The Horse Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Why it pays to have your cinch tight!

5K views 41 replies 23 participants last post by  Azaria 
#1 ·
Had another meeting with the ground today, from my lofty position on Mac's back.
I rode him out and was thinking, gee he's kinda logey today. At the arena I got off and stretched my legs and noticed that the cinch was really loose. "Hm m m. Maybe I should tighten that. Naw, that's ok, I am just going at a walk, and I am balanced enough I could ride him without one " (minor exageration , but sounds good for this story).

So, I meet up with a friend and as we are riding at a walk away from the arena , and just as I was saying over my shoulder to her, "Mac is really lackluster today", Mac spins violently to the right. The saddle slipped left and I was clinging to his left side. As we spun around I see out of the corner of my eye, her horse spinning and the rider (about 60 years old) tumble to the ground. I was haning so far off the left side, I tried to get Mac to take one more step to kind of "lift" me so I could get enough of my body over his backbone to kind of "skootch" the saddle back up, but no deal. And I reached over his back but there was nothing to pull myself up with (Mac has almost no mane ) Gravity took hold, the saddle completed it's journey around his belly and I rolled into the muck.

Of course, my next thought is "OH NO! He's gonna go bonkers with the saddle under his belly!" I am up and tryint to lift the heavy saddle far enough to reach and undo the latigo. Of course, Mac is fine.
He's so cool about that, but felt the need to spin with ZERO warning!

Anyway, we two old ladies had a laugh and went on our ride.
I dont know if that qualifies for another punch on my frequent faller card. Probly not , 'cause I wouldn't have come off if
I HAD PROPERLY TIGHTENED THE CINCH!!!! ( I am a do-do)
 
See less See more
#3 ·
i am always worried about the girth not being tight enough because on my dads first ride of his new horse the girth was really loose and when he went to get on the saddle slipped completley to his left side!!! my dads horse went crazy and now he gets really nervous when my dad goes to ride him!!!!!


lucky neither of you were hurt!!!
 
#5 ·
Bahaha. I'm sorry. I had to laugh.

I have a similar story. One day this summer, some of the wranglers took the other counselors on a trail ride. (I wasn't with, but I was told about it a handful of times.) Someone forgot to check one of the horse's cinch and they were going along about their business. One of the girls who doesn't ride often and therefore doesn't know how to keep herself balanced had this horse. While they were walking, the saddle just slid to the side..with her on it and she just hit the ground. She was fine and thought it was hilarious.
 
#6 ·
You know, I have had three falls in recent months and the good thing is that it keeps the whole experience of falling in the "oh well, that kind of stuff happens, no big deal" catergory. If I went a long time without falling, then I might get all upset when it did happen.
 
#7 ·
I am terrified to fall because I've only fallen once ever. Well, legitimately. I slid myself off while trotting bareback and got back to on to resituate myself. I'm not sure why I'm so bothered by it. When I did fall, I was loped over. I stood up and was more concerned whether my friend got a picture. I was sore, but that was it.

Ugh. I just want to ride Abby bareback. I'm just pretty sure has NEVER been ridden bareback and doesn't get it if I put any pressure on her back without a saddle. She's fine with a saddle, she just doesn't get what I'm trying to do. I kind of just want to jump on and let her dump me. I'm just scared. poo.
 
#9 ·
I ended up sideways on one very spooky horse at a full gallop. Luckily the horse that spooked at everything imaginable wasn't at all bothered by the saddle and I slipping.... go figure, just slowed to a stop and looked at me like I was nuts! Her owner had saddled her and I hadn't checked, I now check before getting on any horse, even if I saddled them!
 
#10 ·
Hehe, I guess you learned your lesson, lol. My friends little brother had been riding for a little while and had amazing talent. He'd only really been riding for a couple of months and had a sturdy seat, could easily post, pick up the right diagnol and was very soft in the hands (however, his mom was the coach). Anyway, one day he had brought out one of the older horses to ride and his sister (my friend) asked him where the girth was. His response, "What's a girth?" I have to say it was one of the funniest things I've ever heard. I still wonder how he forgot...
 
#11 ·
To loose a cinch happened to me one time, but I have come off for other reasons also. The one time it was a to loose cinch I was riding 2 different horses with my one Western saddle. One of the horses was an older QH mare. The other was a mare in foal. When I rode one horse or the other I had to adjust the length of the cinch straps on both sides of the saddle. After having had rode the mare in foal and tacking up the older mare I was shortening the cinch strap on the offside/right side and saw I had a small loop of slack in the cinch strap, but didn't pay mind to it. I completed saddling up and everything went fine up until I was doing some figure-8's at the trot and all of a sudden I was on the ground and the saddle was on the underneath side of the mare. Luckly the mare just stood still and don't spook at the dangling saddle. It was totally my fault that I took the fall.
 
#12 ·
There was actually a situation at a barn I used to ride at with a too tight girth. The horse was sensitive and got aggravated by the girth and threw a rider, trampled them, and was extremely difficult to catch. All this from a normally pokey back-of-the-group horse.

And on the other hand, I had a friend riding at a jumper show and during it she just sort of...Slipped off. Turns out you could fit two fists between the girth and the horse's belly!
Girth safety 101.
 
