Wright, Sue. (August, 2010). Girth Tensions and Their Variability While Standing and During Exercise. Comparative Exercise Physiology. doi:10.1017/S1755254011000055
Muscles under the saddle and girth are responsible for locomotion. Impingement on these muscles by a tight girth may result in alterations to locomotion.
- Actual girth tension varies from the intended girth tension while standing and during locomotion.
- It is possible to obtain actual standing tensions closer to intended tensions with the application of a cam buckle, resulting in more accurate applied tensions.
- The tension of the girth varies during locomotion, generally decreasing from standing to walk, and then increasing from walk to trot and increasing further from trot to canter.
- Pressure distribution under saddle increased with each gait, & with increasing speed.
- Implications on conditioning regimes. Real discomfort = decreased performance. Not necessarily laziness.