as he had the right saddle/halfpad configuration. My trainer’s big (event) horse cares about everything- girth, pads, saddle, if the tails of her dressage shadbelly are touching his back, everything! The wrong halfpad and he’s a monster.
So, yeah- horses are all so individual- it’s kind of fun figuring out what works best, although I’m lucky with my two since they aren’t crazy sensitive and won’t chuck me into the wall if I have the wrong setup on them.
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I’m going to look at some horses now, newly aware that the phrase that’s been eluding me is “big tube.”
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I have one horse who will ONLY accept a mohair string girth. I got a western one, and converted it to English with the addition of slip ends. The western roper ones are wide at midline ventral, and the addition of the slip ends makes them English length. He didn’t like how the sweat accumulated under the leather girths of every make and shape. And the fuzzy ones are too slippery IMO.
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I have a very !! Short backed baby horse. (He’s shaped like a beach ball. Our vet said wow he’s so round can I take a picture? When he first came) and our saddle fitter suggested a shoulder relief girth.
Ammy owner (and friend) goes all the way, and purchases the total saddle fit girth with the elastic at the bottom (so it expands with their breath). We both rolled our eyes, assumed it would be the same as a normal girth, and I tried it on him.
Total. Game changer. He went from cold backed and humpy walking off the mounting block to a much more relaxed boy, both in mounting/riding and getting tacked up.
Unfortunately, I decided to try it on another tender animal of mine. Only unfortunate because it was similarly magical and is very expensive. She was an absolute bitch about the girth before, and didn’t even blink or grind her teeth as I tightened this girth.
Total saddle fit girth with the elastic bit on the sternum, i suspect it’s about to be on every horses hook in my barn once the other ammys get wind of its prowess.
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This is really an issue that needs to be addressed and I know you didn’t ask for my opinion but as someone who has been there and allowed that in 1 of my horses ( now reformed of that behavior) I can say it is a huge blessing to be past that…
I always girthed up just tight enough to mount safely and then tightened once on and said horse had deflated. I liked my elastic at both ends girth. I think it helped me to keep from over tightening.
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Thank you, @candyappy, for reiterating that walking off should be discouraged. I appreciate. I’ll be working on it over the next several rides. I think jelly beans would make a good treat for this at the mounting block.
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My horse (not a tube 
) also HATED the TSF long girth. He actually went rein lame in it. I couldn’t even get one lap of the arena with it as he was so upset. Got off, switched back to his regular girth, and he was no longer lame. We figured it was lying on his vagus nerve.
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Was it the Stretch-Tech or the regular one? My guy LOVES the Stretch-Tech but was not a fan of the regular one. We’ve found over time his girthing issues stem from back pain due to EPM. We’ve resolved the EPM and added chiro/body work to reactivate fascia, did 2 months of Succeed at Vet’s recommendation, and horse is doing really well. Unfortunately, we still have some residual anxiety over girthing - so much that the anxiety starts the minute he’s in the crossties and doesn’t stop until you mount after which he’s completely fine. We’ve found unexpectedly that Gumbits have resolved that anxiety. I never would have expected it but it’s really helped us keep our guy happy so we can reinforce new behaviors. he used to aggressively chew on crossties, bite during girthing and be really obnoxious on the ground. Since resolving the back pain and adding Gumbits he’s been quite lovely.
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It was the regular leather one. His usual girth is the Professionals Choice contoured TPU girth which is really thin and flexible and not as much shape. His saddle doesn’t move with a straight girth but the billets get angled forward, so he needs a somewhat anatomical shape. I think the TSF was just TOO curvy.
https://profchoice.com/i-23901601-ventech-contoured-jump-girth.html
Feel like posting a photo of your ‘beach ball’
