Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Saddle Fit Conclusions



1) If you didn't consider yourself a whiner before, you'll be printing yourself an official badge by the end of your struggle


2) There is not necessarily an end to your struggle..the amorphous being that is your horse might just keep it interesting and keep changing shape FOREVER. See #1


3) If you ever thought that a horse care/use question had perhaps too many answers, too much misinformation is out there, and wouldn't it be nice to just read one page that says This Is Truth, well, you've really arrived now. See #1


After months of obsess-change saddles-and repeat over the ever present dry spots behind Scrappy's wither where he had shed out bald in spring, a couple of reliable sources just recently put a bug in my ear and then I happened upon reading ex Ortho-flex guy Len Brown's site, essentially confirming what I'd been hearing. There's quite an eyeful there for reading if you can look past the very questionable site design; it's worth checking out at your leisure but here's the particular nugget I'm referencing:


" Once skin is repeatedly damaged do not expect dry areas to immediately start sweating just because you removed the pressure at that spot.
Those dry spots on the withers may be permanent or not sweat for months after rectifying the initial saddling problems. AS I SAY ON MY WEBSITE: "BRING ALONG A CRYSTAL BALL IF YOU ARE INTO READING DRY SPOTS". RECCOMMENDATION: Palpate your horse for soreness every time before [and after] you saddle up and forget chasing every dry spot."


See #1.






3 comments:

  1. I feel totally vindicated about how approach saddle fit. If shes sore or something sheds Iin white that wasnt there before I change something. Otherwise we go for it if shes movibg well and seems happy.

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  2. This is exactly what I found too in my struggle with dry spots. SS's Dave gave a host of reasons why they could appear despite a good saddle fit.

    I'm not quite a whiner yet but I'm getting there.

    I am still worrying, but doing a lot of palpating. Supposedly Dave will do another SS fitting video soon regarding sweat patterns.

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  3. There ya go. I hadn't read that information on his site, but definitely am of that camp. Q's huge dry spots are still the last place to sweat even with new saddle for >1 year now. She's never been girthy (unless you're rude about cinching her up!) and has never responded to palpating her back pre/post ride and that is far more telling IMHO!

    I hope that you're coming to an end with the saddle battle now and can slowly set aside that badge to gather dust somewhere ;-) At least you know Scrappy will let you know for true if something hurts after that scary round pen session! He's your best guide. =)

    Good luck, lady! Here's to an end and a light at the end of the tunnel!

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