Prolite girths

Ben2684

Ben2684

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This has probably been done before (in fact I know it has as I've been researching a LOT)

Thinking of buying both the long and short versions for my two saddles. My ISH has a very forward girth groove and as he has put a bit of weight on this seems to have exacerbated the problem and saddles have started slipping forward a little. He prefers the saddle nowhere near his overly large shoulders and was wondering if these would help. Saddler is coming out in a couple of days at my request to see if there is any alterations needed and it was he who suggested I have a look at them. No matter what I do girth seems to slip forward and then pull the saddle too. He's a big mover (when he wants to be!!) so this may not also be helping

Thanks :)
 
Have one on a big shouldered WB who has a very forward girth groove. It was getting to the point where you had to get off and move the saddle everytime you cantered. Saddler put a wee bit more flock in front (new saddle so had settled very quickly), put on a prolite girth and hey presto saddle stayed where it was, so definitely worth a try for your horse.

Saddler has advised that a point strap on the saddle will probably be necessary in the long term, but the girth is doing the job just now and we will send the saddle away to have this fitted at the end of the competition season whilst the horse has a holiday.
 
I'm not convinced.
I have a forward girth grooved big bellied chap.
the girth definitely moves forwards on him, although it still clears those very baggy elbows but can be seen to gape at the sides so I'm not sure how even the pressure is. I need to experiment doing it up on odd buckles etc and the skin does wrinkle near the pad. He's off games so experiment on hold ;)

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Hmmmm I may ask around to borrow one before parting with hard earned cash. I shall wait and see what saddler says as some adjustments may stop the saddles slipping. his top line has definitely improved so maybe this will be all that is needed??
 
Ben2684 said:
Hmmmm I may ask around to borrow one before parting with hard earned cash. I shall wait and see what saddler says as some adjustments may stop the saddles slipping. his top line has definitely improved so maybe this will be all that is needed??
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Ours is a short girth that goes on a monoflap jumping saddle, £89 from the saddler but it was her that recommended it and tried it as part of her saddle fitting service. She also advised that the girth we had on him was too long and was allowing the long girth straps to move forwards, therefore pulling the saddle forwards. Putting a shorter, prolite girth on helped to keep the girth straps angled straight down and thus the saddle was less likely to move forwards. I wish I could elaborate on this more as I'm not sure my explanation is doing it justice!!

I wouldn't personally buy one if I didn't know it whether it would work, but for us the difference was obvious and immediate so it was a no-brainer. I would definitely wait for the saddler, though - does he have one you can try?
 
I should say that mine is a long one. I did trial one and it slipped but only a bit but figured that until I could take it for the 3 odd hour rides I needed it for I would never really know.
 
I've seen very mixed results, and some horses don't get on with them full stop. I find that in many cases they simply drop the girth more vertically whereas I can get a regular girth to come off the front lower edge of the panel to line up with the girth groove, with sometimes better results. However, mostly you need a short enough footprint, a flat enough tree for ultimate stability, and a point strap (not the work of the devil when it's on a correctly fitting flat tree and is used to keep the saddle OFF the shoulder) in order to keep the saddle where it should be.
 
My section D is pretty similar in shape to ester's. I have a short prolite narrow gauge on her (didn't expect to need the narrow as she's built like a brick outhouse) and it keeps everything in place with her. i had tried my other horse's fairfax standard so knew it would be pretty much OK. I'm very happy with it- she manages to shift a half pass forwards between her numnah and saddle if not well secured and she's particularly loose through her back, but the saddle doesn't budge.
 
Prolite Fairfax? Mine is on the local tip. It was incredibly hard and very plasticky, it slipped to high heaven and a trainer told me that they had another pupil with the same issue so it wasn't just me. When you bend it to the shape of the horse you can see the lining goes into creases. The martingale loop was badly worn after only one use and someone else has posted about theirs breaking.

I put it in the dustbin.
 
I agree the martingale loop doesn't look very sturdy however I don't use a martingale so can't say whether it's up to much. I have the long version & really like it, it provides good elbow clearance unlike the normal straight shaped girths. I found mine has really softened up as was quite stIff when I bought it.
 
Nicnac said:
Borrow one first. They don't suit all horses; some have been rubbed quite badly by them.
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Rubbed my Arab terribly, I was so upset, we had got back from 1.5 hour hack, to find him rubbed raw. It was the long girth, narrow gauge. I had measured it accurately, just didn't suit my boy. He had not made one sign of pain bless him, I had to give him over a week off for it to heal. :(
 
BSL said:
Rubbed my Arab terribly, I was so upset, we had got back from 1.5 hour hack, to find him rubbed raw. It was the long girth, narrow gauge. I had measured it accurately, just didn't suit my boy. He had not made one sign of pain bless him, I had to give him over a week off for it to heal. :(
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Gosh!!
Saddler coming out so hopefully issue will be sorted without the need to change girths!
 
Ben2684 said:
Gosh!!
Saddler coming out so hopefully issue will be sorted without the need to change girths!
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Fingers crossed it is easily sorted.

With regards to rubbing, lemieux make a lambskin girth cover shaped especially for the fairfax/prolite girth so that is an option. Ours has softened up with time though and is not an issue on our horse.

I imagine the leather fairfax one would not rub like the prolite and is exactly the same shape. Just don't look too closely at the price :D
 
I know :( I just can't justify over £200 on a 'maybe it will solve the issue' girth. Saddler will hopefully sort it, may ask him to bring a fairfax to try at the same time??
 
Ben2684 said:
I know :( I just can't justify over £200 on a 'maybe it will solve the issue' girth. Saddler will hopefully sort it, may ask him to bring a fairfax to try at the same time??
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Definitely ask him. We wouldn't have bought the prolite without having the saddler recommending and letting us trial it :)
 
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