I4 6 SADDLERY. 



leather, because it is softer, more absorbent, and does not 

 get so hard on drying after having become wet. The 

 only drawback to ordinary woollen girths is that they are 

 not sufficiently ventilated, an objection which has been 

 overcome in specially constructed woollen girths that are 

 sold by many good saddlers. 



The plan of giving ventilation by slitting up a broad 

 leather girth into several narrow straps, or by using a 

 number of cords of cotton or of plaited or twisted raw 

 hide often acts well ; but its adoption may give rise to 

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



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



Cross Bar. Cross Bar. 



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 

 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 



