Saddle fitting / unlevel horse - new horse update

[Magicmillbrook]

Hi everyone - We were delighted three weeks ago when we finaly found a new horse. Had a weeks trial period, flew through vetting, however first week home we began to hit problems under saddle - cow kicking, resistance, little bucks. Thought it may be saddle as the vendor had found us out a 2nd hand one. My daughter rode in it the last two days of the trial, and with hindsight thinks that she did not go so well. Decided to halt all riding until sadle fitter had been - she is lungeing beautifully, has no tender or warm spots on palpation and is behaving well in all other respects.

Saddle fitter came out yesterday and condemmed the old saddle! It appears that our horse has an unusualy small saddle area (typical) and of all the 75 saddles only two were short enough for her whilst being suitable for my leggy daughter. Poor Fleur was also very unhappy having the saddles put on and off.

I have absolute confidence in the fitter (she also fits for the ILPH and works closely with physio etc). Even with new saddle in place Fleur was a bit nappy and kicked, though this did decrease when she realised it wasn't going to hurt. The fitter also noted that she is unlevel behind in that her right hip swings a little higher - something neither I nor the vet noticed, I was too busy looking at her legs!.

So - questions -

Is it likely that wearing a poor saddle even for a short time could have caused such an extreme reaction

How do you think the best way to get her over her obvious concern regarding saddles, bearing in mind the fitter is confident that with her new saddle is an excellent fit and there will be no further saddle induced pain.

And finaly what about the unlevelness - is this something that can be rectified with excersise, should I be concerned, could this be related to the saddle issue?

I will be contacting our osteopath ASAP, however like all good therapists she is in great demand so I envisage a bit of a wait - so your thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated - I have also posted this on the new lounge bit of the forum - so sorry if you end up reading this lenghty post twice.

 

[buddly]

hi
imo i would try to get back done asap and untill then carry on lunging as u don't want to make her resentful of saddle even more. as for can the saddle make a difference in short space of time yes it can my horse is highly sensitive in back due to an old problem with pain(not in pain any longer n not for few years now) and when i tried saddles out he bucked in canter in the ones he didn't like not like him.and if the reaction is def due to an ill fitting saddle and poss pain once back is done it will just take time and patience to bring her round to the fact it doesn't hurt any more

god luck

 

[Eceni]

lunging (IMO and I realise I may be alone in this - although it's probably the ONLY item on which Monty Roberts and I concur) unbalances a horse - there's torque to the inside, which increases with speed. Long reining is far, far better.

so - can you long-rein with a roller until a) back is seen by a good chiropracter/physio and b) a proper saddle is fitted?

E

 

[Magicmillbrook]

Thanks for the advice. My daughter rode her last night in the new saddle. We took a little time saddling up to try and reduce her concerns - she wasnt too bad. Mounting & walking were fine. She showed a little resistance to trotting initialy but then went nicely. Cantering was a totaly different thing, she was extremely resistant, then she seemed to go into canter at one point without too much hassle, however when we changed the rein she had an obsolute fit. So Daughter went back to trotting which she was absolutely fine with. I am not sure now whether to keep to walk and trot and see if she gradualy gets over her phobia or whether to not ride at all until her back has been checked. My usual back person cant come out for a fortnight. I am also aware that the longer things get left the less comeback I will have on the vendor of the horse should I disciver something sinister - we did have bloods taken during the vetting just in case.