New leather (Treadstone) girth - stretch?

[soloequestrian]

I bought a new leather Treadstone girth online. It was advertised as 130cm, with elastic both ends. My current girth is 133cm with solid ends. I tried the new one today and it is too short (couldn't get it to the girth straps) - measured and it is 125cm. Do I use a girth extender for a while in the expectation that it will stretch at least the 5cm to the length it was advertised as, or send it back and get the 140cm one? I have old leather girths that are a good 10cm longer than the size stamped on them, so I don't really want to end up with a girth that has stretched to be too long!
Any experiences welcome!

 

[sbloom]

I wouldn't expect it to stretch that much, certainly not quickly, and you might have issues with the buckle placement in the meantime. I would say they're measuring excluding buckles which isn't helpful but is how a few companies do it, I'd return it and suggest they're very explicit with how they measure their girths.

 

[cremedemonthe]

Old traditional way to measure a girth used by saddlers was to measure from the bottom of the buckle tongue one end to the bottom of the buckle tongue the other end but now more riders and owners do their own fitting etc the manufacturers aren't necessarily saddlery trained they have chosen to measure end of buckle to end of buckle instead.So, it can be confusing!