Reviews of Wow Free Space girth?

ycbm said:
First hack was equally different and in some different ways. Far fewer reminders with leg or a tickle with a long whip that he needs to stay up and forward and carry me. Far shorter time to accept that we weren't taking the quick route back to the barn but extending the ride. Far more relaxed than normal when he had accepted that. Far less bit chomping.

The big changes are

- mental forwardness, pure willingness to move
- front leg stride length and reach into the rein. I've lengthened my hold on the reins over and inch, maybe to two inches.
- significantly lower head carriage, and increased desire to stretch when given a free rein.
- a pushing outwards of the muscle at the bottom of the mane immediately in front of the sale that I've never seen before. He's always had a weedy neck, I'm looking forwards to seeing where that goes!

I promise to update if these effects fade, I'm not into promoting expensive things that don't work or deluding myself, but so far I'd describe this as a game changer.
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Thanks for the updates, please keep them coming.

I'm looking to change my girth as my current harry dabbs seems to dig in on the back edge but any looser and my saddle rolls, but loosening the back strap makes zero difference.

I was looking at the stubben equi soft but open to suggestions as it's a lot of money to get wrong.

I just think my Arab is missing that flash that i feel he has in him
 
Identityincrisis said:
Thanks for the updates, please keep them coming.

I'm looking to change my girth as my current harry dabbs seems to dig in on the back edge but any looser and my saddle rolls, but loosening the back strap makes zero difference.

I was looking at the stubben equi soft but open to suggestions as it's a lot of money to get wrong.

I just think my Arab is missing that flash that i feel he has in him
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Have you had the saddle checked recently? If a saddle fits then the girth shouldn't really need to be tight, but you could try a cheap option, the string girth from Stubben.
 
sbloom said:
Have you had the saddle checked recently? If a saddle fits then the girth shouldn't really need to be tight, but you could try a cheap option, the string girth from Stubben.
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Yes, just a couple of days ago. I think it's tight but my instructor said she wouldn't xc with it like that ?

I have considered a stubben string, there are so many options out there, it's mind boggling
 
Schooled day before yesterday and got his best ever walk to canter transitions. Another hack today and a long, strong canter around the xc field. The saddle is staying exactly where I put it, and he has always shifted both his saddles backwards. I don't know how much this is due to the Free Space Girth and how much is to do with the fact that it is basically an H girth. I already used a heavily curved girth and my feeling is that he has been shifting the saddle himself, but no longer wriggles in a way that causes that. He was, as he normally is, aerated by the PA announcements on the competition ground today, and was wriggling and jiggling all over the place for a while.

Stride length continues to be longer, though I'm now getting used to it and have to focus on it to check. I'm definitely not going to send it back, the change is still very noticeable in all sorts of ways.
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Identityincrisis said:
Yes, just a couple of days ago. I think it's tight but my instructor said she wouldn't xc with it like that ?

I have considered a stubben string, there are so many options out there, it's mind boggling
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I tried stubben string but it only works if have aligned girth grove and don’t need curved girth. Else saddle moves IME.

I bought Mattes Athletico girth from eBay, which seems to work for us.
 
Fieldlife said:
I tried stubben string but it only works if have aligned girth grove and don’t need curved girth. Else saddle moves IME.

I bought Mattes Athletico girth from eBay, which seems to work for us.
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I fit a lot of horses with a Stubben girth - they way I fit is with slightly flatter trees that others might, which gives stability, and then I do have the choice of 4 girth straps each side and yes, I select the most appropriate. However, the girths are not very often sitting vertically under the saddle, most of mine are forward girth grooves, so they slope forwards. Slightly different with saddles that slip back but yes, a back strap or balance strap, will help a lot.
 
Mine hasn’t arrived yet - the website didn’t have any info on delivery times. I asked for Express courier delivery so I’m hoping it hasn’t got lost as I expected it by now
 
They were slow to put mine in the post. For £8.50 delivery I frankly expected better. I buy cheap things from ebay all the time and that was worse than most eBay stuff with with "free" postage, which is nearly always on its way within a day.
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Manufacturing is still struggling immensely. Both my supplier lead times have increased too; increased rates of Covid here leading to staff sickness, China having lockdowns all over the place and the disaster that is reduced capacity of airlines (and as a side issue hotels, which affects my multiday saddle fitting trips). If a company offers mail order as a large part of its activity then they should be posting out quickly, I agree, but supply chain issues are causing us all enough stress without customers giving us a hard time about it.
 
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sbloom said:
Manufacturing is still struggling immensely. Both my supplier lead times have increased too; increased rates of Covid here leading to staff sickness, China having lockdowns all over the place and the disaster that is reduced capacity of airlines (and as a side issue hotels, which affects my multiday saddle fitting trips). If a company offers mail order as a large part of its activity then they should be posting out quickly, I agree, but supply chain issues are causing us all enough stress without customers giving us a hard time about it.
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That's all understandable but the website just offers 'courier express delivery' which to me implies they have it in stock already. Some girth lengths were listed as not in stock. The one I bought was listed as 'in stock'. If I had known I was waiting for a consignment from overseas I might have tried another girth that does a similar thing in the meantime. Customers give sellers a 'hard time' if communucation is poor so they have no idea what is going on.
 
Ambers Echo said:
That's all understandable but the website just offers 'courier express delivery' which to me implies they have it in stock already. Some girth lengths were listed as not in stock. The one I bought was listed as 'in stock'. If I had known I was waiting for a consignment from overseas I might have tried another girth that does a similar thing in the meantime. Customers give sellers a 'hard time' if communucation is poor so they have no idea what is going on.
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Oh I agree, it's seriously irritating when websites don't carry live stock levels but so many don't, it's the same with clothes, household stuff etc. And I'm not even saying the girth comes from overseas, there is backlog in UK workshops, and that is partly caused by international supply chains but at least as much by the domestic situation.
 
