Girth (tack) - Types of Girths

Types of Girths

Several types of girth are shaped to allow ample room for the elbows. The Balding style is a flat piece of leather cut into three strips which are crossed and folded in the center, and the Atherstone style is a shaped piece of baghide with a roughly 1.5” wide strip of stronger leather running along the center. A variation on this is the overlay girth, in which the piece of leather in the center is the same curved shape as the girth. This overlay is often stitched in a decorative design.

Unshaped girths are commonly made of flat, heavy cotton, or padded cotton with nylon webbing reinforcement, or out of leather as in the tri-fold or threefold girth, popular among sidesaddle riders and traditional foxhunters.

Fleece girth covers are often used on sensitive horses to protect the barrel of the horse, and some styles of girth come with attached or removable sheepskin liners that perform the same function.

A dressage girth, or Lonsdale girth, is shorter than the usual girths used on other saddles. This is because the dressage saddle has longer billets, to keep the buckles out from under the rider's leg, and so a shorter girth may be used. Dressage girths can be made of all the materials, and in all the styles, mentioned before, and also can be made entirely of very strong elastic.

An overgirth or surcingle is often used in addition to a regular leather girth. Made of leather or nylon with an elastic insert (for racing), the overgirth completely encircles the horse around belly and the saddle's seat. It is used by stockmen, eventers, polo players, in flat racing, and by steeplechase jockeys to provide more security in holding the saddle in place.

Some girths (those used on jumpers and eventers) have a belly guard (or stud guard), to protect the belly from being stabbed by horseshoe studs as the animal tucks his legs up underneath him over a tall obstacle.