Muscles under the girth
I spent a fun morning this week with David and Maggie from Wow Saddles getting Ahmad Alabidi and Rory (Wow’s latest sponsored rider and his horse) set up in their new Wow DMK jump saddle.
It was particularly interesting as we had to play around with the girthing – Rory’s girth groove is quite far back, which makes his saddle slide back too.
Note the position of the girth groove - it falls naturally
So in order to keep the saddle forwards we had to make sure the girth straps on the saddle were in the right place for Rory. We used Wow’s Military Girthing system, which gave us the flexibility to be able to place the straps far enough back in order to fall naturally in his girth groove, but still keep the saddle further forwards.
Once we were happy with the position of the girth straps we also looked at the girth itself. Rory is currently jumping and competing at a high level (the jump in this photo is 1.60m) and we want to be able to give him every extra bit of help we can.
Note the position of the girth groove - it falls naturally quite far back
Let’s look at some of the muscles underneath the girth.
1) External Abdominal Oblique muscles – lie close to the surface and are one of three layers of abdominal muscles attached to the ribs that wrap around the abdomen. Important in breathing and in lateral movement among lots of other things!
2) Rectus Abdominis muscle – starts on the sternum and runs all the way to the bottom of the pelvis (this is the “six pack” muscle!) Studies show that this muscle helps lift the spine. Think of when you ask your horse for a back lift - he is tensing this muscle.
3) Deep (or Ascending) Pectoral muscles – runs from the sternum and ribs 4-9 through to the humerus and plays a big part in forelimb retraction.
4) Thoracic Ventral Serrate muscle – attached to the first 8 or 9 ribs and plays a very important part in moving the shoulder blade, pulling it back and in towards the horse’s body.
Although this is a very simplified look at what all of these muscles do, essentially we can see they are important in breathing, in moving the forelimbs and shoulders, and the flexion and extension of the spine – and the girth goes straight over the top of them!
For Ahmad and Rory we used the Wow Soft Release girth. It has a wide, diamond-shaped sternum pad to disperse the pressure as much as possible, and not cut into the edges of Rory’s pectoral muscles as he pulls up his front legs to clear those huge fences. The padding on the sternum plate also means that the girth sits away from his side behind the elbow. The deeper width of the sides helps to disperse the pressure and, as it’s really thin, soft leather, it moulds and moves with him, without causing rubs or bulk along the edges.
But it’s not just top athletes that can be affected by girthing issues - there are lots of examples of when this may have an impact on you and your horse. Maybe because the saddle slips the rider over-tightens the girth, or sometimes the girth straps aren’t in quite the right place so it puts unequal pressure along the front or back of the girth. All of this will put extra pressure on these important muscles, so it’s really important not to forget the girth when looking at saddle fit.
A simple check is to put the saddle on, and just see where the girth straps are hanging – do they fall into the girth groove without pulling forwards or backwards? Then, when the girth is done up, can you run your hand in between the girth and your horse’s side easily? Is the pressure the same at the front and the back? If you check between the girth and his sternum (reaching between his front legs) is the girth lying flat?
#WowSaddles #twohearts #Showjumping #Showjumper #saddlefit #saddlefitting #horseanatomy #horseperformance
References:
Bowen AG et al, (2016) Investigation of Myofascial Trigger Points in Equine Pectoral Muscles and Girth-Aversion Behaviour, Journal of Equine Veterinary Science 48
Zsoldos, R et al. (2010) Activity of the equine rectus abdominis and oblique external abdominal muscles measured by surface EMG during walk and trot on the treadmill Equine Veterinary Journal 42
Higgins, G. (2010) Horses Inside Out Ltd https://www.horsesinsideout.com/post/the-action-of-muscles