Swelling under saddle after 4 hr ride...

_MizElz_

_MizElz_

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Just wondering if anyone has any ideas on this please.

Ellie and I went on a 12 mile fun ride on Sunday. We took it pretty steadily as we went with a friend whose horse is not at full fitness after several years off - so we mainly walked, with a little bit of trotting and cantering with some jumping. In total, it took us just under four hours.

I noticed when hosing her down afterwards that she had a raised area beneath her saddle. The swelling was only on one side (left of the spine) and was just slightly smaller than the area with which the saddle would have been in contact.

I put some arnica on the raised area, and turned her out. Yesterday, the swelling had gone down a bit but was still visible - today, it is barely visible but you can still feel it. She was a bit tender on it yesterday - but then she gets tender over her whole back and loins when she's in use anyway. This morning she didnt seem to feel me touching it.

Just wondering what may have caused it? My first thought was that it could be the mixture of dirt and sweat - I didnt bath her before the ride, so although she was well groomed she would have had a certain amount of grease in her coat as she is turned out rugless. The saddlecloth was clean when we started the ride.

We have had skin sensitivity issues with her back in the past - a couple of winters ago she came up with a rain-scald type condition under her saddle when clipped. I put that down to having used a grubby saddle cloth (slapped wrists, have not done it again since - all my saddle cloths are washed after one use now) and to her then being rugged up. She got very, very hot on the ride as it was very muggy - under her saddle she was dripping with sweat when we got back. Prior to this ride, we have had no problems at all - and this has included several long hacks (albeit not 12 miles before, lol!), ODEs, hunter trials and XC schooling sessions. I have never seen this swelling before, and her (made to measure) saddle was checked and reflocked last year, so there shouldnt be any problems there either. I will be getting it checked again anyway in a month or so, but surely if the saddle was the problem, I'd have noticed swelling/discomfort before now? It just seems a coincidence that I was on her back for such a long time, and that this is the first time the swelling has appeared.

Any ideas/similar experiences appreciated, thank you! :)
 
_MizElz_ said:
I noticed when hosing her down afterwards that she had a raised area beneath her saddle. The swelling was only on one side (left of the spine) and was just slightly smaller than the area with which the saddle would have been in contact.

I put some arnica on the raised area, and turned her out. Yesterday, the swelling had gone down a bit but was still visible - today, it is barely visible but you can still feel it. She was a bit tender on it yesterday - but then she gets tender over her whole back and loins when she's in use anyway. This morning she didnt seem to feel me touching it.
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I'd be quite concerned about her getting consistently tender when in work, and would be getting the saddle checked asap.

The other thing to wonder is if you are unevenly distributing your weight when you ride?
 
Ditto puppy and it may be worth getting a second opinion from a different saddler for your peace of mind.

re the sensitive skin I have found washing off with lavender shampoo helps for the type of reaction you are describing
 
Thanks for the replies guys :)

I know four hours seems a long time, but as I said my friend's 18 year old mare has only just come back into work so we took it very steady - we only really stepped up the pace when there were jumps! But it was a very hot day - really close and muggy. They were all very hot and sticky when we got back!

I've seen a pressure sore before and this looks nothing like it - the hair has not been disturbed at all, the swelling is just under the skin :confused:

Puppy - she isnt consistently tender when in work; this is the very first time I have ever noticed anything of the sort. As I said in my OP, she's been doing a fair amount of XC recently and there have been no problems whatsoever. She gets sensitive all over when she is in use - mainly over her loins and tummy - but not to an extent that it affects her under saddle. She's never been any different in that respect - she's just very ticklish when she's in season!

Maesfen - re. the moving bum: this is possible - we all went without stirrups for some of the way just because of stiff knees, so I guess this may account for me shifting my weight around a bit? My own conformation is not great anyway - I have a twisted pelvis - but this has been the case for many years and has never caused either of us problems. I'm normally pretty quiet in the saddle - I'm not the tidiest over fences any more as am very out of practice, but we didnt really do that much jumping!

As I said, my saddle was checked at the end of last year and I am intending to get it done again as soon as I finish work for the summer and can make an appointment for the saddler to come out.

brownmare - thank you, I will have a look for some lavender shampoo! If not, I have some lavender oil at home, am guessing that would do a similar job? :)

Thanks again for your replies :)
 
_MizElz_ said:
Thanks for the replies guys :)

Puppy - she isnt consistently tender when in work; this is the very first time I have ever noticed anything of the sort. As I said in my OP, she's been doing a fair amount of XC recently and there have been no problems whatsoever.
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Ahh, well that might be part of the problem, the jumping.

