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 Trailer Towing – What you need to know.

Posted by idex7 | Filed under Equestrian Services

With new EU and UK legislation concerning driving horseboxes coming in almost every week, including tachograph rules and pollution charges in London, more and more of us are turning to the more economical alternative of a horse trailer.

T & C Horse Trailer Towing Training The only problem is that anyone under the age of 30 in 2009 may not have the necessary driving class or category on their licence to legally tow a horse trailer over 750kg. You need to take another driving test to be road legal and insured. So, just to make sure we all know what's needed have a look at T & C Training, who specialise in teaching horse owners how to tow their horse trailers.

T & C Training offer specialised and expertise training by a fully qualified female driving instructor with over 20yrs experience of transporting horses.

Horse Trailer Towing Training is provided in a 4x4 vehicle towing an Ifor Williams trailer, this sets T & C apart from many other training providers as most just tow with a small car and normal box trailer and many instructors have no experience in transporting horses. T & c training believe in using vehicles similar to yours in order to ensure you are best equipped to transport your horse once you have passed your B + E test.

They even make it possible to use your own vehicle and or trailer provided the vehicles meet the minimum test requirements. You can check the requirements at www.trailerandcartraining.co.uk.

Horse Trailer Accident T&C Training cover horse trailer towing in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire and even provide help for horse owners who are licensed to tow trailers but who may be nervous, rusty or just need help reversing. If you need help towing your trailer give them a call on Call or 07743 328450 or check out their website at www.trailerandcartraining.co.uk.