Off billet for draft horse

[Trotsky]

Greetings,
Former English rider here now re-riding after 30 years off. I started half leasing this big boy last year. Because I was a nervous wreck (rusty skills, very big horse) I bought a Wintec western saddle and 38" Professional’s Choice nice paddy cinch. It worked. The lad expanded over winter and now I can just get him cinched up. On the last hole on both sides. Cinch is not exactly even, either. (We were on the second and third holes last May … g’ah.)

I see I can get a much larger girth (not PC) but I love this girth so how about a longer off billet? How are they measured? Read they can be 18" to 2 feet. Are they measured folded or straight. Cuz this one is 35" from pointy end to pointy end. Does longer than this actually exist?

Any advice? If I have to get another girth, any suggestions?

[Pocket_Pony]

Honestly, I’d just get another girth…

I have a mohair string cinch for my mustang, but my filly hates the buckle (and, well, the saddle doesn’t fit her right anyway so I don’t ride her in it but just the one time I tried it) so I’d likely get her a fleece girth that cushions the buckles.

[Aces_N_Eights]

It depends on where your cinch rings are sitting on your horse whether you should get a new off billet or cinch, in my opinion.

[aktill]

15 min job for a saddlemaker, and they can be as long as a cow is (72" is easy).

I personally run full latigos on both sides, in case something breaks away from home (plus I hate dangling ends of normal off billets). I put latigo holders on both sides of my saddles as a result.

[Quelah]

I also use latigos on both sides. Have used same latigos on everything from a 15 hand QH to my 17.2 hand Shire. I’ve used different cinches but the same latigos.

ETA the cinch for my Shire was a 42" mohair. I had Buckaroo leather products make it which didn’t take very long at all.

[Foxglove]

I prefer latigoes on both sides as well. I rode a Percheron with a western saddle and bought the longest girth made --worked well.

Foxglove

[csaper58]

Colorado Saddlery has wonderful extra long latigos, half breed latigos and off side billlets, and all kinds of draft tack. Not everything is on their updated web page yet so give them a call for any specific requests.

[Fillabeana]

Latigo on both sides.
Much easier to deal with than a plain off billet or a half breed off billet.
I find them much easier to adjust, especially when you are trying to keep the cinch centered while changing between really different sized horses. Or the same horse, after a big weight change.
And keep in mind that both the Latigo and a mohair or other natural fiber (alpaca, horsehair) cinch have the ability to stretch. There are some specific applications for neoprene, but they generally have a nylon core that won’t stretch at all.
Sometimes with a horse that is cinchy, people unwittingly go to a neoprene cinch that is on a saddle with nylon ‘latigo’ and off billets, thinking they need to pad things. I find that if you never tighten up too fast, horses don’t get cinchy in a reasonably well fitted saddle rigged with two Latigo and a natural fiber cinch.