Repair of Scharf freedom girth

[Mulesaw]

The girlfriend of our oldest son asked me if I could repair her dressage girth. It was a Scharf Freedom dressage girth just a little over a year old that had developed some damage on the elastics that hold the buckles to the girth.
I have replaced girth buckles every once in a while, but I have never before seen the elastics getting damaged like this. 
The girth is expensive and she said that she didn't want to bother with warranty etc. given that it was just over a year old, and I could totally understand that. 

I managed to find a company that produces girth elastic in England, and I purchased a roll of 40 m (the minimum that I could buy). There were no distributors in Denmark, so I figured that if I had some spare elastic I could always use it on some repair project in the future.

After disassembling the girth, to me it looked like the fault of the cracks in the elastic was some fairly sharp edges where they go though the padding, so I softened up those sharp edges before installing some new pieces of elastic.

I had to make a belt keeper as well, because one of them was missing, aside from that it was "merely" a question of getting it all back together in the right order.
The design of the girth is fairly complicated, with the two outer pads needing to be sewed first so they hold the elastics and the connection strap that ties them to the center pads. Once the elastics and the connection strap are sewn, the actual padding goes on next. I forgot to take some pictures of what it looks like on the inside, and I have to admit that I had forgotten that I even took these pictures, so the job was made back in December (and I can't remember much of the details now).

The repair job did take a while, but it came out nicely, and structurally sound afterward. And that's kind of important to me :-) 

One side complete, the nearer side pad is not yet sewn on.

The damaged elastics. The leather was very sharp where the bending occurred, I think that was the cause of the damage.

Close up of the damaged elastics showing the severed parts.

A completed outer pad mounted back on the girth, the sewing pattern is kind of elaborate.

New elastics and a new belt keeper

[TomE]

Looks like a winner!  That is an interesting girth.  Guess you have materials to make all your relatives suspenders for Christmas.  

[Mulesaw]

1 minute ago, TomE said:

Looks like a winner!  That is an interesting girth.  Guess you have materials to make all your relatives suspenders for Christmas.  

Yes it is an interesting design, as far as I have understood it is a really fine girth that gives a lot of freedom to the ribs of the horse etc. It is well made but apparently not a flawless design after all.

Good idea to make suspenders. that hadn't occurred to me :-)

Brgds Jonas

[jcuk]

Nice work again, i am afraid i think you will be repairing it again at some point, i could be wrong having not seen this type of girth in the flesh, but there does seems to to be a wear and stress point judging from your close shots of the elastic. Have to say coming from a Horse Racing back round i have never been a fan of elastic girths for a few reasons. First being the elastic will start to stretch more and more so the hole on the billet you are used to girthing your horse up on, suddenly you are on the next hole up and so on, which bring me to next reason with elastic girths because they stretch you can always find another hole to go up, i have seen so many horses over girthed because of this not so much with other types of girths. Another reason is as you have seen with your repair the elastic becomes worn and frayed and also sometimes the elastic on the same end of the girth after while one is longer than the other because that one has stretched more than the other meaning you could be on one billet that side, yes some people will go to the next hole up on the slack one.

But having said all that i have seen girths where the elastic is trebled instead of just being doubled and it does seem more durable and they don't stretch as much if you have to do it again maybe try to treble the elastic if you can, but you my not have the room to do that though hard to tell.

Again good work. 

Hope this helps

JCUK

[Mulesaw]

@jcuk Thanks for the kind words :-)

 It is the first time I have seen one of those too, but they claim that it is working well. I am not much of a dressage rider myself, so I am not quite sure. But I know that some horses have "girth cramp", and for those horses it might help since it only presses certain places?

I haven't really thought about that over tensioning thing, but it makes a lot of sense. And like you say they can either stretch or fray or otherwise become elongated. Being on the ship right now I can't go look in the shop, but I am pretty sure that a lot of the other elastic girths that I have lying around have got doubled elastic. (I try to buy them at the horse club jumble sale to use the stainless steel buckles for repair)

Heidi (the owner of the girth) takes very much pride in maintaining her tack, so I am certain that it isn't because of bad maintenance or mistreatment of the tack that it is damaged. She is training to become a riding instructor, so it might see more use than most hobbyists girths, but I am pretty sure that she only uses it on her own horse, maybe both her horses, but not more than that. And given that it is really expensive (in the UK I have just seen it for £ 275), in my opinion it should be much more sturdy. 

I eased up the edges that the elastic seemed to have taken damage from, but it could still be that it wears in that spot. I can't remember if there is room to double the elastic, but I kind of doubt it.

Brgds Jonas

[jcuk]

As i said i come from a racing back round where in a lot cases the tack is not maintained very well through neglect and dare i say ignorance and laziness. When i was a young apprentice we had to clean our tack every day, one time after riding my last lot that day i was in a hurry to leave so i just put my tack away and was on my way out the door when the head lad said to me have you clean your tack John i said no i will do it Monday one day is not going to hurt it he said its only the fact your cleaning it you are also checking it and believe me it may save your life one day so i went and cleaned it, that has always stayed with me. The girth you have repaired has i believe has five different points where they join, all possible weak points not saying they are, but they would be some where i would check of a regular basis just to be safe.

Hope this helps

JCUK

[Mulesaw]

3 hours ago, jcuk said:

As i said i come from a racing back round where in a lot cases the tack is not maintained very well through neglect and dare i say ignorance and laziness. When i was a young apprentice we had to clean our tack every day, one time after riding my last lot that day i was in a hurry to leave so i just put my tack away and was on my way out the door when the head lad said to me have you clean your tack John i said no i will do it Monday one day is not going to hurt it he said its only the fact your cleaning it you are also checking it and believe me it may save your life one day so i went and cleaned it, that has always stayed with me. The girth you have repaired has i believe has five different points where they join, all possible weak points not saying they are, but they would be some where i would check of a regular basis just to be safe.

