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.

Quote Of The Day – James Michener

Posted by rji | Filed under General Info, Worth Mentioning

Why did this animal that had prospered so in the Colorado desert leave his amiable homeland for Siberia? There is no answer. We know that when the horse negotiated the land bridge... he found on the other end an opportunity for varied development that is one of the bright aspects of animal history. He wandered into France and became the mighty Percheron, and into Arabia, where he developed into a lovely poem of a horse, and into Africa where he became the brilliant zebra, and into Scotland, where he bred selectively to form the massive Clydesdale. He would also journey into Spain, where his very name would become the designation for gentleman, a caballero, a man of the horse. There he would flourish mightily and serve the armies that would conquer much of the known world.

James Michener

James Albert Michener (Feb 3 1907 - Oct 16 1997) was an American author of more than 40 titles, the majority of which are novels of sweeping sagas, covering the lives of many generations in a particular geographic locale and incorporating historical facts into the story as well.Michener is known for the meticulous research behind his work.

Because his books tend to be fairly long, it is sometimes said that "Michener tends to write by the pound."

According to his own words James A. Michener was a foundling without knowledge of his birth-place or date; according to other sources he was born in New York and taken as an orphan to Doylestown, Pennsylvania. He was raised by Mabel Michener, a Quaker widow. He started to write a sports column at the age of fifteen for the local newspaper and edited the high school student paper.

Michener ran unsuccessfully in 1962 on the Democratic ticket for the U.S. House of Representatives. He was a member of the advisory committee on the arts for the U.S. Department of State in 1957, served as a secretary of Pennsylvania's Constitutional Convention in 1967-68, and was member of the Advisory Committee, United States Information Agency (1970-76), Council of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (1980-83).

From 1983 he was member of the Board of International Broadcasting.

Michener received more than 20 honorary degrees, and was awarded both the Navy Gold Cross and National Medal of Freedom.

During his career as a writer Michener wrote some 40 books, which sold about 75 million copies. Many of his works have also been adapted for film and television.

Michener was married three times: to Patti Koon in 1935 (divorced 1948), to Vange Nord in 1948 (divorced in 1955), and to Mari Yoriko Sabusawa in 1955.

In 1992 at the age of eighty-five, Michener published his autobiography, THE WORLD IN MY HOME.

He died after his decision to stop his treatment for renal disease.