[melissa68]

Hi all....I am writing to ask about neoprene girths......the girth (leather) that I use for my mare is an awful one....it came with the her and the rest of her tack...it pinches her, and she lets me know it is uncomfortable when I am putting it on, tightening, etc. I rode her yesterday for the second time, and she did great, but I do not want her to be uncomfortable or unhappy, so....does anyone use a neoprene, and what do you think of it?? Pro's/con's??
I ride in an all purpose, hunter/jumper type saddle, and have found an English neoprene girth that I am sure will work, its at a great price (from what I can tell) on a website...I am going to order it and try it, but I thought I would get some additional input first.
By the way, Charm did GREAT when I rode her...she responds and yields so well to leg cues, and verbal cues, even to a novice like myself, who has never ridden English before her...she is a wonderful mare, and I am so glad to have her!! She tries so hard for you, a hallmark of the Arabian, from everything I know about them.........I have attached a pic I took a couple of weeks ago of her, she was overweight when I got her a month ago, and she is shedding it nicely, I think she is just about perfect right now...new pics coming soon!!
Thanks for any help.
Take care,
Melissa

[Blistering Winds]

Well, make sure, when you girth up, you remove any excess skin. ANY girth can pinch that, which is about 60% of horses issues with girths (in my observation) the rest are actual girths that are causing problems.

I stretch my horse's legs forward to disengage any excess skin in that area. That and give him a nice stretch before we ride. Saves me on Girth Galls, and any other problems.

I LOVE neoprine. I have one for my western, and getting one for my English. They are WONDERFUL. Everyone I know who has switched, except for a few here on the forum, they don't have Girth Galls anymore, soring, or half the problems they had with string girths. They don't break as easy either.

[spyro1]

I, too, love neoprene girths It's all I use for my western saddle. I dont have one for my english saddle though, I use my leather one with a fleece cover for it. I dont have any issues with it on my horse.

[belle4]

I use the neoprene also. They are great. Just hose them off for cleaning and totally comfortable for the horse.

[QHlover]

Well, I used to use Neoprene and I loved it, but when I got my new mare she was ridden with a mohair rope girth. I now use them since I don't like changing tack out for my two horses. Mohair has stainless steel hardware unlike cotton that has nickel-plated so you don't have to worry about rust. But Neoprene is awesome. Very easy to clean. Definately make sure you remove any wrinkled skin that may have bunched up when tightening the girth. Run you hands down between the horse and the girth and stretch the legs forward.

[Dawn]

I use a wintec girth. I'm not certain that it actually falls under the neoprene category, but it stretches.

[CJ]

Cottage Craft made a nice synthetic girth, not neoprene, that I used on my part Arab. Never pinched or rubbed. Neoprene I would use w/ a cover, IMO.

[SammyDoodle]

leather girths are good provided they are cleaned every time you use them and are kept well oiled and supple.

Once you do up your girth - stretch out the front legs - this puts the girth into the correct place.

Actually I use a wintec synthetic girth on my TB as he is think skinned and it has full stretch and moves with him - I use leather on my other two guys tho

[Catalyst]

I use a Wintec Elastigirth, which is like the Neoprene ones but it has sweat holes in it. I love it. And I have used it constantly on several different horses and I have never had a problem with Galls or anything like that.

[madvoice]

Neoprene is great. Those anti gall girths are worth the money you spend on them I personally wouldn't have anything else.