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.

Horse Hay – What Shortage ?

Posted by rji | Filed under Equestrian News

UK floods and horse hay shortages In a summer of pouring rain and flooding, UK farmers and feed suppliers expressed concerns about the availability of hay in the coming winter.

However, it seems UK hay is in reasonably plentiful supply with no significant increase in local prices and nothing in the equestrian press relating to rip-off suppliers.

No... it seems that heat is far more dangerous than excess rain, when it comes to feed supplies with USA horse owners suffering over the top price hikes due to drought conditions in the Southern States.

A horse rescue agency that operates in North Carolina and two other states has taken in almost double the number of abused and neglected horses it usually accepts each year, and more than half came from North Carolina.

Workers with the U.S. Equine Rescue League largely blame the dramatic price increase for hay, which is in short supply across the drought-parched Southeast. The record dry conditions in North Carolina have wiped out hay crops and affected pasture land that horses would normally graze through November. The nonprofit organization normally takes in about 100 horses each year, but the agency now has 170 horses, including 90 from North Carolina, said Jennifer Malpass, director of the league's Triangle chapter. She said hay prices have doubled in some areas.

The problems aren't confined to North Carolina.

Kathy Grant, an equine cruelty investigator in Tennessee, said a round bale of hay that cost $12 this summer have soared in price, some to $100. The rural roads in her eastern Tennessee community are lined with pastures dotted with emaciated horses, she said.

"A lot of the farmers around here have hay, but they're holding on to it," Grant said. "When they're releasing it, they're charging exorbitant rates. A normal person can't afford it."

In Virginia, the U.S. Equine Rescue League has taken in horses that are dramatically under their ideal weight.