Hair waering away

H

H-J

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Just wanted some advice - Its not on my horse but on a couple of my friends horses the hair is wearing away underneath their saddles at the back, above the kidneys.

One of the horses has just had its saddle fitted and has a soft pad underneath the saddle yet it is wearing the hair away and has even made it swollen.

The numnuhs are of good quality, they change them, havent cleaned them with anything different. saddles fit.

No explaination! And is very strange
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Mine has done that too - my saddle fits ok, and there is no pain there, I think its where my horse is clipped the coat is shorter and cant cope as well, because I dont have a problem in the summer.
 
Make sure that the saddle isnt too long in the length. It shouldn't actually be sat on the kidney area at all.

The only time ive had this with my boy was when he's saddle was indeed sat in this area and too long for him and caused bruising to the area
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Also ensure the saddle is sitting correctly and isnt tilting backwards therefore placing more preasure to the back of the saddle than the front. Similarly that its not swinging from side to side when the horse is working and therefore rubbing the hair in that way.

Particularly if there is swelling to the area, I'd be extremely suspicious about the fit of the saddles.
 
And it isnt just the patch there is sweeling and soreness there, how could this have been caused if everything is ok.

The owner is having her back checked today so hopefully something will show up there but if not there isnt anything else she can check really
 
This is happening with my horse, noticed it a week or so ago, always happens this time of year as their coats are starting to change, once her summer coat starts coming through properly the bald patches disappear, this tends to happen a lot with big moving horses as their movement rubs away the hairs that are moulting out.
 
So the hair seems to be a common thing.

Just thought that was strange as it has never happened to any of my horses.

But the swelling on one of the horses I dont think is right. I will tell her about the saddle maybe being too long
 
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And it isnt just the patch there is sweeling and soreness there

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Ah, well if there is indeed swelling and soreness then it would suggest that the saddle doesn't fit.
 
A word of warning on this. My daughters pony had this with apparently no ill effects, then she suddenly started dipping her back when mounted and it seemed that almost overnight her back had become very tender. We had the back lady out and she needed 3 sessions and about a 6 weeks off to come right. It seemed that the numnah had a label on the centre seam and this had curled up and was causing pressure on the spine which had just built up. I felt awful for not noticing it but as back lady said, what a stupid place to put a label. It was only a bit of satiny material less than an inch square but had folded up to become really quite sharp.
 
It is quite common at this time of year for horses hair to be rubbed (swelling is a different matter) It is due to a loss of integrity (hair strength) as the coat is long.
 
are they being washed off properly after work? even if they don't sweat they should be given a light sponge or a good brush off where the saddle and bridle were. if this isn't done there can be a build up of scurf which can in turn rub and cause soreness.
 
Mine has this - my saddle is newly made for him, but the rubbing was caused by the binding on the saddlecloth. I'm now using a sheepskin pad and no saddlecloth and the hair is slowly coming back.
 
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