Western Cinches For Sale

Western Cinch Savvy: What Size Does Your Horse Need?

To estimate the size (which is the length) of Western cinch your horse will need, you will first need to measure your horse's hearth girth.

Measuring Heart Girth

To measure a horse's heart girth, measure from the base of the withers down to a couple of inches behind the horse's front legs, under the belly, then up the opposite side to where you started. Notice this will cause your tape measure to run at an angle as shown by the yellow line in the photograph at right.

The measurement you arrive at is your horse's heart girth.

Measuring horse heart girth

Calculating Western Cinch Size

After you have your horse's heart girth measurement (in inches), divide that measurement by 2, then subtract 3 inches.

The horse in the photo above measured 77 inches for his heart girth. So, to calculate his cinch size we're going to take his hearth girth, divide that measurement by 2, then subtract 3 inches:

77 inches divided by 2 = 38.5 inches

38.5 inches minus 3 inches = 35.5 inches

That's darn close! The horse in the photograph wears a 36 inch cinch. A different horse we measured the same day had a 75 inch heart girth. Seventy-five divided by 2 is 37.5, minus 3 inches gives us an answer of 34.5. That's also very close - this mare wears a 34 inch cinch.

This Is Just An Estimate...

Calculating your horse's cinch size using the method above is not always completely accurate. There are enough differences in saddles and horse body types to make any method of measuring for a cinch little more than an educated guess. Measuring an old cinch (if you have one) that fit the horse and saddle well would be a better way of finding out a good size for a new cinch, but that's not always possible. Of the methods we have tried, however, the one we described above has been the most accurate.