Girthy Horse?

I recently was surfing the net to see if anyone else had come up with some suggestions for their grumpy, girthy horses.  I came across this excellent article http://www.succeed-equine.com/succeed-blog/2010/12/13/top-3-reasons-your-horse-is-girthy-and-what-to-do-about-it/ and wanted to share.  Below is an excerpt...  

Here are the top three reasons horses develop girthiness. With the help of your vet and a knowledgeable trainer, you can use the process of elimination to determine which issue is causing your horse to be girthy – the first step in fixing it.
Your Horse May Be Girthy Because His Tack Doesn’t Fit

• Positioned correctly – Many saddles are placed too far forward where they restrict the shoulder’s movement.
• Fitted correctly – The saddle should be balanced from front to back, shouldn’t be too narrow or too wide, and the tree should sit evenly along your horse’s back (no “bridging” or tighter and looser areas that can pinch or rub).
• In good condition – Unseen damage, such as a twisted or broken tree, could be causing your horse discomfort and thus his resistance to being girthed. The flocking and underside of the saddle should be totally smooth.
  
  

Equine Girthiness May Be a Reflection of Discomfort in the Hindgut
...The hindgut in particular is massive, filling up the greater portion of the belly. It extends the length of your horse’s underside all the way up into the girth area.

Girthiness Caused By A Previous Trauma
Horses have long memories, especially when there is pain involved. If you horse was mishandled or experienced an injury at any point in his life, his adverse reaction to the girth may be an ongoing result. Here are some types of trauma that may be causing your horse to act girthy.

• Poor training – Someone may have tried to teach your horse to accept and saddle and girth too quickly when he was young. Instead of going one step at a time and allowing your horse to get used to the girth gradually, they may have tightened it right away scaring him and causing discomfort.
• Remembered pain – A girth that was too tight or rubbed, an improperly fitting saddle, an injury, or a digestive problem that caused pain could still be in the forefront of your horse’s memory. If he remembers that a girth hurt once, he may be afraid it will hurt again.

I also realized, we have a few good tricks of our own to add:

1. Have you tried different places to saddle your horse? For example, could you tie the horse in her stall? The comfort of her stall may be soothing, but also giving her some security so she doesn't pull or rear or circle. We recently had a mare that had always been saddled and groomed in a grooming stall with three walls around her. When we sent her home and they tried to saddle or groom her at a hitch or standing in an open area she pulled backward every time. After breaking three brand new halters, and a few Chiropractor/Massage bills she went to a new owner and hasn't pulled since as along as she is in her stall or the groom bay.
2. Which leads to my next question, has she had her teeth, spine and soft tissue checked and worked on? Making her physically comfortable to start with will go a long way - along with trying something to ease ulcers, hindgut pain, pro or prebiotics or both!
3. Will she wear a sheet or a blanket? We have had some really good success with two of our 'girthy' horses by putting a Back on Track Mesh sheet and Poll Cap on them for 15-30 mins before we are going to saddle them - after having a few sessions of body work done on them to get them to a more comfortable starting point. The BOT products help to warm up muscles and soft tissues and seem to relax the horse and because we follow this routine, they know what is coming next. We follow up with a Back on Track pad or liner under the saddle. We swear by BOT products because we have seen amazing results!
4. You should also be able to have your tack fit checked by a reputable saddle fitter or even your body work specialist (chiropractor/massage). Smith-Worthington has GREAT resources for assisting with saddle fit and they will adjust English saddles of all types.
5. When looking at your tack fit, don't forget to look at your girth! I have one horse that improved his girthiness just by switching to a fleece lined girth rather than leather. I would highly recommend making sure the horse(s) are comfortable both inside and out, then start with a routine and take it very slow.

​I'd love to hear from you if you find any other solutions - feel free to look me up on Facebook/Google+ or leave a comment!

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