[Mickey4793]

Ok, so I bought a very beautiful dark dark reddish brown color off the owner of the barn that I keep my horse. It's extremely comfortable and fits my horse like a glove.
I did not ask, now do I have a guess, as to the make of the saddle, or where she got it from.

She gave me a girth to go with it, but me and my mom wanted to get a different type of girth for it, so we went out looking for a new girth.

We took to old girth to the tack shop so we could compare sizes, and that's when we realized something odd: Our dressage saddle has three girth billets! Two regular ones on the outside and a thinner one in the middle, and the girth has three buckles to accommodate. We searched and searched and searched but could not find a dressage girth with three buckles!

Any idea's where I could find a dressage girth like this/ what company makes dressage saddles like this?

 

[Mickey4793]

There's a picture of it, for some reason in the picture the middle billet is out of place and farther up because of the way the saddle's sitting on the rack

 

[My Beau]

I don't know who makes dressage saddles, but here's a 3 buckle girth. Unfortunately, all the sites I checked only offer it in black.

"Kennett" Black Leather Dressage Girth

 

[shadowanne]

Maybe it's like a jump saddle where you only use 2 to girth but you have the choice of which two to use based on the fit of your horse, etc.

 

[englishrider]

In lessons our dressage saddle has 3 billets but we only use the 1st and the last billet and ignore the middle. Hope that helps

 

[My Beau]

I don't believe you're supposed to ignore it. Since these billets are way longer than jumping saddles they aren't hidden by the flaps and would be flapping around all over the place...

 

[Mickey4793]

I agree with Beau, if I don't use of of the straps it flops around due to it's length. But thanks guys :]

 

[shadowanne]

Oh.. yeah, that's a good point. I'd personally remove one (cut it) rather then try to hunt down a 3 billet dressage girth. Unless you think it would effect the integrity of saddle fit.

 

[QHDragon]

Its to keep the flap down and to create less bulk. A lot of older saddles have them, I rarely see them on the newer saddles. Check ebay, I saw a brown one on there with the three spots just a couple of weeks ago.

 

[shadowanne]

Well the newer Wintecs have them (Pro, Isabell) - I cut the one off my Isabell - my leg is going to keep the flap down well enough once it's broken in. I thought the OP was referring to an actual billet, not a separate strap on both sides of flaps.

 

[englishrider]

Sorry thats just how my trainer does it! My middle billet dosn't drag that low.

 

[rocky pony]

So the other side doesn't have a longer strap with buckle, I assume?
My Isabell had an overgirth and it just had a long buckle..I ended up taking it off because it was annoying.

 

[ladybugsgirl]

The very first billet is a safety billet. I usually use the first and the last one and not the middle.

 

[Allison Finch]

Many dressage saddles have two long billets for the saddle, and a billet on the flaps, to hold them down. Often,as in the case of my saddle, the offside flap has a long buckled billet (girth) that buckles to the flap billet on the on side.

Often the riders legs, in dressage, will cause the thinner flaps to curl under the leg. The flap girths stop that. They are a pain, but I do not take them off. If your saddle has a standard thick flap, I probably would.

Your third long billet is at the same place as the other two? I can't say I've seen that before.

 

[~*~anebel~*~]

Please, don't cut them off. If you really don't like the overgirth then take them to a saddle maker and have the straps removed.
You can also buy any girth and have a saddle maker put an overgirth onto it, or just have the saddle maker make an appropriate size/length strip of leather with buckles on either end that is separate from the girth.
I have seen mostly older model Stubbens with this kind of overgirth although I am fairly sure I have seen a courbette with one too. Personally, I am a fan of overgirths, I actually would like to get one put on my saddle Even though it has thick flaps, I can still get them "curled" up as Allison mentioned.

ETA: a lot of higher end saddles these days have a mechanism like an over girth, which is why we don't see them a lot. They will have a strip of leather on the top flap meant for a girth billet to go through and hold down the top flap. I call it a "billet loop", but pictures are eluding me right now.
Anyways, the billet holds down the top flap when it's through this loop, acting like an overgirth.

 

[amyt001]

Did you find a 3 buckle dressage girth yet? My (very expensive) County Competitor is made like this and I have a few links to some girths. Definitely not like a close contact or all purpose English saddle where the 3rd billet is a safety measure only used if one of the others breaks, or for fit to body types. Definitely don't cut if off yourself. Amy