A girth, sometimes called a cinch (Western US), is a piece of equipment used to keep the saddlein place on a horse or other animal. It passes under the barrel of the equine, usually attached to the saddle on both sides by two or three leather straps called billets. Girths are used on Australianand English saddles, while western saddlesand many pack saddlesuse a girth equivalent called a cinch, which is fastened to the saddle by a single wide leather strap called a latigo.
Although a girth is often enough to keep a well-fitting saddle in place, other pieces of equipment are also used in jumping or speed sports such as polo, eventing, show jumping, and fox hunting; or on rough terrain such as trail riding, These include breastplates, overgirthsand, on pack saddles, breeching.
Studies have shown that, although girths may restrict the movement of the ribcage in the horse, they have no effect on the horse's ability to take in air.
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 three fold 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.
