Thoughts on explosive behaviour… what to do with this horse?

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Christmas Crumpet

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I have a lovely horse on loan who has become increasingly explosive when his girth is done up. He came in a crap old saddle which was too narrow for him and although he was a perfect gentleman about being ridden in it, he did blow out/tense up when it was being done up. I had the saddler out who was going to px another saddle and make one for him taking into account his big shoulder.

For one reason and another the saddler took a long time to come back with said saddle. I continued to ride in the old saddle for about 2 weeks noting that the horse would rush backwards and forwards when I went to do the girth up. He would also hunch his back up and look almost roached. I twigged after a few days what was going on so decided to ride bareback which I have done for about a month. Horse was perfect even with a poly pad and tight surcingle put on so my bum was slightly cushioned.

The saddler came back out on Fri, horse was fine to be tacked up but saddle too narrow so he took it away to widen and came back last night. Horse exploded once girthed up to second hole and literally just panicked. We let him settle down, took it off, tried again - fine. Rode - fine.

Put saddle back on this morning and he did the roach back humping thing but was less panicky than last night although I was holding him instead of him being tied up. His girth is an Aerborn double elastic job. Numnah was a Nuumed plain hi wither one. I don't think it is this new saddle - I think its what's underneath causing the problem.

I assumed/hoped the previous behaviour was due to his old saddle, time off and being ridden bareback would have sorted the issue out. Clearly not. Or is he "remembering pain"? New saddle should be pretty much perfect. I have booked McTimoney lady to come next Weds and then I guess if no improvement, the next port of call is the vet. But this horse is on loan and I don't want to be spending a lot of money on him if he has got something majorly wrong. I also don't want a horse that might explode with me on top.

I know it screams kissing spines because he literally looks like he has been electrocuted when he explodes and he explodes when he first moves after girth done up even if girth done up very gently. I have never wrenched it up because I don't wrench up girths!! Or if it is him anticipating pain, how long till he realises its a new saddle and actually fits. Or is that unlikely?

He had the chiro out not long after he arrived and she thought he was in good shape, he's had his teeth done and hasn't been put under any pressure at all. Just nice hacks and having a nice time for 3 months or so. I don't think its ulcer behaviour as I've had one of them and this is totally different - panicking as opposed to grumpy and snappy.

Any ideas/thoughts on what's going on, what to do?!! I really like this horse, he's fab but I've had such bad luck with horses recently that I can't face another broken one that I have to try and mend.
 
Trust your instincts, I'd say - and if you think it's more than the saddle then he needs to be checked out by a vet.

However, personally I'd use an ACPAT physio instead of/as well as a chiro - I find this much more effective and revealing with my horse (who has KS). He needs regular release of his back muscles, rather than just chiropractic adjustments.

Also, my remedial saddler told me never to use an elastic girth on him - just a thought!

And bear in mind that even if the saddle should be perfect as it's fitted as such, it doesn't always mean it's the best fit for the horse... (I went through this last year! - horse will only tolerate a semiflex saddle now) - and is it fitted to his current shape or with space to fill out into? - presumably if previous saddle was too tight then there is some muscle wastage? - in which case perhaps a thicker pad like a poly pad may help?

Could well be remembered pain, and/or the fact that the relevant muscles/nerves are on red-alert, as my physio explained it to me, so you might find that warming his back up initially helps so that muscles are as loose as possible - eg lunge him first? (I use a TENS machine which helps this, too.)

Good luck with him!
 
I am going to give the new saddle a week's trial to see if it makes any difference. The chiro is coming a week today so that will fit in quite well.

What I did wonder was if it were the old saddle that had caused the problem, how long would it take for him being ridden in the new saddle to realise that it was all ok? It does seem like there must be an underlying issue considering he was perfect bareback for over a month and then as soon as saddle was put on, he flipped.

I have a great physio who I can use too. I will try a simple wintec chafeless girth later with a girth sleeve and see what that does.

I have come to the conclusion that every horse is a broken horse.
 
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We had an ISH come to us with muscle wastage on the shoulders from a too tight saddle. It took him about 8 months to learn that being saddled wouldn't hurt - and almost 12 months to learn to allow a rider to mount without help. He too seemed worse with the new saddle for a short while. (He also kicked the saddler who was trying to help him - sorry!) As others have said - trust your instincts as to whether there might be further pain. But it can take some horses a very long time to learn that things that have hurt previously won't do so now. The ISH is still (almost 3 years on) still really twitchy on his back and shoulders even though there really is absolutely no underlying cause now.
 
It could be the girth also, the chiropractor could check between his legs for bruising/sensitivity. I have had an irish horse that had had a too narrow saddle and on which the saddle shifted onto his shoulders in work. He exploded ( no other way of describing it) and even when we found one that did fit and not move was always difficult to tack up. I had to massage the long muscle both sides before tacking up otherwise he would tense them up like a board. Always used a sheepskin numnah plus a half pad and girth sleeve, that seemed to convince him he was ok but he never really got over it. Had yo be very careful mounting but once on board you could ride for hours and get on and off as often as you liked. The psychological damage took a long time to get over but having used a fairfax girth now I think that would have solved it as it does not tighten under the ribs as much, but they didn't have them then. there is a prolite version of it now, may be worth asking a supplier if you can trial it?
 
Thanks everyone - I've got him in a sheepskin numnah and sheepskin girth sleeve and he is considerably better to tack up. I have had him loose in the yard to saddle up because I think he worries less if he isn't restrained. He hasn't exploded since Tuesday evening but in the mornings has done the hunched back thing. I have saddled him up a few other times when I've got home from work and he's been fine. The saddle he came with was a medium and he is now a wide so quite a difference.

I am hopeful that the chiro can find something on Weds - fingers crossed - will update once she has been.
 
This is EXACTLY the behaviour my TB gelding displayed. Worse when tied up and always after he first moved when the girth was tightened up. He only once did it under saddle and that was after I tightened the girth whilst on board. He was found to have a very bad case of kissing spines. We tried injections - no change. Then he had an operation to remove 5 of the spinal processes. He moved better after this but still exploded after being girthed. I gave up in the end and retired him as he was happy in the field.

I did loads of research on the problem and there are so many theories about it, one of them being sore pectoral muscles. My boy had really large tight pectorals so I think it may have been that. I also treated him with gastrogard which appeared to make some difference, but then he returned to his explosive behaviour. Saddle and teeth were both fine. He was on loan with view to buy when I discovered his KS. Owner said she would PTS if I returned him so I agreed to try to fix him and the owner signed him over to me. However, he ended up costing me many times what he would have been worth if fixed by the time I gave up on him. I wouldn't do it again.
 
I had a horse who humped his back/roached and froze when the girth was done up.

He had a number of issues - deep tissue bruising to the front heels, leading him to carry himself off his front feet..... leading to chronic sacro-iliac strain..... and massive hypertrophy of his pectoral muscles. This in turn made it intensely painful when the girth was done up. He couldn't leap about, due to his other issues, but I think he would have done if he could.



My other thought, in your case, OP, is ulcers. If he is tensing at the thought of the saddle/girth combination, the stomach acid could be splashing onto any ulcers and causing pain/discomfort. Are you riding him from the field? Is his stomach full of grass? Sometimes, something as simple as giving them a chaff feed to cushion the stomach acid can help
 
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