Suncat
Well-Known Member
Hello all!
I'm looking for a curved girth (around 32") but with no elastic, I'd like to keep the cost under £60 if possible as this is the third girth in a few weeks! Its for my horse, who doesn't have a particularly forward girth grove, but has huge shoulders, luckily he does have enough length of back. The saddle is a monoflap Wow, hence the preference for no elastic (or everything flexes).
I've seen the HKM: https://www.justhorseriders.co.uk/p...atomic-without-elastic?variant=43812083040500 but I'm not clear if its got enough of a curve in it from the only photo's HKM issue?
Our this Benz equestrian: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/121...1&variation0=3653656595&variation1=2755762855 which has a more pronounced section?
Or can anyone else suggest anything else in the mid budget range? Photo is the saddle in place with no girth, when the point strap was still in place, hopefully that helps?
Here's the rest of the story for saddle/girth folks but feel free to stop reading here if not! I'd welcome any thoughts or advice as my primary concern is my horses comfort and I've not ridden seriously for a months as least in part because I'm worried he's uncomfortable, though he's moving well and I can't see any reactions/no's from him to the saddle.
Basically I'm trying to improve the balance of the saddle - the 'fit' of the saddle is correct to his shape (checked, adjusted by our official wow fitter, sanity checked by a trusted expert and as best as I can tell with my gauge and a lot of squinting, checking and watching I agree). We were using the point straps to stabilise the front of the saddle, and it felt really stable to me, but then could see dents in his back corresponding to the back outer corners of the panels. Horse seems sound and moving well. A couple of saddle checks over the recent months and tweaks to the point straps (fitter suspected the saddle was edging forwards, pushing the load into the back of the panels). I monitored closely and then couldn't see any movement forwards, but the dents were still there over a week or two gentle exercise.
I felt the saddle was rocking, ie to much vertical movement at the back when girthed up with the point straps, so have tried swapping from the point straps back to standard straps positions, to see if that's better overall. Hence looking at the girthing (suggested by fitter as the next thing to investigate). Since changing I think the saddle flexes more under me, and perhaps moves back fractionally - I can see that the girth straps move from vertical when I get on board to a very slight backward angle. So far I've tried an anatomical humane girth (started with this as got it for even spread between the angle of point strap and girth) and then a cord girth (for flex and stability), but I got sideways slip and some movement backwards. I also tried an old curved girth, but its a bit small (can only just get it to the girth!) and has some elastic, but the one day I got it one it felt and looked stable. Hence me looking for a curved girth that could help stabilise the saddle without pulling on his sternum?
Here's the thing about the dents in his back, I am treating them as muscle atrophy and I don't think I can afford not to. But he's a metabolic horse (lots of symptoms, passes every test as the most normal horse ever, managed closely on a track and metabolic diet, etc) and does have a spread of fat across his ribs and back - I have read a couple of articles around dents being partly fat displacement, and his fat is in metabolic spreads rather than the norm, if that makes sense? So I do wonder if that's part of the picture, though what that means for his comfort I'm not sure? So interested in any thoughts or advice there too.
No concerns about my wow fitter, but for one reason or another appointments are a long lead time, so I need to try and problem solve as much as I can and be as well informed as I can in the interims. And hopefully the hive mind can help! Next steps after this though is to go back to the fitter. I guess the final step is an entirely new saddle, but he's gone so well in the changing wow from 4-11yrs, long past him getting to his grown-up shape... I feel there must be answer and I hope to find it without going back to square 1
.
biscuits if you got this far
I'm looking for a curved girth (around 32") but with no elastic, I'd like to keep the cost under £60 if possible as this is the third girth in a few weeks! Its for my horse, who doesn't have a particularly forward girth grove, but has huge shoulders, luckily he does have enough length of back. The saddle is a monoflap Wow, hence the preference for no elastic (or everything flexes).
I've seen the HKM: https://www.justhorseriders.co.uk/p...atomic-without-elastic?variant=43812083040500 but I'm not clear if its got enough of a curve in it from the only photo's HKM issue?
Our this Benz equestrian: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/121...1&variation0=3653656595&variation1=2755762855 which has a more pronounced section?
Or can anyone else suggest anything else in the mid budget range? Photo is the saddle in place with no girth, when the point strap was still in place, hopefully that helps?
Here's the rest of the story for saddle/girth folks but feel free to stop reading here if not! I'd welcome any thoughts or advice as my primary concern is my horses comfort and I've not ridden seriously for a months as least in part because I'm worried he's uncomfortable, though he's moving well and I can't see any reactions/no's from him to the saddle.
Basically I'm trying to improve the balance of the saddle - the 'fit' of the saddle is correct to his shape (checked, adjusted by our official wow fitter, sanity checked by a trusted expert and as best as I can tell with my gauge and a lot of squinting, checking and watching I agree). We were using the point straps to stabilise the front of the saddle, and it felt really stable to me, but then could see dents in his back corresponding to the back outer corners of the panels. Horse seems sound and moving well. A couple of saddle checks over the recent months and tweaks to the point straps (fitter suspected the saddle was edging forwards, pushing the load into the back of the panels). I monitored closely and then couldn't see any movement forwards, but the dents were still there over a week or two gentle exercise.
I felt the saddle was rocking, ie to much vertical movement at the back when girthed up with the point straps, so have tried swapping from the point straps back to standard straps positions, to see if that's better overall. Hence looking at the girthing (suggested by fitter as the next thing to investigate). Since changing I think the saddle flexes more under me, and perhaps moves back fractionally - I can see that the girth straps move from vertical when I get on board to a very slight backward angle. So far I've tried an anatomical humane girth (started with this as got it for even spread between the angle of point strap and girth) and then a cord girth (for flex and stability), but I got sideways slip and some movement backwards. I also tried an old curved girth, but its a bit small (can only just get it to the girth!) and has some elastic, but the one day I got it one it felt and looked stable. Hence me looking for a curved girth that could help stabilise the saddle without pulling on his sternum?
Here's the thing about the dents in his back, I am treating them as muscle atrophy and I don't think I can afford not to. But he's a metabolic horse (lots of symptoms, passes every test as the most normal horse ever, managed closely on a track and metabolic diet, etc) and does have a spread of fat across his ribs and back - I have read a couple of articles around dents being partly fat displacement, and his fat is in metabolic spreads rather than the norm, if that makes sense? So I do wonder if that's part of the picture, though what that means for his comfort I'm not sure? So interested in any thoughts or advice there too.
No concerns about my wow fitter, but for one reason or another appointments are a long lead time, so I need to try and problem solve as much as I can and be as well informed as I can in the interims. And hopefully the hive mind can help! Next steps after this though is to go back to the fitter. I guess the final step is an entirely new saddle, but he's gone so well in the changing wow from 4-11yrs, long past him getting to his grown-up shape... I feel there must be answer and I hope to find it without going back to square 1
.biscuits if you got this far