Hope this helps

JCUK

 

I think you have a very valid point in the importance of checking the tack is a safety issue.  The cracks in this girth elastic started in the "underside", so unless you actively bend them backwards you won't see them until one of them snaps (like this one did). So I guess that even though she maintains her tack well, I have to tell her to check it more thoroughly :-) I just talked to her on the phone and suggested that if she knew of anyone else using the same girth, that they should check it in the same places.

I am not a trained saddle maker, so I haven't tried to reflock a cushion beneath the seat etc. but I have repaired stuff like broken girth strops either by sewing them on or riveting them to the tree if that was the method used originally. I especially remember one saddle from the riding school that they had someone else repair before sending it my way. 
The girth straps should have been fixed to the tree, and they were broken, whoever did the repair job simply stapled them to the underside of the seat where there was a bit of nylon to shape the seat. The first time you would have tightened a girth - the strops would have come off. So I think that a lot of the repair jobs I do aren't super difficult, but they still require that I have a sound judgement of what stress that particular part will receive.
One of my regular customers (Katrinelund stallion station) sends a lot of stuff my way, and (though it may sound corny) I actually enjoy looking at the tack and doing the repair and checking the rest of the tack before handing it back. Especially the girths where there are 4 buckles. If one buckle is broken I change that, and then go on to check that the stitching is still OK for the remaining 3, and also the stitching where the elastic is joined to the actual girth. I know that technically I could just change the buckle and give it back and don't care if there wasn't another fault. But I just can't help it, if people have faith in that I can repair something then I'd hate it if I missed another obvious fault that would endanger those using the tack. :-)

When I was a child they would occasionally show steeplechase on the TV, to this day I am still impressed with the courage displayed in standing so high up in the stirrups and hammering away on a thoroughbred, and I believe that it makes you extra attentive to the small details in your tack given that there is so much strain on the equipment in that sport.

[jcuk]

1 hour ago, Mulesaw said:

 

I think you have a very valid point in the importance of checking the tack is a safety issue.  The cracks in this girth elastic started in the "underside", so unless you actively bend them backwards you won't see them until one of them snaps (like this one did). So I guess that even though she maintains her tack well, I have to tell her to check it more thoroughly :-) I just talked to her on the phone and suggested that if she knew of anyone else using the same girth, that they should check it in the same places.

I am not a trained saddle maker, so I haven't tried to reflock a cushion beneath the seat etc. but I have repaired stuff like broken girth strops either by sewing them on or riveting them to the tree if that was the method used originally. I especially remember one saddle from the riding school that they had someone else repair before sending it my way. 
The girth straps should have been fixed to the tree, and they were broken, whoever did the repair job simply stapled them to the underside of the seat where there was a bit of nylon to shape the seat. The first time you would have tightened a girth - the strops would have come off. So I think that a lot of the repair jobs I do aren't super difficult, but they still require that I have a sound judgement of what stress that particular part will receive.
One of my regular customers (Katrinelund stallion station) sends a lot of stuff my way, and (though it may sound corny) I actually enjoy looking at the tack and doing the repair and checking the rest of the tack before handing it back. Especially the girths where there are 4 buckles. If one buckle is broken I change that, and then go on to check that the stitching is still OK for the remaining 3, and also the stitching where the elastic is joined to the actual girth. I know that technically I could just change the buckle and give it back and don't care if there wasn't another fault. But I just can't help it, if people have faith in that I can repair something then I'd hate it if I missed another obvious fault that would endanger those using the tack. :-)

When I was a child they would occasionally show steeplechase on the TV, to this day I am still impressed with the courage displayed in standing so high up in the stirrups and hammering away on a thoroughbred, and I believe that it makes you extra attentive to the small details in your tack given that there is so much strain on the equipment in that sport.

The way i look at the repairs i do, is if i would not ride on it it does not go out. Sometimes some things are well pass by their sell by date or they are damage beyond repair so i tell the client that i can not do a safe repair, some people want miracles it just not worth it. They don't realise they maybe putting them selves and maybe their loves ones too in danger at times, have had that on occasions, some people have said oh well i will take somewhere else to be done. One time it was their childs piece of tack that i refused to do they said i will take to the place which had done a poor previous repair , madness in my point of view.

 

Regards

JCUK

 

[Mulesaw]

27 minutes ago, jcuk said:

The way i look at the repairs i do, is if i would not ride on it it does not go out. Sometimes some things are well pass by their sell by date or they are damage beyond repair so i tell the client that i can not do a safe repair, some people want miracles it just not worth it. They don't realise they maybe putting them selves and maybe their loves ones too in danger at times, have had that on occasions, some people have said oh well i will take somewhere else to be done. One time it was their childs piece of tack that i refused to do they said i will take to the place which had done a poor previous repair , madness in my point of view.

 

Regards

JCUK

 

Maybe some parents don't really understand that while a pony is smaller than a horse and it looks nice and behaves nicely, it is still 350 kg of muscle that can do some serious damage to youngsters and grown-ups alike.
So far I have only had stable rugs that I have had to say I couldn't repair. But that was also for Katrinelund, and they are totally cool about it, I could technically repair them, but if I estimate that the work involved would exceed the value of the rug, then I just lay it aside and use the hardware as spare parts for their other rugs.

Brgds Jonas