#13 ·
I have to laugh, simply because I had very simliar 'moment'. I was doing EVERYTHING wrong. I had a saddle that I found, on a horse that I had never ridden before and only my 12yo son as back up...of course, the saddle didn't fit and when I got on him he walked fine, then I asked for a rack and he gave me a trot and I promptly started to slide to the right. THe horse thought I was asking him to side step! So of course off he goes while I slowly rotate under his belly!...did I mention I was waering sneakers that got stuck in the stirrups?!

Thankfully I screwed my head back on and haven't made the same mistakes since! Looking back I wonder.."what the HE!! was I thinking!!!"
 
#14 ·
ok, so this may be stupid, but from someone that's never had a professional lession or really been shown anything properly, how do you know how tight to go? Does it vary with each horse or is there a simple way, like if you can slip 2 fingers between, or something like that? When I was a kid, all my friends barrel raced and I was always told "as tight as you can get it"
 
#15 ·
Oh, also. Abby thinks she's oh-so-clever and holds her breath when I cinch her up. Too bad I know how much excess latigo there should be and you can very obviously see her belly puffed up. She also has this really haughty expression like she's outsmarted me.

Poseidon does that too, but she has such a big belly already, you can't tell until you walk away and let her realize that she has to breath eventually.
 
#16 ·
funny how many people have had the same or extremely similar experiences. I did too! I normally ride in an english saddle but this particular day it wasn't at the barn so I had to use a western saddle. I was working with this womans haflinger mare who was doing really well under saddle but was a little spooky in the back of the riding arena, so I was working with her on that. I had her all tacked up and was riding her at a walk, just back and forth across the back side of the arena so she would get settled there. She suddenly spooked at spun and bolted across the arena towards the front, which has happened before. In an english saddle I had no problem staying on until I got her to stop. But apparently I didn't tighten the girth on the western saddle enough and when she spun it slipped to the side a little. I felt it slip and was trying my darndest to keep it from going but on a galloping haflinger, it was no good. I fell off to the side, no harm really since she was small I didn't have far to fall and the dirt was soft. But I saw her continue on, with the saddle slipping more and more to the side, she jumped sideways trying to get away from it and it flipped over so it was on her upside down. She went bucking bronco style through the fence of the arena taking out two boards and then took off into the pasture. All you had to do to find her was follow the pieces of saddle that led a trail to her. Poor girl was traumatized, she finally decided to freeze and just stand still. The first girl to her just tugged on the girth and what was left of the saddle came off. She was huffing and puffing, nostrils all flared. Luckily no one was hurt that day. She had a few scratches and cuts on her legs, probably from crashing through the fence. I felt bad that she destroyed this womans saddle but she wasn't mad about it. I think I'll stick with english
 
#17 ·
Our very first horse was traumatized by something like this with the saddle ending up underneath, during his early training. We didn't know at the time that it would take years for a horse to really get over something like this. He was petrified of the saddle for the longest time after we got him and would tremble so much he'd almost fall down. He finally got to where we could ride him but if he ever had anything touching his flanks he was a rodeo ride.
 
#18 ·
If would do me wise to remember this thread. I also walk around initially on a loose rein and girth loose enough to fit a bus under according to my trainer. Think I'll snug up a little more before getting on now that it's so freakin' cold. Glad you're okay.
 
#20 ·
This can happen in an English saddle, too. On Mac, the same super spinner Appy I lease, I was out riding and something similar happened. I was actually out that day trying to work with him because twice early in the week he had spun and dumped me (once bareback). So, I thought I'd work with him. I rode him and kept him busy everytime I saw that he was getting worred. Finally, I felt that he was getting so tense that he needed to let some of the tension out of his body by moving forward. Off we trotted, and by God, he spun again. It was so abrupt and I guess i put too much weight on one side and the centrifugal force was amazing. I moved the dressage saddel off to the side and I went flying, not just rolling. That was a scary and painful fall, but I might not have come off if I had tightened the girth enough.

HOw much is enough? I just do it by feel and obvioulsly, I need to recheck at some point after riding for a bit. It's just that one has so many uneventful rides that you get to expecting nothing to happen then it does.
 
#21 ·
honestly i get my girth tight enough so i can stand in one stirrup and the saddle not slip much at all. i'm also 5'1 and 105 pounds lol i did have a run in with a saddle slipping once though... i got it as tight as i possibly could. but the horse was SO FAT that it wouldn't stay in palce so here we are loping as fast as we can up the hill and the saddle slips side ways. and basically i am loping on his side lol. i one rein stop him (he is the kind of horse that has tons of energy! and is always freaking out and is go go go go go go all the time) and get off. and he stands perfectly still like a gentle man while i tighten the saddle and get back on. and as soon as my bottom hit that saddle off he bolted again! luckily it didn't slip again. but wow what a scare! lol
 
#22 ·
I do the same thing a lilkitty: Step up and see how much it slips standing in one stirrup. Then I check the amount of latigo left over after saddling on a few different occasions, and use that as a guideline from then on.

Granted, that's with a western saddle. I have seen an english saddle probably twice ever and that wasn't on a horse.
 
#23 ·
i do the same with my the english saddle. though it's much harder to tighten so i had to get my manly strong cousin to tighten it while i was in the saddle. and i could easily stand in one stirrup and it not slip! so that made me very happy! lol but i know tightening an english saddle is SOOO much harder lol
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top