Help for a Girthy Horse

Do you have a cinchy horse? Follow this step-by-step advice to modify his behavior.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

help for a girthy horse
When horses are sensitive to having the saddle cinch or girth tightened, they often react by pinning their ears, kicking, tensing their body and moving around, or similar behaviors. | Photo: iStock
Cory Kieschnick, assistant professor and Department of Equine Science and Management chair at Delaware Valley University, also contributed to this article.

Q.My 17-year-old mustang shakes his head every time I cinch him up. Even if I pretend to tighten the cinch, he does it. I’ve never been rough or tightened it too fast. How can I change this behavior?

Ronella Clegg, via Facebook

A.When horses are sensitive to having the saddle cinch or girth tightened, they often react by pinning their ears, kicking, tensing their body and moving around, or similar behaviors. This is often referred to as a horse being “girthy,” “cinchy,” or “cinch-sensitive

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

Written by:

Angelo Telatin, MS, is assistant professor at Delaware Valley College Equine Science and Management department in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and a British Horse Society fellow. This qualification is only awarded to those considered to be reliable ambassadors of the sport. His master’s thesis in equine behavior compared equine training techniques and the psychology of learning. Find out more at www.angelotelatin.com.

Leave a Reply

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

How much time do you usually spend grooming your horse?
439 votes · 439 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!