Leg stretching after tightening the girth

[KBC]

Picture this, it’s 3am, my mind is replaying videos of my life, and I go wait, rewind!

As a kid we were taught to tighten girth just before mounting, with or with out a knee in a hairy pony belly because “he’s blown out” then pull each foreleg forward to make sure no skin or hair is pinched.

I don’t do this any more, knee or stretch, nor have I seen it done that I can remember. Are these both redundant now? Need answers so I can play a new game at 3 am tomorrow morning.

PS I don’t see nylon ‘string girths’ any more, and no one seems to need baler twine to thread through the hole in the billet, and through the girth buckle to get them to meet anymore

[lenapesadie]

I see the stretch sometimes, for western tack.

[ThreeWishes]

Always pull my horse’s forelegs foreword after tightening the girth. The way his girth groove lies tightening without doing so bunches his skin behind the elbow. can’t hurt right ?

[Rhythm_Pace_Impulsion]

I do this with mine at least a bent knee, I even had one that would do a full on straight leg lean back stretch, he enjoyed it, me not so much.

[Foxglove]

My QH is a short coupled stout fellow. Years ago I taught him to extend his front hooves one at a time when I clap my hands. He extends and I grab his fetlock like we are shaking hands. I give him a firm pull to sort the fat rolls under his girth.

[Renn_aissance]

We were taught to do this growing up but I was un-taught by a saddle fitter who pointed out that, at least on my fellow’s shape, it would produce skin folds in front of the girth and lead to chafing.

Instead I walk him to the front of the barn with his girth loose enough to put my hand under it so his skin shifts into a natural position and then tighten before mounting.

These days my bigger worry is keeping his hairs from pulling under the girth. He’s awfully furry and his underfluff and guard hairs on his belly are worthy of a Dartmoor living wild.

[Bluey]

Decades ago, gently asking a horse to let you pull lightly the leg forward a bit after cinching first time was standard, then check around elbow and cinch and pull it one more hole.

That stretching leg forward was not a real long stretch, but just enough to let cinch and skin settle in place.
We didn’t ask a horse to stretch a front leg once tightly cinched, but just before that, so skin and hair could settle in place.

We also taught a horse to stretch to lower stirrup to mount, but not if you were not limber enough to just hop on without pulling the stretched horse over.
Best was always to use some kind of mounting aid so you could just step in the saddle without twisting the saddle at all pulling up.

[StormyDay]

I always thought the leg pull forward was a little weird because they are naturally going to do that when they start walking.
I mean unless you really gotta cinch that girth down for some reason. But I’ve found that the better your saddle fits the less tight your girth needs to be.

[blue_heron]

I was taught to do this but eventually abandoned it with the same logic as above. Sometimes if it looks a little funky I’ll scrunch their elbow skin forward. Maybe I will start stretching legs again. I do know people who stretch all four legs before getting on and again getting off.

[endlessclimb]

My Old Man will blow out, and has received a knee or three in his lifetime. I don’t think it helps honestly.

What works better for me is to “sneak tighten”. I get it snug with him puffed out, and then move on to something else (spraying conditioner on his tail, putting polos on him, whatever), and then when just moving around him I quick tighten a bit more. He thinks I’m done because I’ve moved to a new task so he lets the air out, and I tighten more before he realizes I’m back on the billet/latigo.

[McGurk]

I do this on my square, mutton withered, fat Foundation QH.

Because I have to have his girth tighter than I normally would on another horse to keep the saddle from rolling. Yes, his saddle fits, and yes, I use a no slip pad. But “mutton withered” is not accurate - more like no withers at all. Imagine trying to secure a sheet of waxed paper to a greased sausage and you’ll have the picture.

He seems to enjoy it; he grunts and leans back into the stretch and holds up the second foreleg in anticipation.

I don’t do this on my other horses because I don’t feel the need. I tighten the girth enough to keep the saddle in place while I mount, and tighten one more hole after the horse has walked away from the mounting block.

[MsM]

I dont do it myself. I snug the girth, walk a bit, give cookie, and finish tightening. But in the barn there are two versions of leg stretchers. The first picks up the knee and just tries to pull the skin forward a bit. The second does a more therapeutic stretch. She moves from the knee to the hoof and pulls forward while her horse leans back and appears to enjoy the stretch.

[findeight]

I did it for decades and still do. But I am just talking about pulling the knee forward about 6 inches to be sure the skin is smooth. Never had a horse that didn’t like it.

That stretch never did a thing for any of mine that “blew up” when the girth was tightened… only thing that helped them was a little warm up, hand walk, hot walker or lunge before saddling or just letting them stand awhile instead of rushing to slap the saddle on and snatch the girth up. Waking after saddling before going up the last few inches also helps.

Blowing up, being “ girthy” is hard to get rid of if its hurt or been uncomfortable the last 500 or more times they were saddled. Probably take another 500 times to even start to get rid of it.

[tabula_rashah]

If I don’t do this with my RMH mare, she gets horrible girth rubs.
I do still use string girths (mohair though, not nylon)

[StormyDay]

My not so big secret is treats

They suddenly loose the urge to be girthy or suck in air when the cookies appear.

Even my grumpy gelding no longer bites at the air.

[TwiSedai]

I do it if I tighten the girth while she isn’t standing square in the front, just to make sure I didn’t pinch anything anywhere. But man she sure loves it when I do, really reaches her leg out and forward. Must feel good.

[Renn_aissance]

It’s a great stretch. My guy likes it. But we do it on the ground as part of his regular yoga, not with tack on.

However, the even better version is when the farrier puts the forefoot up on the tripod for dressing. For whatever reason that’s the angle my horse really likes and he will really stretch deep into that. I told the farrier I’d buy him a beer for every time he could get Tip to stretch his shoulder like that.