Best shoulder relief girth?

[Watermark_Farm]

I need a really cushy, high quality shoulder relief curved girth with a sheepskin cover. What do you folks recommend?

Also, what do you find is best for freeing up the area behind the shoulder, a long curved girth or a short girth?

Horse in question is a 25 year old mule now used for flat and crossrail lessons with little kids. He can be round in the belly and that pushes the saddle/girth too forward, causing small girth groove sores.

Thanks!

[Saskatoonian]

I didn’t respond sooner because I can’t hit all your points, but maybe some is better than none, so here goes.

I really like my Total Saddle Fit girth - the leather’s very supple and it’s decently cushy. It’s short. To be honest, though, I don’t really notice any difference in the way my horse moves in that girth and in his long girth, which is a very cushy Beval panel girth - so not any fancy “shoulder relief” shape.

For seriously cushy, I don’t think you can top the Mattes girths: they’re like strapping a sheep to your horse. Whether they make a shoulder relief shape I’m not sure.

Good luck.

[Divine_Comedy]

For quality combined with price performance, you can’t beat the Total Saddle Fit girth. I really like the one I bought for my young horse, purchased because the saddle wants to sit further back on him thanks to some shark-y withers, much more than my older horse who the saddle was built for. I use it every single day, clean it, and it looks like new.

They sell a sheepskin cover that fits their girth specifically as well.

[RedHorses]

I like my Total Saddle Fit StretchTec girth best of my three TSF girths. I have the neoprene liner for extra stick and it is a nice, thick cushion.

I don’t know if they make a sheepskin liner for it yet, but they do have sheepskin covers for their regular leather girths.

[Watermark_Farm]

Thanks everyone for the great info! My daughter called TSF on Friday and talked with them. We ordered a curved long girth with a sheepskin cover. It arrives tomorrow. We have 30 days to see how it works. Fingers crossed. Thank you again!!

[beowulf]

I love my TSF girth – but my horse loves it more.

It may be worth investigating (if you can) the saddle – the TSF works better with certain saddles. For instance I notice in my guys dressage saddle that he is much freer through the shoulders – in his XC saddle the first time I tried it his stride was so long and open it took me by complete surprise. The XC saddle has a different gusset style than the dressage one and that definitely plays into it. Both have been prof fitted for him. The dressage saddle is a Keiffer Wein and the XC a Stubben Zaria.

[Watermark_Farm]

Thank you Beowulf for the info. We’re also revisiting saddle fit as well.