Muscle wastage/ridge caused by poorly fitted saddle

[midnight mayhem]

I've been having the fun task of tagging along with a Freind to look at horses in view to buy (her not me.) Today we've been to see a 15 year old ISH, he was about 16.2hh total gent, the owner is selling due to financial reasons only and she admitted he's not been seen by saddler for 2/3 years!!! Partly as a result of this his back seems to have indented (looks exactly like the shape of saddle) but I believe also partly due to the fact that he has no topline and a lot of muscle wastage. He's in good condition otherwise, clearly a good doer. When ridden he felt a little stiff and behind the leg and he felt more at ease in a long and low outline-I'm guessing more to evade the uncomfortable saddle?
Anyway, the point to this thread was to ask people's opions as I'm no expert, so was the saddle to cause for this 'ridge' ? And if horse was bought what would be the nest solutions to fix problem? Sorry for this crap explanation! I'm not sure how best to put it! Please don't shoot me, I just want to broaden my knowledge and learn from everything I see.

 

[McW]

It sounds like typical muscle wastage from a saddle too narrow. Nothing which can't be rectified with a proper saddle (you'll need one which is set slightly wider than you'd need initially to allow him to grow into the saddle) and use the likes of a polite pad. Don't expect miracles but you will see improvement, I would recommend hacking to get said horse fit.

 

[McW]

Can't edit but what you don't want us a new saddle fitted to the shape if his under muscled back. I wouldn't expect any saddler would do this anyway but just thought I'd mention.

 

[Shadow the Reindeer]

You can get nuumeds with shims that help the saddle to sit correctly on the horses back.. http://www.nuumed.com/products/108-general-purpose-hiwither-half-wool-shimmy-numnah-nm08ass-gp If you take this horse on, it might be worth getting his back checked first, then get a reputable saddle fitter out, don't let the fitter make the saddle fit by going by the wastage there.. let me explain by using my lad as an example..

I can show you an example of muscle wastage caused by poor diet (not getting enough nutrition from haylage/lack of grass.

See where my thumb is? it's not there now, he's improved tonnes since this was taken (back in mar/april)

A saddle, that doesn't allow for the muscles on either side of the wither, and top of shoulder to build up correctly, can make this problem far worse that it already is. As I said, some saddle fitters don't take into account the fact that these muscles need space to grow. Deny them that, and you achieve muscle wastage that causes the front of the saddle to appear to 'drop'.
I've spent 5 months of this year undoing all this damage, and now I have a new saddle, that fits correctly, the wastage has gone, and the saddle fits a lot better.

 

[Pinkvboots]

Google lavinia mitchell she will be able to help you, my horse now has one of her saddles after his was too narrow.

 

[WelshD]

Someone on here (I think it was Kokopelli...) had a loan horse returned with awful muscle wasters, hopefully they will see this and comment as the horse looks a lot better after some months of tlc

 

[sbloom]

Often as not a good fitter CAN fit to a muscle wasted back, using a shim system, I only use Mattes sheepskin lined pads, not a great fan of any others. I find that younger remedial fits can show very rapid change, with 1-2 tree size increase in 2-6 months. Older horses can be slower but it can still be done. The Mattes system has the sheepskin to cushion the muscle, and felt shims, which are very stable and very versatile, to correct the fit, almost anticipating and replicating the shape of a healthy back. I find other shim system are not as stable and not as trimmable/sculptable, which is important when you consider you are, more or less, replicating a healthily muscled back.

Anything saddle shaped in their musculature is a bad thing, too many people don't really recognise it for what it is but it is not caused by a too narrow saddle necessarily. Dents at the back can be, but that is because the saddle is too low at the cantle which can be caused by other factors. Dents at the front can be caused by a saddle being too narrow, but equally there are other factors that can cause it.

Dents along the whole length of the saddle may be caused by a rocking saddle, and I very commonly see the start of those, with softness in the muscle under the tree points and under the rear of the saddle.

 

[Wagtail]

Had a livery at my yard like this. He had been fitted by a master saddler in a saddle that was way too narrow for him. When I put my wide saddle on him, suddenly he was able to work correctly in the school. Got the saddler out who said he was a narrow horse (he wasn't, I could see by eye that he was a medium wide). I actually had to talk him into fitting a saddle too wide and putting in extra flocking which he gradually removed as the horse changed shape. After a few months, the horse had filled out by two inches on each side! He was eighteen, and I didn't expect such a huge change in his physique. So yes, I would say that with a good sadler and correct long and low schooling and lunging, he should improve a lot.