How do I measure for the proper girth length?

How do I measure for the proper girth length? This is one of my most asked questions… and, based on the number of odd orders we have received for custom sized girths, I think a bit more information about HOW to do this is needed.

First of all, our in stock ComfyFit girth sizes are as follows:

• Mini/Small Pony – 13″, 16″, 18″, 20″, 22″ all with 3/4″ buckles
• Cob/Horse – 18″, 20″, 22″, 24″, 26″ all with 1″ buckles
• Draft Horse – 26″, 28″, 30″, 32″ all with 1″ buckles

Most of the time these sizes are going to fit your equine. It’s very rare that we really, honestly, need to make a custom girth. 99.9% of the time if we do need to make a custom girth it’s because someone is using our girth with a different brand driving saddle, so the buckles need to be a different size.

**Keep in mind, if you want us to make a custom girth to fit your current driving saddle, that girth will not work with a ComfyFit saddle later….

First, let’s measure your equine’s girth. This means you will take a soft measuring tape (a fabric tape) out to your horse, donkey, pony, draft horse, mule, etc and measure the girth all the way around:

The nature of a photo is that it is flat. You can only see one side of the equine in the above photo, however, you do need to measure the ENTIRE equine, all the way around the belly. Please, do not just measure one side of the equine.

Next, measure your saddle. This will work with a ComfyFit saddle, or with any other driving saddle. If you measure this way, you will be able to figure out what length girth you need.

Measure from the MIDDLE hole on the girth strap, up UNDER the saddle, to the middle hole of the girth strap on the other side. 

The reason you measure UNDER the saddle is because the saddle sits on the equine’s back, so you are closer to the actual equine’s girth measurement.

Now you have two pieces of information:

1. the girth measurement of your equine – Zorro’s girth measurement was 55″
2. and the measurement of your saddle, our regular Mini C sized saddle measures 34″ from the middle hole to the middle hole.

You take the overall girth measurement of 55″ and subtract the measurement of the saddle, 34″. 

55-34=21

That means you would need a girth that is at least 21″ long. Go take a look at the standard girth lengths we have:

Comfy Curve Girth

Standard ComfyFit Girth

Elastic Girth

You’ll see we have a 22″ mini/small pony size girth.

If you have a ComfyFit saddle then our girth buckle will fit your saddle girth strap.

If you have a saddle that is NOT a ComfyFit saddle then you will want to measure the width of your girth strap to ensure our buckles will fit your straps. PLEASE measure the straps and not the width of the buckle on your current girth. This is because not everyone measures the same way and often people send me photos of them measuring things that look like this:

The tape measure is not level, it’s crooked causing the measurement to be off. AND the tape isn’t sitting in a way that makes it easy to read. 

Please measure your straps like this:

Either line your tape up so it’s right at the edge of your strap – or line it up so one edge of the strap starts at the 1″ mark. In this way I can accurately read the tape and help you decide how wide YOUR saddle strap is so we can tell the harness maker what size buckle you need.

** Please keep in mind – if you are planning on upgrading to the ComfyFit saddle in the future, having a girth made with buckles to fit a non standard width saddle strap will mean you can’t use that girth with a ComfyFit saddle later on and will need to order another girth. Unfortunately, these things aren’t necessarily universal.

As usual, if you have questions about how to do this please reach out to me at mindy@chimacumtack.com and I will be happy to help!