Painful aural plaques - any ideas?

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Smogul

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Has anyone had these treated successfully? They are definitely more painful in the cold weather as pony backs off when the bridle is put on. The faffing around to dismantle and redo a driving bridle is more stressful for him than simply putting it on as quickly as possible. Any suggestions welcome.
 
Sorry, no experience there - my horse has them but vet has advised to leave alone. What helps him is not folding his ears to put the bridle on. I push them forwards from the base of the ear and do one ear at a time, which he finds ok.

If you need more room to get over the ears, I've also let the cheekpieces out a couple of holes before putting on then tightened them up afterwards. it doesn't take much more time that putting the bridle on 'normally'.
 
Vet advised me to leave alone as they are viral, very painful of touched, and will disappear in time. I would dismantle the bridle rather than risk the pony becoming head shy.
 
One of mine had these a few years ago. Vet advised leave alone and they often clear up without treatment. They did indeed with no recurrence.
 
Mine has it in her right ear, we are now at a stage where I can't get a bridle on her - full stop!
I currently ride in a slip head with clips, no browband or noseband.

I keep seeing this thing where people say leave it alone, it will go, it won't - I have had my mare 4yrs, its got worse, not better.
 
fairyclare said:
Mine has it in her right ear, we are now at a stage where I can't get a bridle on her - full stop!
I currently ride in a slip head with clips, no browband or noseband.
t worse, not better.
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Not really an option for a driving pony, unfortunately. Vet said they were better left alone and might clear up of their own accord but they haven't. It is only really a problem in cold weather.

ycbm - dismantling the bridle and reassembling it causes him to get more wound up than simply putting it on as quickly as possible.
 
rather than a proper dismantle can you not have clips for the bits so you put the rest of the bridle on and then just clip the bit on after?
 
Smogul said:
Not really an option for a driving pony, unfortunately. Vet said they were better left alone and might clear up of their own accord but they haven't. It is only really a problem in cold weather.

ycbm - dismantling the bridle and reassembling it causes him to get more wound up than simply putting it on as quickly as possible.
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Fair enough. I have a military style bridle for one of mine - where the bit clips on afterwards. I think that would help a lot. They are sold on long distance riding sites and eBay.
 
Smogul said:
Not really an option for a driving pony, unfortunately. Vet said they were better left alone and might clear up of their own accord but they haven't. It is only really a problem in cold weather.
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I didn't suggest it was - I was sharing my experience of painful Aurel plaque.
Neither is it an option for a dressage horse who regularly competes.

Mine doesn't have an issue with her head collar going on over her ears though - strange....
 
fairyclare said:
Mine doesn't have an issue with her head collar going on over her ears though - strange....
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In that case I would be looking at the browband, sometimes they need a longer one as the bridle normally sits closer to the ears/head than headcollar.

Mine doesn't approve of headcollars going over his ears, is fine with them being done up from the buckle.
 
ycbm said:
Fair enough. I have a military style bridle for one of mine - where the bit clips on afterwards. I think that would help a lot. They are sold on long distance riding sites and eBay.
Click to expand...

How does this work? I was looking at existing bridle yesterday, trying to visualise it, and failing miserably! Do the military ones have blinkers?
 
ester said:
Obviously I know that the noseband and cheekpieces are integral which might limit adjustability but could you use these on the bottom of your cheekpieces
http://www.gsequestrian.co.uk/shire...=15&fep=8983&gclid=CLOevZXxltICFS0W0wod6WsFxg

I am guessing this is the sort of set up ycbm uses http://www.chandellessaddlery.co.uk...hon-Bridle-All-colours-Cob-and-Full-Size.html
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Thanks for the link but I am still struggling to see how this helps when you have blinkers on the bridle. Does anyone have a photo they could share?
 
I think the idea is to keep your blinkered headpiece, minus the noseband and bit, and just drop it on top of the head from above. That should be fairly straight forward if you don't have to get the nose into a noseband, or bit into the mouth. Then you can put the bit in afterwards, and clip it onto the cheek pieces, and if you need a noseband, take a stand-alone one and put it on on top. The link ester provided to the clips might be a way to hook the bit onto the ends of your cheek pieces (if you can shorten them enough).

Or could you use racing blinkers on an ear-less mask that you put on first, then a sliphead (with easy open buckle) over that, plus a separate noseband if needed? Might look odd, but if it solves your problem, why not?
 
Smogul said:
Thanks for the link but I am still struggling to see how this helps when you have blinkers on the bridle. Does anyone have a photo they could share?
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Why wouldn't it help? I don't see that the blinkers are in anyway a problem here? add two clips (even b+q would probably do some suitable small snap clips!) If you prefer zilco do harness rein clips that would probably work too to the bottom of your cheekpieces.
Place the bridle on from the top of the pony so that you don't have to bend the ears etc
take bit and clip to one side, pass through mouth clip to other side.

No pulling on pony's ears.

The only issue I can see is that if you want to keep your noseband on a driving bridle that the height of the noseband is usually dictated by the height of the bit, to account for the clips you would need the cheekpieces a bit shorter which might hoik your noseband up past the point of acceptable.

I think this is a zilco rein clip in use, attach this to bottom of cheek piece and clip to bit et voila!
harness-bit-clip.jpg
 
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If you do have a zilco type bridle then nosebands are actually much easier to remove as they just thread through the carriers. That sort of noseband (which i prefer anyway as it doesn't limit the movement of the bit like an integral one can) and bit clips might work? I sometimes use a noseband as an 'undernoseband' and take the noseband totally off the bridle if I want something that is harder to get hold of in a driving version so that plus bit clips could be another option. :) If you do have an integral noseband you could buy noseband hangers and noseband as they fit onto any blinkers that buckle at the top of the cheek pieces.
 
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