"Fitting" a saddle for a horse with muscle wastage?

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darksecret99

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If you have a saddle made/adjusted to fit a horse who currently has little muscle along its back, will that prevent/restrict the muscle from developing?

Ie. should the saddle be fitted to allow room for growth and be used with a pad until the horse fills out, or should it be made "to fit"??

My boy had muscle wastage due to a back injury, but following treatment, is now back in work and gradually building up the muscles again, but his saddle is no longer fitting quite right, so I will be seeking the advice of a master saddler, but I suspect there are two schools of thought on this and would be interested to hear your views before I take his advice as gospel!
 
I've recently had a saddle made for this exact problem. Admittedly I'm still waiting for the saddle however they call it remedial as it means the saddler will be out every 5 minutes to adjust as the muscle develops.....expensive
 
The saddle should be made to fit to some extent, but there will be 'gaps' to fill in. If you imagine taking a template of your horses back, if there is muscle wastage there will be dips either side of the spine, then he will fill out again. If you place a large fibregee pad under your saddle and fold it back so it is thicker under the pommel area, this will allow muscle development without pinching.
 
My old saddle caused muscle wastage on my horse, I had the saddle fitted, I got a VSD with interchangeable gullet so when I called out the saddler a couple of months later she just changed the gullet.
 
I've got one with an adjustable gullet already, but its riding down at the front slightly because he is not muscled behind the wither (but a narrower guller is too tight)...
 
i agree that a riser pad or something may well be the best option, without having to contsnatly change saddles.
porbbaly best to get a good saddler out and discuss the options with them.
 
my ex-racer had terrible hollows behind the shoulders when i first got him - saddler fitted a saddle which wouldn't pinch, but also wouldn't settle too low and then put a prolite pad under it. Within a year his back was completely different and I bought a new saddle to fit his new shape. You should find a pad under your synthetic saddle helps - mine went from a narrow fit leather saddle with a pad, to a medium (changeable gullet synthetic) and now medium-wide gullet in the 5 years i've had him.
 
[ QUOTE ]
The saddle should be made to fit to some extent, but there will be 'gaps' to fill in. If you imagine taking a template of your horses back, if there is muscle wastage there will be dips either side of the spine, then he will fill out again. If you place a large fibregee pad under your saddle and fold it back so it is thicker under the pommel area, this will allow muscle development without pinching.

[/ QUOTE ]

Spot on advice here. Someone I know started off with 9 layers of fibregee in her horse's hollows (long story, horse was a rescue) and every week a sheet would need to come out until the horse's back was pretty much perfect. She also had to massage the hollows by rubbing the palm of her hand over the scooped areas for about 5 minutes each side. Apply gentle pressure and it helps the blood circulation etc. Difference truly was amazing.

Be really careful about what saddle you get, as many saddlers will fit too narrow in cases like this. You need to get the saddle to fit how the horse will be, once the back has recovered.

Good luck, you'll be amazed at how things will change in a pretty short period of time.
 
Thanks for all your advice!

I am massaging his back every day already...

I will put a riser pad in for now and discuss with the saddler when he visits in a couple of weeks....

My YO has been telling me that I will need to get a leather saddle fitted (she hates wintecs anyway, and probably gets comission from the saddler, so I suspected that her advice might not be in our best interests!), but at least I have more of an idea of what advice I should expect from the saddler now (and will get a socond opinion if what he says seems dodgy!)
 
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