Re: Mares & SS

K S Swigart (katswig@deltanet.com)
Sun, 19 Jan 1997 20:55:51 -0800 (PST)

On Sat, 18 Jan 1997 HHARABSJ@aol.com wrote:

> My SS moves up all the time. When I cinch up, the girth is in the middle of
> the belly so after a minute it slides to the normal position bringing the
> saddle with it. It seems to be in the middle of the belly on all my horses.

I don't know about the Sports Saddle and the way it is rigged (I
understand it can vary depending on the way it is ordered), but....

If you mean what I think you mean by "the middle of the belly" you should
not be cinching up any saddle there. The girth or cinch of a saddle
should lie right behind the elbow, on the true ribs (ribs that are
connected by the sternum, aka breast-bone). If the girth lies behind the
true ribs, it can squeeze the ribs together and restrict the horse's
breathing.

Any saddle (no matter what make, model, or style) should be rigged in
such a way that when the saddle is in "home" position, the girth lies
just behind the elbow...and it shouldn't need a breast collar to keep it
there (because if you adjust the breast collar tight enough to hold the
saddle from slipping back just a few inches, it will be tight enough to
interfere with the movement of the shoulder). Breast collars should be
used as an emergency fall back to keep the saddle from slipping off the
back of the horse in extreme circumstances (such as the girth breaking or
going up a really steep hill), not to keep the saddle from slipping under
normal riding conditions.

If your saddle does not naturally sit in the proper position on your
horse's back without being tied in place, it doesn't fit your horse
properly (I realize that this means that there are some horses that are
vitrually impossible to fit a saddle on properly.) And when it is in
this natural position, the girth should lie over the true ribs.

>From what I have seen of the Sports Saddle (admittedly not much), it is
supposed to lie over the shoulder, not behind it, which would put the
girth right behind the elbow. I am not, however, that familiar with the
saddle...but I thought it was like western saddles and sat over the
withers and scapula.

kat \
Orange County, Calif.