Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE Newsletter Archives

Too-big surcingle

From: Annettee

Dear Jessica, this may seem like a really trivial question, but I'm having a problem because the lunging surcingle I bought for my horse is too big for him. It slips up over his withers when I have the sidereins attached, and it doesn't stay in place from side to side. It's a leather one with a leather girth piece, so I can't fold it up and sew it like you told someone else to do with their cloth one. I really want to use it on my horse. It has about twelve rings on it (total) and it's so much easier to clip the sidereins to the rings. If I lunge in my saddle I can only attach the sidereins to the billets (too high up) or to the girth which is too low and they slip even lower. Do you have some clever advice for me? I already tried putting a pillow under the surcingle, but it just fell out after about half a circle.

Thanks!

Netta

Hi Netta! I'll suggest three possibilities. The first one involves a little sewing. Don't give up on that pillow just yet. You can keep it from popping out from under the surcingle by making some attachments to fasten it to the surcingle. You can buy pieces of hook-and-loop material at the fabric shop, sew them to the pillow, and try again. Ideally, you would have two small pillows, one on either side of the horse's spine just behind the withers.
Really nice surcingles designed for use without the saddle usually have pads built into the top on each side, so that the surcingle won't put any pressure on the withers or any other part of the spine.

Another method, and really the easiest one, would be to put the longeing surcingle on OVER your saddle. Saddles take up a lot of room, surcingles tend to stay in place on top of a saddle, and you'll have access to all those lovely rings. ;-)

Finally, you could keep an eye out for someone whose longeing surcingle is too small, and make a trade. If you make a flyer and hang it up at the barn or local tackshop, who knows what might happen? I once exchanged girths with someone who had guessed at her horse's girth size and misjudged by 6". She needed a 48" girth -- I had one, but couldn't use it because my horse needed a 54". That was a very satisfying trade. ;-)

Good luck!

Jessica

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