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Not All Girths are made equal!
We often hear a familiar story. Someone buys the newest and trendiest girth, only to face immediate issues with their horse’s performance, behavior, stiffness, and more. It can even lead to respiratory problems, rubbing, chafing, or painful girth galls. This highlights the critical importance of choosing a girth that suits your horse’s conformation. No matter how stylish or trendy a girth may be, if it wasn’t designed for your horse’s specific shape, it won’t fit properly and can lead to various discomforts and issues. So, when selecting a girth, prioritize your horse’s comfort and well-being over the latest trends.
This ethos is something that Mattes strongly believes in and what makes their range of girths so successful. Mattes understand that you can’t have a one size fits all approach and have designed a range of girth shapes to fit as many different sizes and shape of horse as possible.
Not only have Mattes girth shapes been designed to fit a certain conformation of horse, but also to solve a multitude of problems that many girths cause, such as poor overall fit, rubbing and chafing or the saddle slipping forwards or backwards.
What are the Mattes Girth Shapes?
As well as the different Mattes girth shapes, they have designed long girths that generally fit All Purpose saddles, Short Girths, that fit dressage and monoflap saddles, jumping girths that are normally used with jumping saddles and Western girths or cinches that fit Western Saddles. In each category Mattes Girth shapes are divided into four types, Anatomic, Asymmetric, Crescent, and Athletico. Each girth shape has been tailored to fit certain sizes and shapes of animal as well dealing with the common issues mentioned above.
Where should the girth sit on a horse?
When attached to your saddle, (seated in the correct position), the girth should sit in the horse’s natural girth groove and the billet straps should line up vertically, if this is not the case then you have a problem and it means your girth is not fitting properly. A correctly fitted Girth will result in maximum comfort for your horse ensuring there is both clearance through the elbow and that your saddle stays in place.
Take a look at the guide below to find out which shape girth will be best suited to your horse. We have helped many horse riders find the right girth for their horse and are more than happy to provide you with a recommendation. Please feel free to get in touch by using the online chat, phone, email or complete the girth consultation form.
You can view the complete range of Mattes horse girths here.
Which Girth Style do you need?
Anatomic Girth
This Girth shape suits horses with good confirmation where the girth sits far enough away from the horses elbow. The Girth is slightly cut back at the front and back in the elbow area. (strap is rotatable).
Asymmetric Girth
This Girth shape suits close coupled horses with less pronounced rib cages, where there is less distance from where the girth wants to sit and the elbows. This girth is severely cut back in front of the elbow area to compensate for this.
Crescent Girth
This Girth shape suits round horses with short backs and wide ribs or a narrow chest. The special shape of the girth absorbs the rib curvature so that it cannot slip forward.
Athletico Girth
This Girth shape suits horses with athletic, strong wedge shaped physique. The special shape of the girth prevents in almost all cases, any saddle slippage that may result in the girth sliding backwards.
Correct Girth Fitting
A Correctly fitted Girth will ensure the maximum comfort for your horse in both ensuring there is clearance through the elbow and ensuring your saddle stays in place. You should ensure enough clearance that the buckles do not catch on your horses elbow, additionally that the Mattes Girth Style you choose suits your horses conformation.
