# Girth Galls and Tack Rubs > Catch a girth gall early, wash and dry the area properly, and soothe sore skin with a barrier cream — plus the clear signs a rub needs your vet. - **URL:** https://piaffehorse.com/conditions/girth-galls-and-tack-rubs/ A girth gall begins small — a hairless, tender patch where the girth or rug presses against the skin. Catch it in that first day or two, and a wash, a rest, and a soothing skin-barrier cream are usually all it takes. Leave it rubbing, though, and that same patch can crack open, weep, and turn into a proper wound, one that costs you time off work and sometimes a call to the vet. The fix comes down to hygiene and timing: keep the girth area clean and dry, check it by hand every time you tack up, and treat the first sign of heat or rubbed hair before tack goes near it again. ## What Counts as a Girth Gall vs a Tack Rub A tack rub is simply skin that's been irritated by friction — hair rubbed flat or gone missing, the skin underneath pink and slightly warm to the touch. A girth gall is what happens when that rubbing keeps going: the skin thickens, cracks, or forms a small weeping sore, usually right behind the elbow where the girth sits tightest. Rug rubs show up in similar spots for the same reasons — the point of the shoulder, the withers, in front of the hind leg where a strap sits — and they follow the same pattern every time: friction, moisture, time. ## Catch a Rub Before It Turns Into a Gall Run a bare hand over the girth area, the front of the chest, and the points of the shoulder every single time you tack up and untack — not just when something looks off. You're checking for heat, for hair gone thin or slightly matted in one spot, for skin that feels tighter or a touch raised compared to the area around it. Horses coming back into work after time off, horses that have dropped or gained condition, and horses newly into a girth or rug are the ones most likely to catch you out. The fit that suited last month may not suit this one. - Hair rubbed flat, thin, or gone missing in a small patch - Skin that feels warmer or slightly swollen to the touch - The horse flinching, pinning its ears, or fidgeting as the girth goes on - A crusty or slightly damp patch under the rug after turnout ## Keep the Girth, Saddle and Rug Contact Areas Clean Sweat and dried mud are two of the biggest contributors to a gall, simply because grit trapped against the skin under a girth acts exactly like sandpaper under a saddle pad. Washing the girth area properly with [Revive Shampoo](/product/revive-shampoo/) after a sweaty session lifts that salt and grime out of the coat instead of just brushing it across the surface. It's worth doing even on days you don't fully bathe the horse — a bucket, a sponge, and a rinse over the girth line and behind the elbows takes five minutes, nothing more. Dry the area properly afterwards. A gall that starts under a damp girth on a damp horse forms much faster than one that doesn't. The tack matters just as much as the horse wearing it. Fleece girth sleeves and sheepskin numnahs need regular washing too — a build-up of dried sweat inside a sleeve turns it from something soft into something crusty and abrasive, and at that point you're effectively rubbing the horse with cardboard. Check rug linings the same way, especially at the shoulders and wherever leg straps cross, and swap out a girth or numnah the moment the lining feels stiff or matted, rather than waiting until it looks visibly filthy. Care note A gall with broken, weeping, or scabbed skin isn't something to work through — rest the horse from that piece of tack, keep the area clean, and speak to your vet if it hasn't started settling within a few days, if it looks infected (heat, swelling, discharge), or if it keeps coming back in the same spot. Grooming products can soothe sound, unbroken skin, but they're no substitute for veterinary treatment of an infected or non-healing wound. ## A Skin-Barrier Routine for Sore Skin Once there's a rubbed patch, even a small one, the goal is to protect it while it heals rather than let tack keep grinding over the same spot. On clean, dry, unbroken skin, [Repair Cream](/product/repair-cream/) earns its place here — its shea and cocoa butter base sits on the skin as a barrier rather than soaking straight in, protecting a tender patch from the next bit of friction while the skin underneath rebuilds its normal thickness and hair growth. - Wash the area gently and pat it fully dry — never rub - Make sure it's unbroken skin, not an open sore, before applying anything - Smooth on a thin layer of Repair Cream, working it in rather than leaving it greasy - Give the horse a day or two off that piece of tack if the patch feels at all tender - Check daily until the hair and skin look completely normal again ## Rest, Padding, and the Road Back to Work A genuinely sore gall needs rest from whatever caused it — that might mean lungeing off the bareback pad only, riding in a different saddle for a week, or simply a couple of days completely off if no other tack clears the area. Padding can buy time once the skin has calmed down: a wider or shaped girth, a sheepskin sleeve, or shifting the girth holes up or down one notch can take pressure off a spot that's already sensitive. Going straight back into the same girth on the same holes, on skin that's only just stopped being sore, is the single most common way a rub turns into a repeat visitor. Watch the horse's manner as closely as the patch itself. A gall that's genuinely settling gets less sensitive to the touch day by day, the hair around the edge starts filling back in, and the horse stops reacting when you run a hand over it before tacking up. If a spot still flinches after a week of rest and clean, dry care, don't just push on and hope for the best — that's the point to widen the girth, change the pad, or get the saddle properly checked, rather than repeat the same routine and expect a different result. ## Preventing the Next Gall Most girth galls come down to fit, fitness, and cleanliness rather than bad luck. A horse coming back into work after a break, or one whose shape has shifted with the season, is carrying different pressure through the girth than it was a month ago — worth reassessing girth and saddle fit at those points rather than assuming last year's kit still sits the same way. A light leave-in spray conditioner smoothed through areas that see regular tack contact can also help keep the hair supple, which makes a small amount of friction less likely to turn into a hot spot in the first place. It's worth thinking about the whole session too, not just the girth strap. A horse worked hard through a hot, sweaty session and then left standing tacked up while you chat is sitting in exactly the conditions a gall needs: warmth, damp, and continued pressure. Loosen the girth the moment you're finished, sponge off promptly, and don't leave a soaked numnah balled up in the tack box until next time. None of that feels like much on any single day, but it all adds up over a season. - Recheck girth and rug fit whenever the horse's condition changes noticeably - Wash girths, sleeves and numnahs on a regular rota, not only when they look dirty - Dry the horse properly at the girth line and behind the elbows before rugging up - Watch new tack closely for the first few weeks — new leather and linings rub differently to kit that's bedded in - Treat a hot or thin patch on day one instead of waiting to see if it clears itself The horses that never get a gall are almost always the ones whose girth area gets checked by hand every single day — not the ones with the fanciest sleeve. Piaffe grooming team ### Kit for keeping the girth area clean and comfortable - https://piaffehorse.com/product/repair-cream/ ## [Repair Cream](https://piaffehorse.com/product/repair-cream/) $970 [Add to cart](/conditions/girth-galls-and-tack-rubs/?format=md&add-to-cart=16) - https://piaffehorse.com/product/revive-shampoo/ ## [Revive Shampoo](https://piaffehorse.com/product/revive-shampoo/) $320 [Add to cart](/conditions/girth-galls-and-tack-rubs/?format=md&add-to-cart=28) - https://piaffehorse.com/product/release-spray-conditioner/ ## [Release Spray Conditioner](https://piaffehorse.com/product/release-spray-conditioner/) $670 [Add to cart](/conditions/girth-galls-and-tack-rubs/?format=md&add-to-cart=24)