Girth Galls.......

christian

Well-Known Member
Joined
29 August 2005
Messages
620
Location
S.yorks/derbyshire
RaThEr-bE-RiDiN0610.bebo.com
My mare has got niggling girth gall that we cant seem to get rid of. It will scab over and dry up, but as soon as i ride her again it re opens. Its not a nasty ugly thing its just there and annoying me (and her!). I am barely riding her as it is and i am using a sheepskin when i ride. Just saving her for PC rallys and shows but we have decided to give her time off to let it heal. What do you suggest to speed up the process?? I am currently using a combination of black powder and purple spray (awful stuff) as opposed to a cream to keep it dry.

Thanks in advance!
 

loobylu

Well-Known Member
Joined
10 April 2006
Messages
1,037
Location
Scotland
Visit site
Not a vetainary(sp) expert but having had a very sensitive chestnut thin skinned mare, I would suggest cream as opposed to keeping it dry! Rest is definately a good idea- hers cleared up with about two weeks off. Got them whenI went out on a very long beach ahck- think some sand must have got under her girthsleeve. Cornucresine works wonders on baldy bits....
 

flyingfeet

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 March 2006
Messages
8,073
Location
South West
Visit site
I would put sudocream on it - seems to heal most problems

The other thing is have you considered changing girths? The professional choice girths never gall, but are quite expensive.
 

Maesfen

Extremely Old Nag!
Joined
20 June 2005
Messages
16,720
Location
Wynnstay - the Best!
photobucket.com
Wash it well with warm water and salt then dry, smear lightly with a skin cream (Savlon, Sudacrem) if necessary and repeat this at least daily if not more often; rest her and don't use anything but a clean soft (something like a Cottage Craft one) material (not these new plasticy ones) girth afterwards. Once the skin has healed thoroughly you can harden the area with bathing with Surgical Spirit. After it's healed, you could also leave horse with a well fitting roller and breastgirth on, even in the field, this will harden the skin even better but it must always be clean and checked often that it hasn't slipped (hence the breastgirth) this is sometimes done for hunters coming back into work but the by word is cleanliness of all girths, numnahs, rollers and cleaning any sweat marks thoroughly. It should clear up soon as long as you give it time to heal properly in the first place.
 

lisaward

Well-Known Member
Joined
20 February 2006
Messages
1,960
Location
norfolk- back of beyond
Visit site
we used to have a mare that got them loads we used to put a piece of sponge with a hole where the gall is to take the pressure off so we could keep riding ,once healed enough we put surgical spirit on to harden
 

Ashf

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 September 2005
Messages
791
Location
Cheltenham, England
www.stencilbum.co.uk
Galls are caused by the girth sawing away at the skin.

If you can stop this from happening, then the Gall will not come back.

Get your saddle checked for fitment as a poorly fitting one will slide around and cause this (replace it for one which does if in doubt, don't mess around with putting pads or thick numnahs under a poorely fitting one, it doesnt work) - as we found out to our cost with Jessie being off work for about 6 weeks when we first had her.

I also got a Gel girth sleeve from Moreton saddlery which fits a cottage craft girth which was an absolute godsend, and made sure that the girth is always done up tight to stop the sawing movement.

We bathed it with saline, and once it healed, used surgical spirit to help harden it.

We stopped using the gel girth sleeve after about 18 months and haven't had any problems since
 

parsley

Well-Known Member
Joined
23 August 2005
Messages
2,524
Visit site
I would echo a lot of the comments on here - a sponge helps stop further irritation, surgical spirits (not while it is open!) and look at your girth and saddle carefully. My son's pony has a horrible pinchy lump of skin taken out - I bought him a wintec anti gall girth as I realised that the cottage craft girth I had was so old
blush.gif
that the outside webbing bit had gone hard and was rubbing him
blush.gif
Hope your mare's clears up soon
 

0ldmare

Well-Known Member
Joined
22 September 2004
Messages
7,424
Location
Kent
Visit site
Best thing is to get a sheepskin girth sleeve. It really works (definitely helps to heal the skin) AND stops you getting any more rubs.
 
Top