A slow hack in the heat today but there was a pleasant breeze and we were back by 10am with hardly a sweat.

The changes continued today. I had expected him to be less forward as I was trying him without his boots on and it was warm and i took him out when he was falling asleep.

Far from it, I put him on a loose rein and he stretched forward for the whole 40 minutes and he didn't think backwards once. I didn’t have to ask him to stay forwards once. This is the first time, I think ever, where he wouldn’t have ground to a halt and turned for home if left to make the decision for himself. Also the first time ever that he has worked over his back with his ears down at wither level without having to be asked to put his head and neck that low. He did it by choice.

There's absolutely no mistaking the change in top line of his neck. I should have taken photos when I started but I really didn't expect to see his neck change, it's always been weedy and too long since he was 2 years old.

I'm not claiming this is the girth. All I can say is that this is new stuff which has developed steadily since I first started using it.

I find it a pain in the neck to put on as it's essential the pad is central. That means instead of putting one side to the top and then gradually drawing up the other, I have to fit it loose and then do it up one hole at a time each side. That's about the only downside I can find at the moment.
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ycbm said:
I find it a pain in the neck to put on as it's essential the pad is central. That means instead of putting one side to the top and then gradually drawing up the other, I have to fit it loose and then do it up one hole at a time each side. That's about the only downside I can find at the moment.
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All girths should be fastened like that, I know it's a pain but it's by far the best way.
 
sbloom said:
All girths should be fastened like that, I know it's a pain but it's by far the best way.
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Ah but, whether you should or not, you can get away with it with other girths by standing in one stirrup before tightening it fully :) What I meant, I guess, is this one doesn't easily shift to the middle, it just tilts the pad, and it's crucial that it's exactly right or you close the gap a bit on one side.
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I am following this as I am very interested, but holding fire for the moment as the saddle fitter is coming next month. So while I wait you can all test it thoroughly for me :p

I'd be particularly interested to know if anyone tries it after using a string girth, which is what both of mine have on their dressage saddles.
 
I'm reasonably sure a string girth wouldn't do the trick on this horse, but it does occur to me than he has very definite "corners" in the shape of his chest where the girth turns to come upwards. On a horse of a rounder shape it's quite possible the effect would be less marked or even non existant.
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ycbm said:
I'm reasonably sure a string girth wouldn't do the trick on this horse, but it does occur to me than he has very definite "corners" in the shape of his chest where the girth turns to come upwards. On a horse of a rounder shape it's quite possible the effect would be less marked or even non existant.
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I knew a horse like this years ago in a riding school I worked for occasionally. I think the poor boy spent almost his entire working life with an over-tightened girth because it always felt loose when you put your fingers in the traditional test spot. If you felt his sternum though you generally couldn't get a finger in. Would the FreeSpace not have less of an effect on a horse that shape rather than more because a normal girth wouldn't exert so much pressure on the side muscles where on a rounder horse it would press on them?
 
soloequestrian said:
I knew a horse like this years ago in a riding school I worked for occasionally. I think the poor boy spent almost his entire working life with an over-tightened girth because it always felt loose when you put your fingers in the traditional test spot. If you felt his sternum though you generally couldn't get a finger in. Would the FreeSpace not have less of an effect on a horse that shape rather than more because a normal girth wouldn't exert so much pressure on the side muscles where on a rounder horse it would press on them?
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I think a normal girth presses hard right on the corners. Soft string would help, the WOW stops it altogether.
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Red-1 said:
I just excitedly looked too, but just found the H girth.

Mine is one where his shape means the sternum is tight but the sides are baggy.
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Mine is not quite as extreme but it is definitely much tighter on the sternum than the sides and the back edge digs in. This is only something I've started to look at recently and i was shocked, i.just assumed the pressure was even all round
 
OK I was waiting for today. I'm very stressed over the house sale and he was very tense about noises around the yard, probably mostly triggered by me. I went to school in an arena he's never been in and there was a screaming stallion schooling next door.

He wouldn't settle to warm up and he wouldn't bend into my outside hand. I was just about to give up and accept that today was the wrong day, and just tried a set of 5 loop serpentines in trot. (arena is 80m) He surprised me by doing the best changes of bend and exchange of contact into outside rein on each loop that he's ever done.

We had a play with some flying changes, that he's only just started and they were as good as I've had so far.

So then I thought I'd try for some lengthened strides. He has never been good at this, it takes a lot of warmup and careful riding to get any lengthening in stride without running, tipping or cantering.

So the first run was about as good as he can do, or so I thought....

The second run, I felt him lift, and test, and make a conscious decision to go for more. I swear he clicked that the restriction was gone and he could offer more with no discomfort. When I already had the best lengthening he's ever done, I asked for more and he went up two gears without any change of rythm and punched into the biggest trot I've ever ridden, including the dressage warmbloods I've had. It was a bugger to sit to, but by gods it was fabulous.

So I'm getting off the fence now. This is the girth. There is no doubt left in my mind. He has been transformed by it until at moments like today I barely recognise him as riding the same horse.

This is my advice for those tempted to try this pricey piece of plastic. Put your horse's girth on and tighten it up. Run your hand under the girth from top to middle, repeat on the other side. If you feel a looser patch of girth just above where the belly turns from flat across the bottom to coming up the side, and particularly if you feel a pinch on the "corner", then my guess would be that you are a good candidate to get the results I'm getting. If your horse is rounder, without pinch points, possibly not, so borrow don't buy.

I am so grateful this thread got started, Ludo has been struggling to do what I've asked for a long time and I never even knew, I just thought I'd got the best he was capable of.
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