Will her back get better?

dwi

dwi

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Daisy's saddle was condemnded a few weeks ago and she has since been bought a lovely new Barnsby saddle. She was completely symptom free in terms of soreness for the first six days in her new saddle but now after a long ride at the weekend its come back slightly again.

I know I've posted about this before but it really helps to be able to write it out to people that don't glaze over when they hear about it.

Please tell me that there is light at the end of the tunnel, it wasn't that badly fitting as the first saddler missed it and my RI is also by chiro and she hadn't noticed in lessons, only when she looked at it in detail.

A well meaning friend said tonight "Well you might just have to accept that she'll always have a bad back" but I don't want to. She's only 11, had never had problems before apart from a bit of stiffness last year after lameness and box rest. She'd only had the saddle 6 months so surely i can't have done that much damage.

Cookies if you got this far, just need a hug really and to know that I'll have my horse back eventually
 
maybe get a back specialist (chiro?) out as well? just incase there is damage from the old saddle and they can fix it.

don't worry, i'm sure she'll be fine
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maybe get a back specialist (chiro?) out as well? just incase there is damage from the old saddle and they can fix it.


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Sorry, I wasn't clear in the first post, it was my chiro who picked up that her saddle didn't fit when I asked her to do a six month check. She's been seen, treated and she's happy for me to be riding her, I just worry because she would hate spending the rest of her life as a light hack.
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maybe just a thicker nummnah until her back becomes less sensitive. she will be more sensitive having had a bad saddle but once it beds in and fits more closely she should be fine
 
If the old saddle has caused problems and she has been habitually carrying herself to overcome that it'll take a while for her to relax back into her old way of going. How long since you changed it?
 
I agree - horses are remarkable about changing their way of going to compensate for a badly fitting saddle. Six months is a long time if it caused enough damage - the fact that people didnt pick up on the fact that it didnt fit doesnt mean that it didnt fit too badly.

I would not use a thicker numnah - all this will do is make the saddle more narrow and interefere with the fit. I would be organising an exercise plan to slowly increase the amount of work she does, and I would be giving her 48 hours to recover after hard work, e.g. a particularly hard lesson. All the while, she may be stiff between sessions and so you need to adjust your workload to compensate as she strengthens the muscles in her back.

Unless there really something wrong with her physcially e.g. conformation etc I would expect her to recover within 12 months - it does take time for muscle to develop and it will only do so with correct and consistent work.
 
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I agree - horses are remarkable about changing their way of going to compensate for a badly fitting saddle. Six months is a long time if it caused enough damage - the fact that people didnt pick up on the fact that it didnt fit doesnt mean that it didnt fit too badly.

I would not use a thicker numnah - all this will do is make the saddle more narrow and interefere with the fit. I would be organising an exercise plan to slowly increase the amount of work she does, and I would be giving her 48 hours to recover after hard work, e.g. a particularly hard lesson. All the while, she may be stiff between sessions and so you need to adjust your workload to compensate as she strengthens the muscles in her back.

Unless there really something wrong with her physcially e.g. conformation etc I would expect her to recover within 12 months - it does take time for muscle to develop and it will only do so with correct and consistent work.

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I agree with this. My horse has a weak back - its just the way he's built. However, with consistent correct work he is now much stronger and is back in full work. He looks a different horse to he did a year ago. So even if yours hasn't got the strongest back, it certainly isn't hopeless.
If you find things aren't getting any better though, I would talk to your vet.
 
DWI- I am in the same position, I think, I had a saddle that whilst wasn't overly bad, it was too tight ,although it was missed by a qualified fitter.
Any how a new saddle later every thing was going fab, he was producing his best work , then suddenly he didn't feel right whilst trotting particulary on the right diagonal.He has had his back looked at by a qualified equine physio before this has happened. Got the vet up who couldn't see any lameness at all and looked at me rather gone out as to why I had called them out.I explained that its under saddle that he feels different, so I tacked him up and did a few circuits, on the left diagaonal everything fine, changed to the right and again not right, she noticed that his was slightly toe dragging and this was happening on both hind legs.

I have to take him into the clinic for some shockwave therapy has she feels that the problem is his back. I'm now wondering if he has always had a problem with his back , but worrying myself stupid that its something more sinister.

So if you are unsure I would get the vet out and let them give her the once over, it could be masking other problems fingers crossed its not.
 
When I bought my horse I don't think he had ever had a saddle fitted to him, just used whatever they had which never suited him. We did spend periods of time having to rest him, walking him out in hand etc.
Glad to say all now fine (touch wood) and he has a saddle that fits. He has a Chiropracter visit ever 3-4 months to maintain him, does stretches after exercise and warm ups (without rider but with saddle) before.
Don't give up but it does take time. You may also need to accept that you will have to do things regularly to keep her happy. I would never ask my horse to just accept a bad back and carry on working - I know how I would feel if someone expected that of me!
Did you have the saddle fitted by a Master Saddler trained/qualified saddler? I did go through the pain of saddlers selling me saddles that did not fit as well before we found one.
 
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