2. Fitz-William Girth
3. Corded Girth
The girths are made either of webbing or of leather. The Fitz-William girth is the safest and neatest for a woman. This consists of one very broad girth, some five inches wide, with two buckles at each end which engage the two outside billets on either side of the saddle. This girth goes next to the horse’s body, and another girth, about half as wide and a trifle shorter, passes over the first girth—on which it is held in position by a leather loop just below the buckles—and terminates in a single buckle which
engages the middle of the three billets on either side of the saddle.
The advantages of this type of girth are that it is very strong and safe, and it is much easier with it to girth the horse as tight as is necessary for the side-saddle than it is with two or three separate narrow girths, each independent of the other, such as are commonly used in livery stables and riding schools.
In girthing with the Fitz-William, first the wide girth is drawn tight, and then the narrow girth, and it will be found that the narrow girth can be tightened on the wide one so that, after it has been drawn, the wide one can be taken up two or three holes, and then the narrow one can be taken up again, and so the horse cannot, by inflating himself, prevent tight girthing.
For the show ring, for hunting, and for park riding the girths must be either of leather or of white webbing.
For country use brown webbing girths are permissible, but they never look well and are liked chiefly by lazy grooms.
Needless to say, white girths must be kept scrupulously clean and pipe-clayed.