Ridecamp: [RC] Girth rub question

> I've had a problem lately with ANY girth rubbing
> Charlie Brown 

Lately?  Is this always with this horse, or something new? If so, what
changed...brand of saddle, amount of riding?  Could the saddle be rolling
more?

(the horse, ya know).  Neoprene, string,
> wool cover...!  When I put zinc oxide on his side, 

I've had a little trouble here and there.  Here's some things we do.  On
my mohair girth I didn't like the buckels being against his side.  I took
the shim pads (closed cell foam) from an Ortho-Flex, cut out about a
4"x6" rectangle, and used contact cement to put some *good* wool (packing
material.. Ortho-Flex used to throw in really good thick wool scraps for
packing if they shipped your saddle) on the back of it. Then ran a piece
of rawhide through that to tie through the buckels. It made a very nice
pad for the buckels.

The other horse had a problem with the neoprene.  I took 2 more wool
scraps and just made little tubes about 8" long (they don't give you any
*big* scraps)  On that horse we slide those up sort of even with the
elbow on each side.  I makes sure they stay clean.  

We tried the Desitin. It was expensive and really gooey.  Found out you
can get a generic version cheap at the Dollar Store. Then, Darolyn Butler
told me she mixes it 1/2 and 1/2 with vasoline.  You mix it in a bowl,
then spoon it into a syringe, then shoot it right back into the tube.  We
finally broke down and did that yesterday and it worked like a charm. We
just labeled it "Ben Balm" on the tube.  It's easier to apply than the
straight Desitin.

On my horses we found that the rubbing wasn't always the girth. 
Sometimes the girth didn't even touch the area up under the elbows that
was getting galled. The Desitin seems to help that a lot...just get it
all up in the "armpit" 

I try to always lift up the front leg to clear any loose skin from the
girth area after the final tightening of the girth.

Haven't tried it myself, but a prominent rider told me the other day that
her horse had sensitive skin and she always covers the girth with baby
powder before putting it back on.

A while back someone posted a recipe for a mixture you could apply to
toughen the skin.  I lost it with some files.  Anybody got that?

Angie

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