Over girths...

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MegaBeast

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Saturday night ponderings... do you use an over girth for xc and if not why not? They used to be "the norm" not that long ago but now seem to be a rarity.
 
I know - used to be so common. Is it because most people jump in a single flap saddle with long girth straps now??

I haven't used mine for about 9 or 10 years now.

Fiona
 
i used to use one for eventing, but don't now, i'd still use one if i was to team chase, and certainly for racing, i don't use one for eventing anymore as going around an intro doesn't compare to going racing, so whether i'd use one if i scale the ladder of the eventing i don't know,
 
Nope and I never have done, fwiw I only saw one at Northallerton yesterday too. I remember going to Your Horse Live once and 1 top 4* rider (may have been WFP but not definitely sure) went through what sort of tack they used for XC and said they just weren't neccesary anymore because of modern girths being much stronger. There was a time when they were compulsory for Tetrathlon Championships, only a couple of years ago and they may still be :).
 
i only use one for 3 days now. used to use them for 1-days too, but since i never used one for sj it seemed a bit daft somehow, and tightening the girth with it on is such a nightmare if you don't have a groom at the start.
but, i clean and check stitching on my girths every single day, fwiw, having had 1 snap when trying out a horse, not the most pleasant experience!
 
kerilli said:
but, i clean and check stitching on my girths every single day, fwiw, having had 1 snap when trying out a horse, not the most pleasant experience!
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eek, that sounds a bit scary!

Guess the chances of the girth itself snapping are pretty minimal these days and you'd be unlucky to have both straps go at once... (*touching wood* otherwise I know exactly what will happen next time out!).

Why only for 3 days K? (genuine interest)
 
QR - always put one on daughter's ponies for all xc whether competition or schooling - safety first imo. Have twice seen martingales (or breastplates) come unclipped from stud girths in competition with resultant lack of control (although whoever it was at Badders today with same problem actually did not seem to have control problem but probs cos near end of course!) so seems sensible to me - better to be safe than sorry!
 
I had an "all the gear no idea" parked next to me at a BE event the other week (brand new Oakley lorry, very smart grey pony with it's own groom, brand new tack etc). The class was the dizzying heights of a .................... BE90! Anyway said child had nothing what so ever to do with the pony other than being plonked on board. The mother fussed around trying to work out which tack she should tell the groom to put on, and the groom just looked vaguely bored and did whet she was told. It came to the XC and I had just finished and my horse was back on the lorry, so was just putting my tack away, and I was aware of some argument between the groom and the mother (child was no where to be seen). I pricked up my ears and looked over (nosey, moi?!), to see the mother holding this overgirth and shouting at the groom as the groom didn't know what it was! The mother said "how on earth should I know where to put it, the woman in the shop just told me we needed it! You're the groom, you should know." At this point I went over and put them all out if their misery and got the overgirth on the pony, showing them how to do it, for future reference. Child then appeared, got on pony to go XC, and Mother and groom both just left without even saying Thank you! So I shouted it after them just to make the point, but they didn't take any notice. Pony got eliminated XC. At the lorry Mother was shouting at the daughter about how much the pony had cost, and they had bought it because it was a winner, so her daughter would win and not embarrass her! So I walked past and said "how annoying your pony was eliminated, mine just went clear, and she only cost £100!" And walked away. When I returned they had left.

So not much to do with overgirths, but it is an amusing yet worrying story!
 
charlimouse, i really feel sorry for that poor child and the pony most of all. jeez, what an attitude to Eventing.
Megabeast, only at 3-days because of habit, i guess, because i'm so used to long-format! when i think about it i can't think of another reason. always used to tie headpiece to top plait at 3-days only too, no reason for that now that the new 1-fall-and-out rule is here.

with elasticated girths there's a lot more chance of one breaking tbh. :( :(
 
Had forgotten about the old tie the bridle headpiece to the first plait malarkey...

Fair point re elasticated girths. Interesting how things change, in many ways "we" are all more safety conscious than we were and yet things like overgirths don't get used any more.
 
worMy said:
i always use one. have monoflap saddle with long girth too, dont get why that would make a difference fiona?
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Because using a normal saddle and long girth - the overgirth lies on top of the girth/saddle all the way round.

Using an overgirth with a monoflap saddle and short girth would mean (I think) that it would nip each side where it was against the long girth straps & against the horses sides. Apologies if this isn't the case, but I def read it somewhere.

The main reason for people not using one any more could be due to the increased strength of girth straps/webbing that the girth straps are attached to, but then the stitching on the girth buckles has to be strong too.

Fiona
 
Fiona said:
The main reason for people not using one any more could be due to the increased strength of girth straps/webbing that the girth straps are attached to, but then the stitching on the girth buckles has to be strong too.
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking until K said about elasticated girths - mine's a Professional Choice one with elastic both ends for the straps, does elastic have a finite life ie does it start to perish? Bit of a worrying thought... maybe I should invest in an overgirth!
 
The elastic in a leather girth is far higher quality than the elastic in the synthetic ones ime, it stretches far less! We would still do the tie the headpiece to the forelock if we had little ponies as when we did tetrathlon I tended to fall off in the water with bridle in my hand and pony bombing off :o!

I have to say the pony coped very well with the martingale coming unclipped yesterday imo :).
 
the quality of the elastic isn't the point, it's the fact that when it is being stitched to the girth (be it fabric or leather) the needle will pierce strands of the elastic, and those are therefore weakened. No way around that unless it is hand-stitched carefully between the strands, if that's even possible?! someone on here had a virtually new elasticated girth (of a good make) snap clean through while out hunting. i've quoted her in my EWW XC Article about Tack for XC...
 
I used to use one but don't anymore for 2 reasons. One is that I found it interfered with my riding, either my leg or my seat or both, I can't really remember but I think the stirrup leather used to clash with where I had it (probably my own bad positioning). The main reason why I stopped using it though is my horse had girth line syndrome where he gets very sore in the girth area of his tummy and when I was switching to use soft sheepskin lined leather Frank Baines girths (yes, even XC, think of the water fences!) it seemed silly to whack an uncomfortable tight overgirth round him too.
 
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