Girth construction follow up to bad saddle thread

cremedemonthe

cremedemonthe

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The best made saddle when on your trusty steed can only be as safe as the girth that is holding it on.
I was taught the following method of making girths and it is basic traditional saddlery training and can be applied to all saddlery that requires a chape. A chape is a piece of either leather, nylon or synthetic material that’s used to go round a fitting (a buckle as on the girth) and is then attached to the main body of the girth via stitches, which can be hand stitched or machined.

I’m using a cotton girth for this demonstration, fig 1 is the end chopped off of one of my own design of girth.
I saw what was on the market and wasn’t happy with the variety and style I could buy in from my saddlery wholesalers.
I don’t make these now as I have decommissioned the old treadle 45k singer sewing machine that I made them on.
The girth’s body material is cotton summer sheet, allowing me to make some lovely colour combinations!
I made the girth wider then normal by ½” this offers a greater bearing surface and less pressure on the horse’s sternum.
girthfig1_zpsc9acf762.jpg

FIG 1


In fig 2 I have shown you the inside, which is multi layered foam, very well padded (5/8” thick), it is very malleable and moulds well to the horse’s contours making it very comfy for the horse.
That’s the comfort, now the strength needs to be addressed as cotton summer sheet and foam is not designed to be subjected to a great deal of force isn’t?

I have added a piece of 2” polypropylene webbing internally (the red middle in fig 2) it’s down the entire length of the girth. This not only makes it very strong but stops it stretching too.
Then I have what’s known as a lay platform running down the length of the girth externally, you also get this on commercially made girths and is normal for girth manufacture.
It’s the long blue strap running down the length of the girth.
At the ends of the girth we have 2 chapes, the pieces of polypropylene webbing that go round the buckles and attach onto the girth body.
I doubled the thickness of these chapes, so if one thickness of webbing was to fray and break, there was a second piece as back up to hold the buckle on.
All the chapes, lay platform and internal 2” webbing are sewn together to make the collective strength but not only that, do you notice in fig 1 that the chapes are pushed right on to the girth, right up as far as I can get them, right up to the white arrow?
This is VERY important as it has a greater bearing surface and it makes it SO much stronger and is how they should be made.
I have highlighted the stitches with white chalk so you can see exactly how many stitches are holding all that together.
The buckles are made in England.
Thread is nylon bonded.
girthfig2_zps627ff89b.jpg

FIG 2

NOW!
Fig 3 below, is a cheap cotton girth bought from one of my saddlery wholesalers, undoubtedly made in Asia.
Do you notice the chapes and how little of them are actually ON the body of the girth?
Again I’ve highlighted the stitches with white chalk.
Not a lot of stitches holding it on are there?
You’d think this might not be too bad if it had that internal 2” wide piece of webbing to make it stronger.
girthfig3_zps0079e36e.jpg

FIG 3

In fig 4 it shows you the internal view, no webbing, only foam.
It has the lay platform externally(long black webbing strip down the length of the girth as in fig 3) but it’s the stitching at each end that is the weak point.
These girths are on sale everywhere.
All girths no matter what the style or what they are made of, should have buckles sewn on as i fig 1 for maximum strength.

girthfig4_zpseed5a33d.jpg

FIG 4


Which one would you prefer to use?
 
Thats really interesting thank you

Since you dont make these anymore do you have any suggestions as to where a similar standard of workmanship on a fabric girth can be found? I'm guessing that most are mass produced and even fabric girths being sold by good saddlers probably wont be made by them.
 
WelshD said:
Thats really interesting thank you

Since you dont make these anymore do you have any suggestions as to where a similar standard of workmanship on a fabric girth can be found? I'm guessing that most are mass produced and even fabric girths being sold by good saddlers probably wont be made by them.
Click to expand...

Personally I don't know of any I'm afraid
 
Thanks, just a matter of carefully checking then!

I guess you may be able to feel if there was webbing contained inside the girth as well as being on the surface
 
here_i_am said:
Very interesting, thank you :)
What about leather girths though? Are there good & bad of those?
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Same saddlery techniques apply, make sure chapes are on full length, if no chapes make sure stitching is sound and they are using a thick enough thread. Just take time to go over the girth and see if you can spot any cracks or flaws in the leather which can weaken it, check all stitching, check the leather round the buckles, it wears here more than anywhere else
 
Thats a shame. I suppose I will have to go on the stitching then and hope that if thats good the rest of the construction will be.
 
I have one of those wintec girths with the elastic inside that my saddler recommended. It seems to stretch gradually and I have to do it up a lot of times or it is really loose. I don't want to over girth but I feel like it would be better to have a non stretchy girth in something padded that would have give but not too much stretch? The girth you are describing sounds good!
 
mandwhy said:
I have one of those wintec girths with the elastic inside that my saddler recommended. It seems to stretch gradually and I have to do it up a lot of times or it is really loose. I don't want to over girth but I feel like it would be better to have a non stretchy girth in something padded that would have give but not too much stretch? The girth you are describing sounds good!
Click to expand...
The horses that mine were used on never had any issues with them, even horses that were sensitive in the sternum area, the only thing that happened to the girths was the colour of the cotton faded after a few years, especially if washed in hot water!
 
I'm really tempted to cut a few of my spares up now to see what's inside...!

I have a couple of Wintec dressage ones in different designs, a Dever waffle dressage one and an Aerborn humane one that both claim to have gel inside -does anyone know if they have anything else a bit stronger besides that?

Problem is, it's not like taking a saddle apart and putting it back together again- that would be it once I had cut it!
 
cinnamontoast said:
Same, I had a crap cotton girth because every other girth rubbed. My saddler was horrified! I got a nice string one instead. :)
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Mine is the stubben cord girth and I think it is amazing. So many good reasons to use it. I bought it because my nice wintec one with the elastic insert was rubbing. But I like it has many other advantages:
- It is easy to keep clean, just bung it in the wash
- Damage is easily visible
- Failure is less likely to be catestrophic, if one string goes you see it and can replace the girth before any more go, chances of them all going at once are virtually nil.
- It was cheap to buy
- It is nice and wide giving a broad bearing surface
- it fits nicely even if you are using a point strap as the two buckles can sit far apart
- It is lovely and soft for my sensitive flower of a horse.
 
Some girths are very bad aren't they? I had a stubben, now have a wide gel padded one which my sensitive baby doesn't mind too much, lol! I don't have to tighten it right up anyway as my saddle is a treeless & stays put very well :)
 
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