Re: Center-fire biothane quick-cinch

[Sue Brown <sbrown@wamedes.com>]

>I'm looking into one of those center-fire biothane 
>quick cinches.  Any comments from anyone about their experience with such a 
>cinch with a horse like Sorin would be very appreciated.

I used them for a while on one of my saddles (a Big Horn) but gave them up
fairly quickly for a couple of reasons.  

They attach with Chicago screws to the rigging rings.  The spot where the
Chicago screws are located comes down below the level of my pads.  The
backside of the screws irritated Blaze's skin in that spot -- I had to
round up some old sheepskin/leather round girth protectors I had stuffed in
the back of a closet that I used to use on a western saddle many years ago.
 Only the front cinch strap was bothersome so I only put the ring
protectors on that one -- the back one didn't seem to rub much at all.

The straps are wider than normal english style billets and not a one of my
english girths would work with this system.  I ordered the mohair girth
that is split a ways on both sides with wider buckles sewn on to the split
area.  (Does that make sense?)  Looks much like a mohair english girth but
with wider buckles for the wider biothane straps.  After only a few uses,
one of the buckles completely tore off of the girth as I was ready to head
out on a training ride!  Luckily I had the latigos (that were originally on
the saddle) with me.  I completely removed the billets, put the latigos
back on and never went back to the biothane straps. 

I like the center-fire rigging system where you can adjust the rigging
(both to the girth area and to the rear of the saddle) for a better fit
--essential for Blaze, who seems to always have trouble with the rear part
of saddles moving around.  My new saddle for Blaze (a DeSoto) has this type
of system but she has the straps going to a ring set-up with a wide billet
(like an "off billet" on a western saddle) that you buckle the girth on to.
 This seems to work very well and is very secure.

Sue