Girths, breastplates and martingales: holding it all together.

Girths and overgirths

The St. Moritz Snow Polo World Cup programme (2023) describes the polo girth as leather or a cloth composite, and says a surcingle or overgirth adds stability and backs up a girth that breaks.

That backup role is written into the rules for one type of girth.

A broken girth is one of the tack failures for which play is stopped at once under the HPA's 2026 Rule 20b, and the Pony Club's 2026 rulebook also lists a broken girth among the breakages that stop junior polo. The USPA's 2024 Outdoor Rules (Rule 21g(1)) likewise stop play at once for a broken girth, or for a broken martingale whose end trails on the ground. The HPA's 2026 guidance for umpires' ponies asks for the girth to be tight and the leather work sound.

Breastplates

The St. Moritz programme says most players use leather breastplates to stop the saddle slipping back, and the South African Polo Association's guide gives the same purpose.

• HPA 2026: the rule text we read does not require a breastplate.
• Pony Club 2026: breastplates are required, except in the JOR and HX sections.

The standing martingale

The South African Polo Association says the polo martingale stops the pony raising its head. The St. Moritz programme explains why that matters in polo: players lean over the pony's head, and a pony that throws its head back could cause injuries such as a broken nose. It says the martingale should be neither too tight nor too loose.

• HPA 2026: the rule text we read does not require a martingale. A search summary of a Horse & Hound article says HPA rules allow only a standing martingale; we could not read the article or find that wording in the 2026 rules, so it is unconfirmed.
• Pony Club 2026: all ponies must wear a leather standing martingale. When one is used with a combination, Kineton, drop or similar noseband, a cavesson may be added as a second noseband, an exception to the one-noseband rule (see bits and bridles).

Under the Pony Club's 2026 rules, the umpire stops play if a martingale breaks and trails on the ground.

How the pieces fit together

Each piece answers a different problem, as the sources describe them:

Girth

Holds the saddle on (leather or cloth composite, per the St. Moritz programme).

Overgirth or surcingle

Adds stability and backs up the girth. Required with a humane girth under both the HPA's 2026 rules and the Pony Club's 2026 rulebook.

Breastplate

Stops the saddle slipping back. Required in most Pony Club sections in 2026.

Standing martingale

Limits how high the pony can raise its head. Required for all Pony Club ponies in 2026.

The St. Moritz programme also describes stirrups attached to the girth by a leather strip in adult snow polo, which the Pony Club forbids in junior polo; the saddles page sets out that difference.

What we could not confirm

• Apart from the broken-tack rule above, we found no USPA 2024 rule on girths, breastplates or martingales, and no FIP or AAP rule. The USPA revises its rules each year, so check its current book.
• Whether the HPA restricts martingale types, as the Horse & Hound summary suggests.

Fitting a martingale or breastplate correctly is something to learn hands-on from an instructor or experienced groom. Check the current tack rules of your governing body, club and tournament before you play.