Suggestions needed - withers rubbed badly by rug :(

[Crazydancer]

One of the 'old ladies' at our yard is 34, so now has a very dipped back due to her age, and not much in the way of muscle on her neck, so her withers stick up very prominently. Generally she has carried weight well this winter, but is suffering with rubs on her withers. She has decent, well-fitting rugs, but even a Rambo wug style half-neck has rubbed, just the weight of the rug sitting on her withers has caused problems. Her owner has tried different makes and types of rug, but all seem to cause problems. Standard neck rugs either slip back behind her withers and rub, or sit in front of them and still rub! Half-neck is the best result, but still rubs.
Has anyone got any ideas about improving this for her?

 

[hudsonw]

Try a bib, they are only cheap off places like Ebay. They will stop the rubbing or try sowing a piece of silk on the inside of the rug where it rubs.

 

[be positive]

My old boy is better with a lighter weight full neck rug, this keeps him warm enough but is not so heavy that it rubs.

 

[sophiebailey]

I cut up some old silky pj's and sewed them along the neckline of some rugs and they don't rub at all now the silk jyst glides over the coat xx

 

[LouandBee]

Try cuting a big sponge in two and sew it to the lining each side of the withers i.e. leaving a small gap for the withers. Should take the pressure off a bit.

Hope that makes sense...

 

[cremedemonthe]

Many years ago a local lady approached me with the same problem one of her T/Bs had, poor horse's withers were rubbed raw. I had a good think as even the bib described in the earlier post didn't stop it and came up with this.
IF you can get an old saddle ready for the scrap heap give it to a local saddler and ask them to take the panel out, you don't need the top half of the saddle other than the girth straps. Take the girth straps off of the top and sew them onto the panel on the sweat flap.
Then, ask them to use a anti cast hoop which we can buy from our suppliers and stitch that into pockets on the top of the panel.
With some loops and velcro on the underside of the rug, you can put the anti cast panel invention on and girth it up like a normal saddle and attach the rug to the metal hoop. It does work but the rug needs to be quite a deep rug to allow for the "tent" at the top!
Hope this makes sense?

 

[kezimac]

Try cuting a big sponge in two and sew it to the lining each side of the withers i.e. leaving a small gap for the withers. Should take the pressure off a bit.

Hope that makes sense...

this

 

[ebonyallen]

You could try cutting up an old bit of sheep skin and sew it to the rug,we have done this in the past and it did help.

 

[Identityincrisis]

Try cuting a big sponge in two and sew it to the lining each side of the withers i.e. leaving a small gap for the withers. Should take the pressure off a bit.

Hope that makes sense...

This. Or, I had the same problem with my TB, rubbed his withers raw, I cut a large piece of fleecey material, folded it over several time to pad it and sewed it into his rugs. It worked brilliantly, if it hadn't I was going to attempt the bridge effect as above.

 

[whizzer]

My lads high withers used to get rubbed, I sewed a good sheepskin pad(nuu med) into a bib then just left it on under rugs. Worked a treat!

 

[9tails]

Bossy bib. It sits in front of the wither and allows the rug to slide over the fur rather than rubbing the fur off.

 

[Crazydancer]

Thanks guys, will pass on the info to the owner, think the sheepskin/sponge padding sewn into a bib would work best, then it could be used for all of her rugs. Silk or bib on its own wouldn't be enough, I think a lot is related to her age as well.

 

[GREYSMEADOW]

I have this same problem with my 'very high withered aged TB and posted an idea on this forum a while back and it works 200% and didn't cost me much at all.

1. Get a draught excluder (long saugage thing) which you place at the bottom of doors to stop draughts (I got mine from Wilkinsons at the time £1 each I think).

2. Sew 2 ends (only) together to form a horse shoe shape.

2. Then tie some ribbon or string on to the bit you have just sewn.

3. Place on top of withers of horse and tie (with the ribbon) to the neck cover attachment of the rug. If you need extra layers underneath the rug make sure that the sausage thingy is always in contact with the horses hair and not the under-rug as you will get rug pressure from the rug(s) again and will start rubbing the withers.

If your horse rolls alot then you may find that the sausage thingy does ocassionally slip.

Let me know how you get on.

 

[GREYSMEADOW]

I've just found my previous post on this forum:

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=341256

I use the donut/sausage thingy all the time on my TB when rugging.