The Equestrian Blog

Saddle Girth – How tight is too tight?

Are you guilty of doing up your horse’s girth as tight as you can in the belief it gives your saddle and you the best security? Well Australian researchers have found that a girth done up too tightly can have a negative effect on your horse’s performance.

The usual tension applied to a saddle girth to keep a saddle on a Thoroughbred racehorse is around 13kg but researchers found anything over 10kg could alter the horses performance.

Although they still have to work out why, it’s thought that it may force the horse to adopt different breathing patterns involving a greater use of the diaphragm which in turn affects performance. Alternatively, the soft tissue and fluid in the thoracic wall (the part between the neck and abdomen, enclosed by the ribs) could be displaced during exercise.

As yet, no-one knows for sure. Some horses don’t seem particularly affected by girth tightness but others do. Saddle placement also played a part, so more research is needed. Whatever the effects of your saddle girth just make sure you don’t leave your girth too loose.

BSJA Launch New Series

Posted by debbie | Filed under Equestrian News, Show Jumping

The BSJA has launched a new £60,000 competition series at UK County Shows.

The series will run at Devon County, Royal Highland, South of England, Great Yorkshire, Royal Norfolk, New Forest, Pembroke and Royal Berkshire.

It will carry a total of £60,000 in prize-money and will be funded by the British Show Jumping Association Business Partnership and their county show venues.

The 1.50m eight class series will be run on a league table points system and will conclude at Royal Berkshire in September.

The league table will carry a bonus of £45,000 worth of rider ranking points with £10,000 of those going to the winner. Ranking points will be awarded in a sliding scale down to 8th place alongside the competition cash prizes.

"It's superb we have been able to introduce a series at this level that meet our objectives for assessing horse and rider, and is a great stepping stone for those capable of progressing to four and five star Nation's cup competitions," said newly appointed chairman of the international committee Clare Whitaker.

"This is a fantastic series made possible by the BSJA Business Partnership, which was formed with a view to bring like-minded businesses together through the sport to assist in delivery of medals for Great Britain" said the BSJA spokesman Maria Clayton.

Full Details on the BSJA website