Horse Care For Beginners

The blanket and saddle comfortably fitted, so now the girth can be suitably tightened.

 

Fitting the girth.

As a rider, the last thing you want when out for a pleasant trail ride is having your horse’s saddle slide around your horse’s body, particularly when you mount or dismount. If the girth is not fitted correctly and is too loose, this can easily happen.  So just how tight should you make the girth when you’re tacking up for your ride?

Should you reef really hard on the girth to tighten the saddle down to the last notch so the saddle doesn’t slip? The answer to this is NO! Horses girthed too tightly will get cinchy and develop a dislike to beng saddled which is a problem you’ll find hard to cure. Instead, right from the start, do things correctly, like correctly positioning the saddle. If  you make the girth too tight, chances are that your horse will either reach around and bite you, blow or go down on its knees.  So, a good snug girth is what you should try to achieve,  and just about right in your horse’s book anyhow!

Position the saddle correctly and you shouldn’t have girth problems.

The saddle should rest solidly and be level on your horse’s back. But, having said that, there are many variations to horses’ backs, withers and rump. And also in the saddles themselves, and this sometimes becomes somewhat of a challenge. But assuming you can level the saddle on your horse’s back ~ it should be on you, the rider’s, centre of balance. This just behind your horse’s natural balance point at standstill. As your horse moves, engaging his hindquarters, his natural balance point (just behind and slightly above his elbow) moves back and under you as your horse rounds his back upwards. Now your horse and you should be in balance.

Now for the saddle, blanket and girth.

Next put your saddle pad or blanket over the withers and well forward. Place the saddle over the withers and forward. Slide the saddle and pad backward until they naturally settle into position, behind the withers and level on the back. You might think that the saddle position looks to be too far back. But it’s not. The gullet of the saddle will be somewhat over the withers. The saddle will be level and the back of the saddle won’t be pressing into your horse’s loin area. The girth will not be immediately behind the elbow, but several inches behind the elbow instead. If you were taught otherwise, forget it!  This is correct.

Here’s why it’s correct.

If the saddle is too far forward well over the withers, and the girth is directly behind the elbow, the movement of your horse’s shoulders is restricted. His stride and lateral action is adversely affected. Properly positioned, the saddle will not need to be tightly cinched, because it will stay in position naturally with only a snug cinching.

When the saddle is on board.

Check the pad or saddle blanket and lift it up into the gullet so that at least two fingers slide easily between the withers and the saddle. If you’ve properly positioned the saddle you won’t give your horse grief or discomfort on his withers or loins.  Then stand back and carefully observe your tacked horse from your ground level.  If there are any problems you’ll easily be able to spot them.

All being well you can now go out and enjoy your trail ride that you were so looking forward to!

Recommended reading:   Horses For Dummies  by Audrey Pavia