Tack Tip Tuesday

Cinch Position

Proper fitting tack is important for your horse’s comfort and welfare. When talking about tack fit, most people think directly about saddles, but having a properly fitting girth/cinch is just as important. This week’s #TackTipTuesday is about cinch position and fit! Girths can be easier to tell for fit on if they reach the billets. On a close contact saddle it is easy to tell if you have the right size by where it connects on the billets. However if it possible for a dressage and western saddle to still reach the billets or latigo and not be the right size.   When finding the right spot for the cinch, we want to keep the horse’s anatomy in mind. We don’t want the cinch to sit in the horse’s elbow, where there is lots of loose skin that stretches when in motion. Make sure all hardware on the girth is clear of the motion of the shoulder. Having the cinch too low in this area can lead to pinching and painful girth galls. The average rule of thumb to measure for a cinch is to place an unrigged saddle on your horse’s back. With the help of a friend, place a soft measuring tape beneath the girth area to measure between the saddle’s dee rings. To determine cinch size, subtract 6 to 8 inches from the total; for instance, if your tape shows 40 inches between dee rings, proper cinch size will be 32 or 3         4.