String girths

From: Horse Mad

Hi Jessica

I love horse sense and spend hours reading through the archives!!! I couldn't find anything about these girths though.

I have a TB mare and when we got her we used a leather all purpose that came with a long string girth. She always liked this girth as it was nice and soft but eventually the bits that thread through and hold it together broke so we got a new one. It was a short synthetic girth because the old one was denting the saddle flap(the saddle has long and short points). She started biting when we did it up but was fine when I put her old one back on. We tried an old long material girth which she was ok with but still pulled faces. We looked for another string girth but they just don't make them with two buckles for English saddles. You can get these big soft ones for western saddles but they only have one buckle on each side. (btw I live in Australia). Anyway a friend found a shorter one at a garage sale that is made of flat cord which she likes.

My question is why would she like the string girths better? They always look like they might pinch to me and they tend to bunch up a bit. I always do up the girth a hole at a time from before I mount till after I have trotted a bit. Why aren't they as available as English girths anymore? They don't have anywhere to keep the long girth straps out of the way either. Is there an easy and neat way of tying them to the girth?

thanks

String girths are quite popular here in the States (also in England, also in Germany and France) and are widely available. In the catalogues, they're generally identified as either "string girth," "English string girth," or "cord girth."

They typically have roller buckles and are available in black, brown, or white. Most are made from nylon or polyester, some are made from cotton, and some are made from mohair.

These girths are very comfortable for horses - good cord girths are soft, and they're also "grippy." The individual strings/cords grip the horse's coat easily, making a cord girth much less likely (than a smooth, slick girth) to slip forward towards the horse's elbows. The design provides good ventilation, and there's a little "give" to these girths. The ones made from mohair have the most "give," and these girths are often used on horses that have sensitive skin or have had previous problems with girth sores.

I'm sure that there are other manufacturers of good-quality cord girths, but I know that Courbette (Lemetex) and Stubben both manufacture cord girths in soft nylon, in sizes to fit both short and long billets. If your saddle has universal billets, with two sets of holes so that you can use either a short or a long girth, you might prefer to buy a long one so that your horse can be more comfortable. Short girths are much less comfortable for horses. If the buckles are denting the saddle, you should be able to purchase a pair of billet guards - they look like small, flat leather shields, are threaded onto your saddle's billets, and cover the girth buckles - from any saddlery that sells English saddles.

I'm sure that you can procure the girth you want in Australia. If no such girths are manufactured there, don't despair - Australia has saddleries that carry Lemetex and Stubben products. If you'll contact the nearest saddlery that carries saddles or strap goods from either manufacturer, the owner should be able to order your girth for you. If you're lucky, he might even have them in stock.

Jessica

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