GIRTHS. 143 



girth-galls, if care is not taken to smooth out, when girthing 

 up, any wrinkles there may be in the skin underneath the 

 girth. It is evidently more difficult for the pressure to be 

 evenly distributed by these cords, than by a broad girth 

 which consists of one piece. 



Great care should be taken to keep girths clean and 

 soft, and to oil them from time to time, if they be of 

 leather. 



I prefer a broad girth attached at each side by two 

 buckles, to two narrow girths. The Fitzwilliam girth, which 

 consists of a broad girth with a narrow one over it, is 



Fig. 149. Girth Buckle with Fig. 150. Girth Buckle without 



Cross Bar. Cross Bar. 



handy with a martingale or breast-plate, through the loop of 

 which the narrow girth can be passed. 



A girth buckle has a bar placed across its under surface, so 

 that the point of the tongue may lie flush with the buckle 

 (Fig. 149), and that it may not be liable to be pulled through, 

 as it would be, if it had not the centre bar to support it 

 (Fig. 150). If the centre bar be absent, the point of the 

 tongue of the buckle, on account of its being necessarily 

 raised, will stick into the flap of the saddle and will soon 

 wear it out, and it will also be liable to tear the girth 

 strap when the horse is being ungirthed. Without the 

 centre bar, the girth has to be pulled tighter when girthing 

 up, than with it. 



