Ex racehorse, muscle wastage, prolite pads?

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Victoria25

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Hi guys

As you may have read, I have an ex racer who has very high withers/muscle wastage – he is 9 years old and raced from the age of just under 4 until 7 … we’re now in the transition of bringing him into ‘normal work’ and building up his non existent topline

We’ve got him a new Thorowgood high withered T4 saddle and this fits fine although due to his muscle wastage, still sits a tiny bit low on his withers when sat on.

The idea is to get the Prolite front riser for him just to raise it a little more/give a bit of comfort… So my question is … has anyone used them – have they been good? How did you find them? Is there anything else on the market that you think is better? If so, why?

Vic x
 
We have a prolite rear rider pad for Reg's dressage saddle (he has no muscle wastage, which is apparently quite unusual for a TB out of racing to have avoided?) and it is really good quality and also is hardly noticeable.
 
I also had the same problem with my ex-racer. I used a prolite pad for a while to pad out muscle wastage - I found it did nothing to lift the saddle off his withers much though, the only thing that really worked was lots and lots of longlining to encourage him to round his neck as like most racers he had his neck on upside down! He no longer needs extra pads as his muscles have bulit up in the correct places and he carries himself beautifully. Hope this helps.
 
I made my own riser pad when my horse was coming back into work after box rest and so had muscle wastage on his withers. None of the commercial ones had the padding in quite the right place according to the saddler. Made my own out of things I had lying around so cost me nothing and did a better job.
 
Buy some foam leg pads (that go under bandages) and cut out 2 pieces to fit your horses hollows either side of his withers, sew them where you want them on an old saddlecloth. Bingo! :)
 
I used a prolite gel pad under my tbs saddle when she suffered the same issue, and found it to be very helpful :)
 
Hi, my ex-racer had similar muscle wastage but now has super topline. Think more on building up muscle than short term fixes. On advice of McTimoney lady we used Pessoa lunging, literally 5 minutes each session to start. Slowly built this up to a few times a week and also had his saddle properly fitted to encourage muscle development. Took the best part of a year but his back is best it has ever been, no soreness and working through in schooling. With patience you will get there!
 
Oh gosh, Im certainly not looking for a quick fix :( … he’s now into his 3rd month of ground training – lots of lunging both with loose side reins and/or a pessoa (well a different make but same device to encourage ‘rounding’), lots of hill walking (Im now fit as a flee) and lots of long reining. He’s doing excellent and really coming along wonderfully. We’re still a long way off but were in no rush ;)
 
Have a look at the Balance International website - even if you didn't want to go down their full saddle route, they have pads that are designed to do exactly what you're after, and they have many examples of huge changes in muscle development as a result of their system.
 
I use the prolite front riser, since Henry lost weight - he's very difficult to fit a saddle to, given the seasonal fluctuations! It's worked well for me and has raised the pommel sufficiently whilst not affecting the fit around the shoulder itself. Not sure how effective it would be for high withers - he's a round barrel!
 
I used a Prolite pad in front for an ex racer with muscle wasteage and it was very effective. It's not a "quick fix" but it does give temporary better fit while they build up.
 
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