Bloody girth galls - again!

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Halfstep

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I use a soft cut back leather dressage girth with a NuuMed sheepskin cover. And horse has open and bloody girth galls - AGAIN. Am now running out of ideas. Does anyone have any miracle cures? Someone recommended a Stubben string girth, but I'm not sure about using one as a dressage girth as the buckles are exposed.
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I that from just one used of a girth?... Where abouts are the galls?... Maybe you should speak to your vet about something you can apply to make the skin tougher you know like you can put white spirit on skin to toughen it up, would cornucrescine do the same thing and make the hair grow back quicker?... If it is near the saddle flap maybe you could stich on some extra squares to your numnah so that it came down and under the girth, so if you lay it out flat it would look lie one square with 2 smaller squares at the edges, does that make sense?..
 
Not all stubben dressage saddles are meant for use with a short dressage girth, I had two that had regular girths.

My friend is a master saddler, she reckoned that the neoprene one's were very good. Your horse must be really sensitive to get galls even with a sheepskin cover.

Have you tried to harden his skin with alcohol or salt water ? obviously once it is healed.
 
He only gets these girth galls in summer, so I think it might have something to do with sweat or friction. I wash him off religiously and use an antibacterial shampoo on the area. At the moment the galls are open and sore. There are bloody marks on the sheepskin
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. Poor boy.

Does anyone have any experience in using a string girth with a long billeted dressage saddle? They might have to be my next step, but I'm not sure whether the buckles will cause problems.
 
Not tried one but would recomend you give it a go, always been told they are one of best girths to use you could always try and do a make shift cover for the buckles like a sleeve out of sheep skin just for buckle area if you are worried about them on his skin.
alternatively how cut back is the leather girth? some have alot more shape to them and may be worth looking at some different designs? also has current girth got elastic ends? that can case more movment so more friction?
Good luck hope you can find solution
 
I had this problem with my old mare- it is so unbelievably frustrating! We tried everything and spent a fortune- Albion shaped girths, WOW girths, cotton covers, Premium sheepskin covers, elastic, no elastic and nothing made a difference.

We ended up using a cheap Thorogood (sp) with no cover which worked wonders and didnt rub at all! Think it cost about £16!!
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I think antibacterial shampoo can actually thin the skin if used regularly over time. Not sure, but might be worth investigating.

Would you be able to 'toughen up' the skin with surgical spirit (obviously once the girth galls have healed). I think _jetset_ was talking about this in reference to spur rubs recently.
 
Second vote for a cheap synthetic Aeborne girth - my grey horse used to rub like nothing else, even with sheepskin. The trick is to wash the girth after every use to stop the grease building up and then rubbing. He doesn't rub at all in these girths and I have 2 so I still have one when the other's being washed.
 
I've tried the Wintec dressage girth but that rubbed him too, although it possibly was a bit better than the leather one without sheepskin. He was fine in just the leather girth all winter and spring, its just in the last month or so that the galls have started up again
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JessPickle - I've PMed you! It would be super to try a string girth.
 
Arghh... how irritating!

As you know, Grace got them really badly at the beginning of summer, so I know your frustration. I have her in the Albion dressage girth (not the really expensive one), with either the sheepskin pad you gave me, or a Mattes one. I wash them after every single use (quick tip... put hair conditioner on them before putting them in the wash, keeps the fluff lovely and soft) and make sure I wash the girth area.

I can only use water when washing her sweaty bits down as she reacts to anything else. I think it is because her pores are so open, whereas when she is not sweaty I can use them
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Perhaps try just washing Osk down with water and see whether that helps at all.

The miracle cure to get the girth galls healing very quickly is Germoline. I absolutely swear by the stuff! Grace takes simply ages to heal when she gets a cut, but with Germoline it heals in a few days. She was kicked by nasty Han on Monday and this morning the whole scab has fallen off and the skin is just white and healthy underneath
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Damn I have already donated my sudocream to the horses now jetsets says I have to let them have my germolene too!

I tried a string but didn't get on with it, I think because horse has a couple of old pressure bumps and it irritated it. and being unshaped it made his elbows bald again. V nice and soft though.

Am currently using a thorogood drsg shaped one and it has surprised me, I couldn't fit the fleece on it so tried without and it has been fine, given that the first one to ever rub him was a t/good. It sits better with the point and breech straps on his drsg saddle though (saddle is new like muchly!). Have to say girth is long on him though, buckles pretty much hit saddle flaps as thought better than rubbing

On GP am using aerborn atherstone airflowy one, elastic both ends. with nuumed fleece over, can't bear to try it without yet but might!

If using the strings I would be tempted to get some fleece cover to protect from the buckles.
 
Professional Choice girths are really good for sensitive horses in my experience. I've not used the dressage girth but I've just started using a normal one with my GP and have always used PC cinches.

When I worked in Oz I had a horse in my pack that galled out really easy and after switching to a PC cinch she was fine (made the same as the girths) and that was doing 12hr days mustering in 40 degree C+ heat with lots of dust etc.
 
My horse came with one on each side, that he had had for ages. They are gone now since I packed up all my leather girths and started using a cottage craft dressage girth with a Mattes sheepskin cover
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