Gun Dog Forum

Someone told me I can leave my horse's girth VERY loose if I use a fat boy strap. My horse galls pretty badly at the beginning of the season when he's been off for a bit, and I'm under doctor's orders not to ride for at least another 5 weeks (it's been 7 already). Anyone use them?

Here's our routine....ride only when we have to on Saturday, then a little more on Sunday, horse has a small gall. I loosenig the girth between braces, stretch his feet out in front of him to make sure there aren't any skin wrinkles every time I tighten it, and use a mounting block every time I mount at the trailer. I switched from neoprene to fleece and make sure I travel with 2 so he has a clean one each day. The galls take until Thursday to heal (like clock work), so we're good for the following weekend. This goes on for about 3 or 4 week, then his skin has toughened up enough that I can ride until he's too tired to go anymore without galls. I don't keep him at home, and don't have an opportunity to get to the barn daily, so any topical treatments to keep his skin tough are difficult to do. Last season I sprayed his "arm pit" area with show sheen before I tacked him up, and that actually did seem to help a bit. I can't be the only one having this problem.

Can I really leave the girth loose enough to avoid galls if I use one?

Do you use a Neoprene Girth. cause if you do that's the problem I found. I switched mine and the problem went away.

Nope, I use fleece.

I switched to a Smart Cinch (because the fleece extended further away from the nylon webbing at the stitched edge) on my horse and it seems to have cured his galling problem. You might look at one to see if it would help??

You may also want to try a mohair girth, and make sure it is not too high up in his armpits, but balanced well on his belly with equal leather on each side of the billets(or leather the girth attaches to). If you leave the girth very loose the fat boy strap will keep it from sliding left, but it could still slip sideways to the right, so that wouldn't work. Also, make sure you have the girth about 4" from the armpit/elbow, or he will get galls. Good luck!

Get a QUALITY mohair girth. I swear by mine. I can check the brand name for you if you like. I had a horse that would gall easily. I switched to these girths on all of my saddles and problem went away. They are durable and comfortable for the horse. You can also use a bit of udder cream where they tend to gall to give some "lubricity" to the spot. This worked for me before I switched to the mohair.

Worth a shot....

My daughter uses a Montana Cincha Mohair girth. They aren't cheap, but he hasn't had a gall since. He is a rolly-polly Morab, so she puts the girth pretty tight, and has no problem with either saddle slippage or galls! They have either western and english rigging. Check them out here-http://www.actionridertack.com/catalog/ ... ath=48_255 Good luck~nan