Call me crazy BUT... would this work?

montanna

montanna

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Not sure if anyone has been following my posts regarding my ridiculous shape little horse... basically she has an extremely forward girth groove, with a set back shoulder making her a saddle fitters worst nightmare.

There seems to be an abundance of C shaped girths in a short length but barely any that are long (she has an Albion K2 Jump). I have been trying to find shaped girths that will work, however the only one I haven't tried (and I have tried many) that even looks remotely suitable is the Cotswold Sports curved one... however they don't have her size.

So sitting here scratching my little head, I have come up with the idea of buying one of the short dressage/monoflap girths and fashioning some sort of girth extension for each side using 4 stirrup leathers cut down to size, with holes punched in them - which can attach at one end to the girth straps and at the other end to the short girth.

Is this ridiculous, or might it actually be a stroke of genius?
 
ihatework said:
Would it not be easier to get a saddler to put long girth straps on your saddle instead?!
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I have tried a million different things that haven't worked so far, so am thinking there is probably a 90% chance this set up won't work either - therefore don't want to alter my saddle too dramatically, just want to trial it.

Of course if it does/did work then I would look at altering the saddle, as I'm aware the above set up would look pretty ridiculous!
 
I suppose it's worth a try (or the girth extender), but if it works, it would probably be better long term to get a long girth specially made than to alter your saddle. At least that way if you ever need to change your saddle, it's easier to sell and the girth would be suitable for your new saddle too
 
montanna said:
Despite being slightly scarred for life after googling 'girth extender' (eeeeeeeeeeeeeek, do NOT do it!), I think you may have just made my day!! Off to purchase, thank you so much!
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Try googling ' riding mac'. Probably not as bad, but honestly you would think that was a perfectly innocuous thing to search for!
Mattes make a long crescent girth, I think they do a slimline version as well but they are expensive.
I wouldn't think two girth extenders would be very comfy, better to have long girth straps put on.
 
Speak to your saddler about girth 'donuts'. They only work on long girth straps but they alter the angle and direction of the straps. You use the point strap as an anchor then bind the back strap forwards with the leather donut.

I'll take a picture? , when I get home, of how they work.

I have both the donuts and long dressage girth straps (in brown) left from when I had an previous cob's saddle converted back to sell. I've no use for them now so willing to sell if you're interested.
 
montanna said:
Despite being slightly scarred for life after googling 'girth extender' (eeeeeeeeeeeeeek, do NOT do it!), I think you may have just made my day!! Off to purchase, thank you so much!
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Haaaaa, nearly had a wine down the nose incident then!!! :D

OP, I have a Shires one that fits my Albion K2 Jump. Struggled to find it but it's worked on my mare whose saddle used to slip backwards!
 
blitznbobs said:
fairfax do a long girth - not cheap tho...
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Thanks, I have tried it already and hated it! It didn't help my saddle slipping woes, plus I thought it was really bulky and I didn't like the quality of it for the price.

cobgoblin said:
Try googling ' riding mac'. Probably not as bad, but honestly you would think that was a perfectly innocuous thing to search for!
Mattes make a long crescent girth, I think they do a slimline version as well but they are expensive.
I wouldn't think two girth extenders would be very comfy, better to have long girth straps put on.
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Yup if it works then I will look at the long girth strap option - just want to check and see if it works first.

Kallibear said:
Speak to your saddler about girth 'donuts'. They only work on long girth straps but they alter the angle and direction of the straps. You use the point strap as an anchor then bind the back strap forwards with the leather donut.

I'll take a picture? , when I get home, of how they work.

I have both the donuts and long dressage girth straps (in brown) left from when I had an previous cob's saddle converted back to sell. I've no use for them now so willing to sell if you're interested.
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I'd be interested to see these - I've tried googling but to no avail.. plus I'm slightly apprehensive about googling anything with the word 'girth' in now. Had one eye closed when putting girth donut in... had a vision of some sort of hen party ring toss game!!!

Dazed'n'confused said:
Haaaaa, nearly had a wine down the nose incident then!!! :D

OP, I have a Shires one that fits my Albion K2 Jump. Struggled to find it but it's worked on my mare whose saddle used to slip backwards!
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I have had a look but can't find this... could you point me in the right direction? I have bought a couple of girth extenders (still can't write this without smiling!) from Robinsons for £6 each and an FSS curvy short girth off ebay for £60.

If it doesn't work I'm going to look at a monoflap saddle which will take a short girth. I contacted WOW but their saddles start from £2,600, plus she would need the foregirth/H girth option which is another £200 ish! Rather attempt to sort it this way first, but if I have to go down that road then I will.
 
Not crazy at all!
take a look at Stubben's new girth & its basically what you are describing your going to do!

I love my WOW, but that doesnt ease the price tag!!
found all the parts seperate for a DR saddle though & it came in at about £850 once I had done alot of swapping and changing of parts!
 
montanna said:
Despite being slightly scarred for life after googling 'girth extender' (eeeeeeeeeeeeeek, do NOT do it!), I think you may have just made my day!! Off to purchase, thank you so much!
Click to expand...

I'm rather disappointed, all I got was actual horse girth extenders and one interesting YouTube video by SizeGenetics.
 
FRP said:
Not crazy at all!
take a look at Stubben's new girth & its basically what you are describing your going to do!

I love my WOW, but that doesnt ease the price tag!!
found all the parts seperate for a DR saddle though & it came in at about £850 once I had done alot of swapping and changing of parts!
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It's something to look at if the above doesn't work :) My poor bank balance!

xxcharlottexx said:
Could you get a saddler to make /design you one to fit?
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I have tried nearly all the long versions... just want to trial the short version incase that makes a difference. Probably not, but worth a shot before I spend thousands on a WOW.

9tails said:
I'm rather disappointed, all I got was actual horse girth extenders and one interesting YouTube video by SizeGenetics.
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God, I wish that's all I'd seen!!! I was in the middle of my open plan office thinking ******! Never alt-tabbed out of there so fast!!!

mainpower said:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Havana-le...t=UK_Horse_Wear_Equipment&hash=item4189c909ca


Unfortunately only one, not a pair.
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Thanks :) I found them on Robinsons for £6 each so bought a couple yesterday, pretty much straight after I found them. Hopefully they arrive soon so I can try them out :)
 
I've got a mare with a very forward girth groove as well and had big issues fitting a saddle to her (and am about to delve into it again as we speak!). I find my Stubben string girth seems to work well, I guess because it can find its place to sit.
 
My mums a saddler. To take girth straps off and put new ones on is a lot of work, as you have to take the saddle to bits, so I doubt it would be cheap added to the costs of the straps
If the girth extender is not going to be comfortable you could put a sleeve on it?
 
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