A lot of back problems in horses are secondary to hind limb lameness. After Ellie's fall on the road, and the recent jumping you've been doing on hard ground, then perhaps she is struggling with her back legs in some way, and in compensating making her back tender.

I'd also quietly suggest to your friend that if her horse is getting on a bit, and is unfit, 4 hours of work in humid temperatures, and jumping, is quite unfair and she should get her horse properly fit beforehand in future.
 
Puppy said:
Ahh, well that might be part of the problem, the jumping.

A lot of back problems in horses are secondary to hind limb lameness. After Ellie's fall on the road, and the recent jumping you've been doing on hard ground, then perhaps she is struggling with her back legs in some way, and in compensating making her back tender.

I'd also quietly suggest to your friend that if her horse is getting on a bit, and is unfit, 4 hours of work in humid temperatures, and jumping, is quite unfair and she should get her horse properly fit beforehand in future.
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Sorry Puppy, but I think your reply is a bit out of order.

Firstly, my horse is NOT struggling with her back legs in any way at all. I dont quite know how you have come to this conclusion, but rest assured she has been fully checked out on numerous occasions prior to me even getting back in the saddle, let alone starting jumping. Her back is NOT tender in general - I have said that she gets sensitive when in season, but this is ALL OVER her body - as is the case with many women. I have owned this mare for ten years, so I know her very, very well. She does not have 'a back problem' - she is not lame or in discomfort, she feels better than ever under saddle, and she is as happy and willing as she has always been. In fact, only last week, I commented to my mum that she feels more supple now than she has since we gave up show jumping seven years ago. She feels - and acts - great, and if you still persist in thinking she has a problem then I would like to direct you to any recent picture I have posted of her - I guarantee you'll not find a horse who is 'struggling', but rather one who is actually loving being back out and about again and loving every minute.

I fail to see how you have managed to link a localised area of swelling under one side of the saddle to my horse having an issue with her back legs????

And on the subject of my friend: I said the mare wasnt 'at full fitness' - I didnt say she wasnt fit. What I mean by that is, she may not be fit enough to go and compete at the level she used to (BE Novice) but she was more than fit enough for a gentle amble round the countryside. We were on no time scale - it didnt matter a jot to us that we took it slowly. The horse is 18 years old but in full health, and has been being brought gently back into work over the past few months, with this particular ride in mind for her first outing. There were two options - a 9 mile and a 12 mile - neither of them were seeming tired at the three quarter distance point so we decided to go for the latter. Both horses finished the ride full of beans - yes, they were hot, but we could hardly help that, could we? We were pretty hot too.

I am bemused by the fact that you can nit pick; if I had said we'd galloped round and finished in an hour and a half, then I might understand it. But nobody can say we behaved irresponsibly - quite the opposite as far as I'm concerned.
 
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_MizElz_ said:
Sorry Puppy, but I think your reply is a bit out of order.

Firstly, my horse is NOT struggling with her back legs in any way at all. I dont quite know how you have come to this conclusion, but rest assured she has been fully checked out on numerous occasions prior to me even getting back in the saddle, let alone starting jumping.
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Eh?! Conclusion?! I think you'll find that I said 'might' and 'perhaps'.... :confused:

It IS a fact that MANY back problems come from hind limb problems, and that she has recently injured her back legs. You asked for suggestions as to why her back might be sensitive, I made one.

Her back is NOT tender in general - I have said that she gets sensitive when in season, but this is ALL OVER her body - as is the case with many women.
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Actually, in your opening post then you said "She was a bit tender on it yesterday - but then she gets tender over her whole back and loins when she's in use anyway." :confused:

I have owned this mare for ten years, so I know her very, very well. She does not have 'a back problem' - she is not lame or in discomfort, she feels better than ever under saddle, and she is as happy and willing as she has always been. In fact, only last week, I commented to my mum that she feels more supple now than she has since we gave up show jumping seven years ago. She feels - and acts - great, and if you still persist in thinking she has a problem then I would like to direct you to any recent picture I have posted of her - I guarantee you'll not find a horse who is 'struggling', but rather one who is actually loving being back out and about again and loving every minute.
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Well that's a slight contradiction to your opening post here where you are asking for suggestions and ideas as to why she is tender in her saddle area. :confused:

I fail to see how you have managed to link a localised area of swelling under one side of the saddle to my horse having an issue with her back legs????
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Because, as I said above, a lot of horses with back problems have them as a secondary issue due to an underlying back leg problem. In fact, I can think of another few posts very recently in which back & hind leg problems have been discussed. One of my horses had some incredibly difficult to diagnose trouble with her back during which I spent months with saddlers/physios/diagnostic vets etc, researching and trying to get to the bottom of.

