Sore shoulders (horse) how long to recover

[badgerdog]

I feel so guilty. My young horse had been starting to bronc so I thought a cause of this may be her saddle. It had only been fitted earlier on in the year but I could see she had changed shape. Just over two weeks ago I got the saddle fitter out and I changed the saddle to a wider one.
I trusted the saddle fitter to have done her job but i have now found that the new saddle has been pinching her shoulders and they are now sore.
I'm giving her some time off and I'm getting a different saddle fitter out, I don't want the other one near my horse.

How long should I give her before I get the other saddle fitter out? I obviously don't want him to be fitting a saddle if she still has sore shoulders.

 

[teddyt]

Groom the horse very well everyday. This will get the blood flow going and help the muscles recover. Then let your horse tell you! Palpate the area every day then when the horse no longer reacts to your touch the soreness should have gone and you can get the saddler out.

Bear in mind that young horses change so much that you may need to change your saddle every few months in the first year or two. Certainly check it yourself weekly.

The latest saddle could be either too narrow, hence pinching or too wide, hence the points have dug in behind the shoulder. You can check yourself by seeing if they are parallel to the horses body, which they should be. Of course there is more to it than that but something you can check in the meantime.

 

[badgerdog]

Thanks teddyt. I'll keep grooming her and checking her shoulders until she seems ok.

I'm prepared to keep changing my saddle because I know she'll be constantly changing shape - I'm on to my second in 3 months! I'm just so annoyed that I put my trust in the saddle fitter. It was only two weeks ago that I got a different one. I wasn't entirely happy with it when I got it, but she said that she would have been tensing her back with the previous one and she was just repeating that, even though the new one was a good fit! Thinking she was the expert I accepted this. I should have gone with my gut feeling.

I certainly won't be getting her back again and I have another saddle fitter in mind for next time.