Upside Down Horse

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DottEE

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8 April 2013
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Hello everyone, I'm new :)

My daughter has a pony who was verging on obese when we got her 6 months ago. Through gentle exercise and dieting we have managed to get her weight down to a good size.

However, daughter is only 8 and isn't really able to get the pony working from behind and into the contact yet. She does have regular lessons with a good instructor and we are working on this though.

The pony is losing muscle under the saddle area and starting to look 'upside down' and I am worried that maybe the saddle isn't fitting even though the saddler has been out since the pony has lost weight to adjust saddle.

So my question is - should I get another saddler out to check the saddle, or is it my daughter's riding which is doing this to the pony's muscles?

For others with young children, do they work their horses in a proper outline? What can I do to improve pony's back muscles while daughter learns to ride into the contact?
 
I think it would still make a difference :)

Does your daughter hack out? Hacking is a great muscle builder, especially hill work. I would also get her to school over raised poles and work on transition work, all this will help her and pony to work properly. I would also suggest having a few lessons on the lunge, the person on the ground can get the pony to go forwards and your daughter can get the feel of it.
 
Thank you for some great suggestions LaurenBay.

The reason why I have been worrying about the saddle is that over the winter, all they did was hack out on the lead rein and the pony has still lost muscle under the saddle area. We don't have any hills where we are though.
 
I would get a second saddler out to check the saddle and in the meantime lunge in Pessoa. If the saddle is ok, then I would build the pony up with lunging, long reining and hacking and then restart the schooling with the help of an instructor :) good luck.
 
LaurenBay said:
I would get a second saddler out to check the saddle and in the meantime lunge in Pessoa. If the saddle is ok, then I would build the pony up with lunging, long reining and hacking and then restart the schooling with the help of an instructor :) good luck.
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Thank you
 
Can you ask someone else to school the pony for you for a few weeks (alongside your daughter)? Al rides a few ponies out during the week in schooltime to keep them ticking over and working properly... Finding competent older teenagers who are quite small is a challenge, but they're out there.
 
Lolo said:
Can you ask someone else to school the pony for you for a few weeks (alongside your daughter)? Al rides a few ponies out during the week in schooltime to keep them ticking over and working properly... Finding competent older teenagers who are quite small is a challenge, but they're out there.
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Yes good idea, I will place an ad online. Thank you.

I will get another saddler out to check, but from your experience, can ponies/horses lose muscle under saddle area from not being worked properly?
 
More likely so than a saddle I'd imagine... Contact local PC branches and ask if they know of anyone. They often have a group of older teenagers working towards their instructor status/ B test who happily school ponies for people.
 
2nd what lolo said, I school a few round me as well. Finding some one small and competent can be difficult if you don't have any contacts but if you know any one that has an older rider on theirs then ask them who they use or local pony clubs.
 
dafthoss said:
2nd what lolo said, I school a few round me as well. Finding some one small and competent can be difficult if you don't have any contacts but if you know any one that has an older rider on theirs then ask them who they use or local pony clubs.
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Thank you, I will start asking around for a small adult/teenager!

Maybe I will just pad the saddle out until she has built up muscle under her saddle again.
 
I hope you are aware that getting the saddler out again will only act as a band-aide. If the pony doesn't get appropriate work the back area will continue to deteriorate and you will find yourself with a very well fitted saddle on a very sore pony!

My suggestion would be to lunge in a Pessoa as well. And you might actually be able to do it more than a couple of times a week - your daughter can still go for a light hack after the pony's been lunged and its actually good for him as it would allow him to cool down slowly and on a straight line.
 
SCMSL said:
I hope you are aware that getting the saddler out again will only act as a band-aide. If the pony doesn't get appropriate work the back area will continue to deteriorate and you will find yourself with a very well fitted saddle on a very sore pony!

My suggestion would be to lunge in a Pessoa as well. And you might actually be able to do it more than a couple of times a week - your daughter can still go for a light hack after the pony's been lunged and its actually good for him as it would allow him to cool down slowly and on a straight line.
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Yes this is what I thought, thank you. My plan will be to pad/shim the saddle out until muscle has developed again.

I will start using the pessoa gently and try and find another rider for her.

Thank you for all your helpful advice and suggestions.
 
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