Yes, I've seen the photos of you recently jumping Ellie, and she looked very well, but it struck me that you were doing so on what looked to be v hard ground (certainly more so then I would ever chose to canter and jump on, especially on a veteran). Consequently, when you asked about her back being sore, then the possibility of jarring to legs (and that subsequently making her back sore) sprung to my mind.
 
I agree that in all your pictures recently she looks amazing!! She's obviously loving being out and about again :)

When Zoom is in season she gets very sensitive and is more prone to having skin reactions. Zoom gets small lumps of fluid if it is hot where she sweats under the saddlecloth and it makes rubs. These are not tender as in hurt to press..........although she is generally tender all over when in season in that she doesn't like being touched or groomed much and becomes kind of cold-backed. Sorry that makes no sense at all but I hope you know what I mean!! :D

Ditto getting saddle checked, but it could just be a combination of heat/sweat/PMT.
 
My lad got the same thing you are describing after a 3 hour hack up and down steep hills. His saddle is a made to measure and was only about 5 months old at the time, it had had its 6 weeks check and re-flock. I got the physio out and she said it was the saddle and when she looked at it she said it was very slightly compressed more on one side than the other. I got the saddle fitter out he re-flocked it and all has been well since. We have done 3x 15 mile rides with no problems.

I personally would say to look at your saddle really closely and look from the back of it and see if the depth of the panels is the same on both sides, or get your saddle fitter out to check it all again.

Hope you get it sorted.
 
Out of the box completely....but there are a hell of a lot of horseflies out now....could it possibly be just a bite reaction?
 
Just a thought but was your made to measure saddle brand new last year? Brand new saddles can be prone to the flocking compressing as the saddle moulds to your horse and most good saddle fitters would recommend getting it checked and possibly reflocked 3 months after purchase, again at 6 months and then at 12. If you have had the saddle for 12 months and haven't had 3 checks I would strongly recommend getting your saddle rechecked. Try and get the saddle fitter to use one of those coloured gel pressure pads - they are brilliant!
 
Binky - that is what it LOOKED like, but I assumed that because it was under the saddle that it couldnt be...but thinking about it, if she'd been bitten before she was tacked up (she was rugless, so could have been), then there is a chance I could have saddled her up without noticing if the bite had not yet become swollen...then the saddle would have rubbed it a hell of a lot throughout the ride. Could well be the answer! She was fly sprayed up to the eyeballs on the ride and seemed to get away without being too bothered - that ride is a nightmare for horse flies - but if it had happened before, that would explain it. I have to say, it was my first reaction as it looked EXACTLY like the type of reaction she has if bitten by a horse fly on her neck, only bigger...

BFG - thank you, I will be getting the saddle checked anyway soon, so I will keep a close eye on it - it was reflocked last year, but could well need doing again I guess. I do use a sheepskin riser all the time - the saddle was flocked with this in mind - so there is a possibility that now it has all settled, it may need checking again :)

MontyandZoom - thankies :D The heat/PMT/sweat explanation is among the most likely I think - she is so sensitive anyway! I mentioned before that we had a prob a couple of years ago in the winter - she also used to react badly to certain school surfaces - she'd come up in nasty little bobbles all under her tummy. Poor little thin skinned girlie! :D

Puppy - I understand where you're coming from re. the hind leg/back probs idea, but this really isnt a 'back problem' - it's a skin problem. Obviously I'm open to the fact that it could be my saddle causing it, but it seems unlikely given the work she has been doing and the fact that no such problem has surfaced before. And as far as her hind legs are concerned - dont forget she did not actually do any more damage other than grazing - the vet couldnt believe how lucky she was, and although she has a slight cap, it is nowhere near as bad as we initially feared. She was checked thoroughly for lameness and there was none, not even the day after the accident - she was understandably stiff, but not lame. And all I can tell you is that she feels as good as ever under saddle, and looks as good as ever when loose - so I'm ruling out all ideas of hind leg issues because I would know for sure if something was amiss.
In terms of the hard ground...nobody can say I have been hammering her! I never have done; I'm always one for erring on the side of caution, and it's got me and Ellie through the past 10 years unscathed so I cant be doing too bad! I would never jump if the landing/take off was unsuitable, and the places we elected to canter on the ride on Sunday were only where we felt the ground was suitable. And in our first XC competition, the ground was so hard that I brought her back 1.5 minutes over the optimum time...there was no way I wanted to hammer her round, her legs mean too much to me! And I know she is *technically* a veteran, but she is only 15...she's not falling apart yet! And the likes of Lenamore et al seem to manage ok at the summer events...

