12/07/2024
Sound advice.
I too did this religiously as a pony-clubber, but times have definitely moved on!
Yesterday I posted about how pulling legs forward when girthed can, on some horses, cause excess skin to be pulled through and cause rubs at the girth area.
And I happened to attend a fitting where this very thing had happened, so I made a little video for yโall. Scroll down the page to see them, if you missed it. Cos itโs pretty cool, even if I say so myself.
Which brings us to:
๐๐๐๐๐๐ฟ ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐/๐๐๐๐๐๐พ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ฝ๐ ๐ผ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐?
I know that I was always taught to do this at Pony Club, butโฆ I was a little twerp then and also thought I was the height of sophistication with a RED Cottage Craft girthโฆ and letโs face it, we have come a LONG way since then. Thankfully. *cringes at the memories*
There are lots of reasons that we don't need to stretch out their front legs anymore. Here are a few...
1. We now know that cold muscles shouldn't be 'passively' stretched. They are much more likely to sustain injury if stretched when cold.
โ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ด๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ซ๐ถ๐ณ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ท๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ. ๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด.โ
(๐๐๐ก๐ก๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐จ, ๐๐ค๐ง๐จ๐๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐จ๐๐๐ ๐๐ช๐ฉ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ค๐๐๐๐จ๐จ ๐ค๐ ๐๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ ๐ผ๐ฃ๐๐ฉ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ).
2. Girths have come a realllly long way since I yearned for a red crunchy girth. They have a broader surface area, theyโre better shapedโฆ and they often have an element of stretch/elasticity to them. They donโt dig into the horseโs soft tissue so muchโฆ and many are designed anatomically.
3. It can pull excess skin (and in some cases enlarged veins in the region) through to get trapped between girth and elbow (see yesterdayโs video). This can cause rubs, chafing or discomfort.
Soโฆ. What can you do instead?
1. Speak to your saddle fitter and ask if you are using the most perfect girth for your horse.
2. Donโt do your girth up super tight straight away, do it gradually. And walk them to the arena/mounting block with it a hole or two looser. This allows their forelimbs to move naturally.
3. Check regularly for rubs. Look at photos of you riding, where is your girth sitting? Is it giving your horse enough space at their elbow?
4. Make sure your girth is CLEAN and NOT CRACKED. Make sure the material is smooth and edge-free. Replace your girth as soon as it gets cracked or non-smooth edges.
5. Check your girth is the correct length. Short girths should be as long as possible without interfering with the saddle. If this means the buckles get in the way, try a different type of girth. Long girths should end up in hole three or four of your saddle when horse is worked in and girth is done up correctly.
6. Avoid girths that crumple up, girths should have substance to them. To hold their shape and distribute the pressure as evenly as possible.
7. Not so relevant to this topic but PLEASE people, please stop doing your girths up so darn tight! Do your girth as tight as youโd want someone to do your bra upโฆ Iโll do another post about this.
STILL WANT TO PULL YOUR HORSEโS LEG FORWARD?
Fine, Iโm not the boss of you. You do you.
Butโฆ think about WHY you want to do itโฆ
Letโs not just do things because we โalways haveโโฆ letโs do things that are best for our horse. We owe it to them to always be looking for different ways to make them happy.
Over and out. *kisses*
Quote above by Horses Inside Out - Gillian Higgins
