For all I'm Girth

I’m having a weird issue with Champagne.

OK, it isn’t really with Champagne as a person so much as Champagne as an object-in-space.

First, a word about his shape. He has a long back, as we all know, and if truth be told and from a completely objective viewpoint, he is a tad sway-backed. His other issue is that his barrel is, well, very barrel-shaped. The vet says he is “sprung”, which means that his ribs spring outward from his back very widely, so that by the end of his back closest to his haunches he is almost table-top flat.

The end result is that his barrel’s narrowest place by far is just behind his front legs. The normal girth position can’t really work, because the girth slips toward the narrowest spot.

I have to work really hard to get the girth tight enough so that the saddle doesn’t slip sideways. I don’t even try to fasten the last couple of holes until I’ve walked him around or even lunged him under tack, and even then it is a struggle. Lest you think I am a fanatic about girth tightness, you should know that my instructor is always saying his girth is too loose even when I’ve tightened it as much as I can.

Now I’ve developed a kind of over-use issue in my right arm, which does most of the pulling up of the girth. The inside of my elbow hurts even if I want to raise my hand to scratch my nose. Also the lower outside back of my upper arm hurts when I open my arm all the way.

Champagne’s girth is one of those machine-washable wooly ones with elastic and roller buckles, which is about as easy as I can find to work with. He has a leather dressage girth too, but once it abraded his skin behind his elbow, so I changed it out. Not that it was any easier anyway.

Maybe I need to teach him to balance himself on a two by four on his tummy to help him suck in his gut!