Cross surcingles

Meowy Catkin

Meowy Catkin

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19 July 2010
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I'm sure that many of you read the very sad post last night about the horse who unfortunately caught his legs up in his X surcingles and had to be PTS as he broke two legs.

This evening I needed to change my grey's rug as she had been rolling in the muddiest patch that she could find and her rug was sodden with wet mud. So I got her spare (not been used before) out of the packet and put it on her. Yet again the X surcingles were far too long, even on the shortest setting. I had to quickly sew them shorter by a good 12 inches.

In fact all bar one of my horses (ex broodie and still has a broodie tummy) generally need the X surcingles shortening on their rugs. The makes include Horseware, Shires, Bucas, Masta and GFS.

The two chestnuts are good weights according to the condition scoring scale and the grey is slightly too fat on the scale (I'm being kind here - it's actually pretty hard to find her ribs).

Are these overly X surcingles a symptom of the tendency for horses to be fatter these days? It's a flipping dangerous though, whatever the reason.
 
With the horse that I had a fair few years ago, I never needed to adjust the surcingles, whatever the make. He was the same height, breed, rug size and condition as my chestnut mare. I really wish that I still had one of his old rugs to compare the surcingle length.
 
All mine are ok and he's skinny! I have Mark Todd and Shires and one weatherbeeta. Only one I had to tie knots in was a Mark Todd fly rug! I suppose if they make them long you can shorten them easier than lengthening them ? :-)
 
You could easily have an extension section with surcingle male/female clasps at either end. How many people just wouldn't think of shortening them? Quite a few IME.
 
One of my lads the surcingles of Rambo rugs would not even meet but weetherbeeta are fine for length and how much you can shorten them.

It doesn't bear thinking about that poor horse that broke two legs. I hope it was an unfortunate accident as I thought rugs were designed to break but I suppose it raises people's awareness.

I hope that the YO gets the rug checked to see what happened and why it didn't rip.
 
Funnily enough i have just tried two brand new rugs on my Welsh A, he is quite leggy

First one up was a local saddlery own brand and the surcingles even on their shortest setting were looped down to his kness

The second one is an Everest rug and fitted perfectly

I am not 100% how tight or loose the surcingles should be I must admit, I made them so that they were not rubbing on his tummy and I could fit and slide my palm under them easily - is this still too tight?
 
My mares rugs are all 5+ yrs old, have a vast collection so not had new ones to compare. Daughters pony is fine so I always thought too big x surcingles were just her, but perhaps it is that rugs are being made for fatties now. Cottage craft & Derby house fit her when they're as small as they'll go, but had to sew up the shires.
 
I like to have the X surcingles so that I can put my hand in and turn my hand so my index finger is touching the horse's tummy and my little finger is touching the surcingle. Basically so they can breathe out easily but it's hard for them to get a hoof through. If I had a teeny pony with dinky hooves I would probably do it slightly tighter.
 
I have a Weatherbeeta extra lite stable rug with ridiculously long cross surcingles. My horse is a 15.3 TB and is quite a slight little fellow but he is only a 6'3 so I wouldn't have expected them to be that long :confused:
 
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