Biting and generally moody when girth tightened...

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Abz88

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Right, my girly is a very sweet natured thing, never kicks out, nasty in field anything. Can be very head strong (classic welsh I am lead to believe!) but never 'nasty' and soon stops with a stern growl voice.

I had the bowen lady out who aslo looked at her back and saddle (shes a saddler too) and we both agreed as my girly has changed shape, her saddle was too big. She said her back seemed fine and when I run my fingers down her back with pressure,...she doesnt react at all. So, with this in mind, I duely went out and bought her a new saddle that fits lovely :) along with a western which has a great fit too. But ever since the 'old, hurty' saddle, shes turned to bite me when I pick up the girth (by pick up in this instance I mean litrally just hold - not tighten). Now, I know her saddles fit her well, and she has not reason to complain, no heat or soreness in her back as earlier said. Why has this behavioure come about and how do I stop it?! Yesturday, I just put her girth through the breast plate hoop bit and she nearly bit my head!!!! so I don't think it's pain, but it is very out of character......any ideas? :confused: I am a bit fed up of horsey bite marks on various parts oof my body :rolleyes:
 
I am interested in this post too. Brand new (extremely expensive) saddle itted 4 weeks ago. All fine before and now biting me before I even attach the girth and worse when doing it up. Fine once on and tightening
 
HKD, mine is the same - a nightmare when even touching the girth, but once it's done up and shes ready to go, doesnt even think about it, rides fine, the saddle is sat in the correct position and once out riding (she will NOT stand still to have the girth done up when on! But doesnt try to bite) I can jump off, tighten the girth with NO complaint at all!! Very odd!

I have 4 girths now in total as I thought the same - must be the girth....but doesnt seem to be. I have a 'humane' girth for youngsters (shes only just being bought into work) and then the other 3 are a mix - but all well padded and I make sure I hold both straps and do them up at the same time not on their own.

I have recently bought a 'saddle pad' if you havent seen then, have a look on e-bay and I would reconmened!! As I love riding bareback,...but as shes very very 'babyish' in her appraoch to life being ridden and havent ridden her long at all, I didnt fancy doing too much bareback (done a bit). This saddle pad can not be the wrong shape or pinch her or anything = basically an very thick saddle cloth with stirrups and a girth! And she even reacts to that. So I have ruled out back issues and pain.
 
I think you would have to do all the usual checks ulcers pain etc, however my dad does have a pointer who loves biting you when doing anything to him and has been checked for everything he really does think it is amusing he also loves cracking your head right under his jaw THE BUGGER :mad:

We really did think at first he was masking something with a not real look of enjoyment on his face,we now know the look how clever I am face is for real.
He is now retired but still loves a bite or kick and loves to demolish anything left in front of his door and can crack our skulls at random as he is my dads favourite so gets away with murder.
 
Thanks for your comments, and I know some horses/ponies can just find it funny. She is very mischievious - she can untie herself, turns wheel barrows over, throws her empty feed bucket and you and has worked out the bolt on the stable....but these arnt mean to people things which makes me wonder. I think an ulcer may be an idea - are ulcers more common in ex brood mares? She had a bad birth last year and had an op so was retired from being a brood...would this increase ulcer risk? When she had the op last year there was no mention of ulcers.
 
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My boy can be grumpy when I go to do up his girth I ( leather balding type) ....during the winter when it was very cold I used a furry girth sleeve. Problem solved. It was the cold of the girth against his clipped out coat that caused the problem. Only problem is now I am still using it will have to take it off for competition as its not very smart!
 
It could be 'remembered' pain from when her old saddle was hurting her. It may take some time before she realises that her new saddles no longer hurt.
My TB, Jasmine, puts her ears back and tries to nip when girthed up. She also gets very stroppy when I use the stable rubber, although she loves to be brushed really hard with a stiff dandy brush! She is just very ticklish. :)
 
it could well be remembered pain - my mare still does it sometimes - usually when impatient/blood is up (ie at a comp)
she has no pain (has back lady every 3 months - had serious back probkems when i got her)
 
I worked at a trekking centre were a pony was like this and also when out riding she would try to nip her leader. They were using a leather girth and when I checked she had a girth gall. Poor pony, when I told the owners they simply put a sheepskin cover on the girth and carried on. :mad: I think the fact the ponies were never groomed properly didn't help. Needless to say I left their employment a few days after and reported them to the local tourism agency.
 
The first saddle I had before was fitted by a SMS master saddler. After 6 weeks, she had 3 months off work and another 3 ridden bareback before I could get another SMS saddler to fit and sell me a brand new (another new) saddle - a Black Country this time.

I questioned was it wide enough for my horse. Definitely said the SMS. I've had another year of biting, head tossing, pulling tongue back in her mouth, bucking, etc.

Another saddler said it fitted but needed extra flocking, so then I had a tight saddle that was hard as well. My horses behavior did not improve.

She's been treated for gastric ulcers and everything else - just years of bad saddling has hurt my horse.

Thank you Lavinia Mitchell and LM saddles for making my horse comfortable. She doesn't trust yet that it will be OK, but she didn't bite me this morning.
 
We have a 7 year old Irish Sports x TB gelding who we have had for about 18 months. When we got him he was great to handle, then he went through about a month of being silly with his feet not wanting them picked up, fine again now.

Then earlier in the year started to stamp a foot/swish his tail or turn as if to bite when the girth was done up.
Again once done up, no problem at all. Could pull girth, mount tighten girth and ride with no issues at all.

He carried on like this for almost 2 months, and I just held the RH rein whilst attending to the girth so I could stop his head turning and gave him a few "talks" in a firm voice. He's fine now...think he just went through a stage of being a teenager.
 
my mare doesnt like her girth being done up in winter as it is cold. now it is warmer she is fine. If i use a sheepskin she is fine.
 
Just a thought but... maybe the horse preferred the bigger fitting saddle?

I'm sure that Sbloom has talked about horses that are happier in a saddle that isn't quite a perfect textbook fit.
 
Faracat, that is interesting, I havent heard this before. But, her old saddle was about 2 inches too wide! So not just a little bit big. And she rushes less (actually managed to get her into a rhythmic canter rather than a charge!) when being ridden now and I can get her to work her behind and bring it under her where-as before she used her front as the saddle was too big. So I managed to build up huge muscel in her front but her bum looks like an old nag! But we are getting there. I did wonder if it was learnt behaviour or learnt pain from the sore saddle. She did start doing it a bit with the old saddle, but it seems to have got worse not better, although she does seem to be testing me in other areas at the moment too,...so may be shes re-learning boundaries with me? Not quite sure.
 
She doesn't mind if you groom (with pressure) on the area where the girth goes?

Have you tried a sheepskin girth cover or a stud girth (spreads the pressure)?
 
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