Girth (tack) Girth (tack) A girth, sometimes called a cinch (Western riding), is a piece of equipment used to keep the saddle in place on a horse or other animal. It passes under the barrel of the equine, usually attached to the saddle on both sides by two or three leather straps called billets. Girths are used on Australian and English saddles, while western saddles and many pack saddles have a cinch, which is fastened to the saddle by a single wide leather strap on each side, called a latigo. Although a girth is often enough to keep a well-fitting saddle in
Girth (geometry) width, with the same width "w". All curves of constant width have the same perimeter, the same value "w" as the circumference of a circle with that width (this is Barbier's theorem). Therefore, every surface of constant width is also a surface of constant girth: its girth in all directions is the same number "w". Hermann Minkowski proved, conversely, that every convex surface of constant girth is also a surface of constant width. For a prism or cylinder, its projection in the direction parallel to its axis is the same as its cross section, so in these cases the girth