Touchstone - good point, I shall be checking it out this evening when I get home, just to make sure! It's a fairly new saddlecloth but has been washed a fair few times, so I will double check. The other possibility is that I guess she could have reacted to washing powder...? I will check to see whether our current stuff is any different to what we have had recently...
 
Inky_and_Sunny said:
Just a thought but was your made to measure saddle brand new last year? Brand new saddles can be prone to the flocking compressing as the saddle moulds to your horse and most good saddle fitters would recommend getting it checked and possibly reflocked 3 months after purchase, again at 6 months and then at 12. If you have had the saddle for 12 months and haven't had 3 checks I would strongly recommend getting your saddle rechecked. Try and get the saddle fitter to use one of those coloured gel pressure pads - they are brilliant!
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Good thought, but no - we've had the saddle for five years now! :)
 
Hope she recovers soon.

Have you checked that nobody's stored the numnah funny (i.e. on something else which she might be sensitive to) or changed the washing powder?

I think the fly bite idea is a good one, and if not, my guess is that there might be something she isn't great at tolerating (as you said she is sensitive skinned) and that the long ride has exaggerated a problem like sensitivity to the fabric, detergent, fit of saddle etc which isn't a problem on shorter rides, if you understand what I'm trying to say :)
 
Ditto, that was my thought if there was a bite there before,it might just have aggrivated it and made it flare up a bit more than normal. :) I know I got bit right where my sleeves usually go and wore a top which rubbed it and it's come up huge and is sore as anything! :(

I know you do quite a bit of hacking etc and if was just solely a saddle issue, then it should have flared up before now, or had indicators of some sort that she was in discomfort from it by now with all the XC and hunter trials lately! :) She's not changed shape drastically over the past couple of weeks so I'd have it down to a one off thing rather than ill-fitting tack.
 
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Hi
I am an endurance rider and could write a book on saddle problems as a result of long rides....:)

It does sound like the result of pressure - this does not have to go hand in hand with movement, sores, disturbed hair or rubs. There is a point of pressure which over time restricts the flow of blood to the area, when the pressure is released the blood rushes in and causes swelling and tenderness.

Many saddles are 'good enough' for general GP riding but have a limit - you may have reached yours. Don't ride again until the swelling has subsided completely. Add arnica to her feed as well as topically. Gentle massage is good. If it happens again, apply ice/cold to the area immediately. The more often it happens, it weakens the tissues and sets up a predisposition/weak spot. Not good.

In terms of numnahs, wool is generally considered best for even distribution and absorbing sweat.

If you are not used to riding for four hours you may have been sitting heavy/uneven as you tired, especially if you are not endurance fit.

Hope some of that is of some help.
 
Binky01 said:
Out of the box completely....but there are a hell of a lot of horseflies out now....could it possibly be just a bite reaction?
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Ah binky01 you beat me to it!....i was going to say the same.
I was out on paddy the other day and we were covered in the wretched things. He had 2 quite nasty lumps come up where he was bitten.
The OH cycled out with us and he got bitten too, and we wont even talk about the bite i got in my clevage!!!
Could it be that the horse got bitten in the field and the saddle rubbed the bite making it swell??

On a second idea.....my horse had a lump appear in exactly the same place. After giving him 10 days off, and a new saddle and a nice massage from the physio....its gone. But it was where the saddle had rubbed him. He had some rub marks on his fur, but it could be the start of your saddle rubbing.
Paddys didnt take long to dissapear once i had stopped riding him whilst waiting for a new saddle.

Fingers crossed its nothing that is going to cause to much pain/time off/treatment.
 
sorry probably should have read the rest of the thread before posting! i appear to have echoed the last 3 posts!! sorry!! will read whole thread in future before posting!
*accepts slap on wrist graciously*
 
Firstly, thank you very much for all the replies :)

Having just been to put her to bed, I am almost certain that the swelling was caused by fly bites. It has almost gone down back to normal now, and there are three little scabby heads that I can now feel with my finger tips. Interestingly, she also has one slightly lower down, just to the side of where my stirrup would lie. That too has a scabby head - nasty, horrible flies! So I think we have got to the bottom of it - it is quite possible that my movement in the saddle and/or the washing powder caused a substantial amount of rubbing on the affected area - poor girl! You'd think she'd have felt it enough to protest whilst being ridden....although I am glad she didnt!!!

Thanks again for the replies - I shall obviously wait until it is completely normal before riding again, and I will still be getting my saddle checked as was planning to anyway :)
 
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