176 



ANIMAL MANAGEMENT. 



String, 

 hide and 

 webbing 

 girths. 



SpHt 



leather 



girths. 



big spreading belly. This is a hopeless combination with an ordinary 

 girth, and means that the horse must always carry his saddle on his 

 neck. 



A string, raw hide, and webbing girth act by the facility with which 

 they catch not only the edge of the brisket but the skin ; with a hide or 

 string girth portions of skin project between the strands, which have a 

 steadying effect, but especially there is the grip which a narrow 

 material like string has over wide material like webbing. 



This action is frequently imitated in leather girths by splitting them 

 into laces, and a split leather girth is regulation. 



One of the great difficulties with a girth is to prevent it getting harsh 

 through sweat and dirt, and this particularly applies to a leather or hide 

 girth, yet under ordinary circumstances it is not the harshness of a 

 girth which causes it to gall, but rather the bodily shifting forward of the 

 saddle, by which the edge of the girth is dragged forward behind the 

 elbow. 



Girth galling is either a question of condition or of make and shape. 

 A horse that persistently galls is one with wide arching ribs, elbows 

 close to the sides, big belly and shallow brisket. 



The prevention and palliation of girth galls will be considered later. 



Essential 

 points of 

 saddle 

 fitting. 



Fitting the Saddle. 



It has not been found possible in speaking of the structure of the 

 saddle to avoid making some reference to its fit, but this section is 

 specially devoted to a consideration of the fundamental principles of 

 saddle fitting. 



There are six axioms in saddle fitting never to be forgotten. They 

 constitute the essence of the whole subject, and when they are applied 

 intelligently, saddle fitting becomes almost an exact science : 



1st. The withers must not be pinched nor j2^n\w£'<'/ upon. 



2nd. The central line of the back must have no pressure imposed 



upon it. 

 3rd. The blade-bones must have free and uncontrolled movement. 

 4th. The loins are not intended to carry weight. 

 5th, The weight must be imposed upon the ribs through the medium 



of the muscles covering them. 

 6th. The weight must be evenly distributed over a surface which 



extends from the play of the shoulders to the last rib. 



