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Kiger Cowboy
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1#
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Registered:01/05/2006
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:03/08/2006 9:18 AM)
I use a wade tree, northwest buckaroo style saddle. It has semi QH bars, and round California skirts to make it lighter and accomadate short-coupled horses better. Its fit every Kiger I've put it on.
A recent discovery we've made... in looking for an endurance saddle for Steph, I pulled an old austrailian saddle I've had but hadn't used for years out of the back of the tack room. It fits Kelsey great... I mean really- she had livlier (sp?) action and just plain moves out better than w/ Steph's old saddle. Go figure?
Brian
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Ridgie
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2#
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Registered:11/04/2005
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:03/08/2006 2:20 PM)
Brian, does it free up her shoulders? I had a heck of a time fitting my little mare. She is a Kiger, but she has no withers! So I had to find a saddle that didn't ride up on her neck after three strides, but also one that frees up her shoulder movement. When I found the right saddle, she just felt like she was saying thank you by moving out more smoothly and fighting me a lot less than usual. Nicole
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DianneC
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3#
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Registered:09/04/2002
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:03/09/2006 4:21 AM)
So Nicole, what did you end up with? I love my McCall Lady Wade, but it only fit Smoke and not Chinny, Bravo or Lark. Just too narrow. I would be so excited to find a wider Wade tree without having to have it custom made. Any suggestions?
Say, you guys train a lot of horses and may have seen this. When I ride Chinny I have to cinch him fairly tight to keep the saddle from slipping. He has a pretty good withers but his shoulders are so big that it doesn't hold the saddle as well as other breeds. I notice when I take the saddle off that he will have a soft bump or two on his back a little to the side of his spine. Like little hematomas about the size of a dime or quarter. They are never the same place twice but close.
Now, I've thought these are hot spots and that the saddle or pad was rubbing and soring him. But he loves to have them scratched hard like they are itchy and they go away after about an hour. I still think somethings rubbing but that makes me curious if they could be something else. I've had them with a couple different style saddles and even put my two inch thick won roping pad on to see if that would stop it but still had them. What I plan to do next ride is to see if we can get a dressage whip or something down the channel to make sure its still clear with a rider on. Any thoughts?
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DianneC
There is no greater compliment than the trust of your horse.
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Kiger Cowboy
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4#
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Registered:01/05/2006
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:03/11/2006 7:13 PM)
Ridgie,
Yes, it freed up her shoulders, and the difference was noticable right away. She steps higher with her fronts, and her stride is longer.
Diane, have you tried full quarter bars? They might be wider than what you have, and are pretty standard on stock horses. They'll still fit a narowwer horse, too, but you might have to use and extra pad to keep in from slipping up. I try not to have to do this, cause than its harder to keep the cinch tight all day, but it can work.
I've seen bumps that sound like what you're talking about on pack horses. I don't know where they come from or why they pop up. Usually they're on flatter backed horses, and my "guess" is they're like heat or friction blisters. Wider backed horses seem to have more lateral motion along their backs to rub, and more heat is kept in (just from more Sq. inches I guess). I'm not knockin them at all, I like 'em cause their often strong, too! If a horse gets them I usually start pouring cold water on their back right after the saddle comes off. This helps with the bumps, and the old packers say it makes their backs stronger, too. I knew one guy who did it with all of his pack horses, and he almost never had sore backs or galls.
Brian
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DianneC
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5#
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Registered:09/04/2002
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:03/12/2006 4:43 AM)
Brian, do you know of a wade tree with full QH bars? That would work I'll bet. I asked Brighton Saddlery and they said they would make a custom, but wouldn't guarantee it since it would be custom made. I guess 7" is standard for FQH bars but am reluctant to sink that amount of money into another saddle without trying it to be sure it would work.
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DianneC
There is no greater compliment than the trust of your horse.
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cindy966
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6#
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Rank:none
Score:142
Posts:142
Registered:02/18/2006
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:03/12/2006 5:02 PM)
I've seen bumps like that once and endurance people call them heat bumps. I'll bet it's from friction. If you have concern about the saddle being too close to the spine, at one point I had that happen and I got a pad (Skito) made that has 2 chambers, one on each side that hold foam inserts. In between there was a space where the spine would be so that the part that the saddle sat on was well away from it. I don't like foam in general but these you could get with wool fleece against the horse. It got me through for quite some time. They made the pad load from the front so that there was more space along the spine.
I found that English saddles often fit difficult horses better. (I don't have western saddles but have had Aussie and endurance) Bates/Wintec make Aussie saddles that are very much like their English versions on the underside and they come with changeable gullet sizes, which is great. The one I like has swinging fenders (unfortunaley won't take the extra-wide gullet but will take wide) so that you can sit in any position. I bought a synthetic one (Wintec version) but the Bates division makes the same thing in leather. They aren't cheap but I found a good deal on one. If this Wintec works out once my colt is developed I'll probably eventually get the leather version. They are super secure and if too small for you can be restrictive. If the right size, you can still stand and post in them. Right now It doesn't fit my colt half bad and would probably fit if I switched to one size smaller gullet. I use it on my mare though so don't want to change it out since I'm not riding the colt yet anyway.
There's also a pad called a supracor that a whole lot of people love. It works well at preventing slipping. I had one and sold it but some folks swear by them. They are ugly, stiff, synthetic and expensive but can fix a problem for some people. A friend of mine had great luck with one. If your saddle is fleece lined you put a piece of that stuff that goes between a rug and a floor on the pad. They aren't real thick but provide a lot of weight distribution. Sometimes the thick pads make slipping worse and cause a rolling sideways to the whole setup.
Dianne, the more I think about it, if you think the saddle fits fairly well (isn't totally off ) you might want to talk to the people at Skito (Equalizer pad). The guy that designs is named Tom and he's really helpful. He's pretty creative for different issues. When you have a pad with the pockets for the foam you can do all sorts of things with shims as well. They sell nice tapered shims. No pad can fix a really poorly fitting saddle, obviously. His products are well made and last a very long time.
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DianneC
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7#
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Registered:09/04/2002
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:03/14/2006 7:57 AM)
Thanks Cindy, I'm thinking you are right. Its making me evaluate how I ride as well. My instructor says that I let the horse throw me up and forward some times at the canter instead of relaxing and sitting deep with my hips following through. I'll look up that site. I'm going to try a high impact pad this next time then switch saddles if that doesn't do it. Good thing I don't ride all day.
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DianneC
There is no greater compliment than the trust of your horse.
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DianneC
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8#
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Registered:09/04/2002
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:05/09/2006 9:20 AM)
Just an update...they have a see-through pad with red gel inside (called a Port Lewis pad) to test how your saddle fits your horse. After riding for 25 miuntes you hold the pad up to the light and can see thin areas where there is too much pressure. I found that the arab tree I was riding doesn't hit the spine at all, it has too much twist in the bars. It's tight right behind the shoulder and cuts off lymph circulation which causes the bumps near the spine. Its OK with the Won pad but may get a different saddle. I do want to be able to ride all day. I went to the Skito site and there were so many decisions I couldn't figure out if it would work or not. I'll give them a call.
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DianneC
There is no greater compliment than the trust of your horse.
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cindy966
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9#
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Rank:none
Score:142
Posts:142
Registered:02/18/2006
Time spent: 0 hours
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(Date Posted:05/09/2006 11:46 PM)
This Port Lewis pad sounds VERY interesting. I'll have to check into this. No need now but in the future. I take it this is big enough for under a western saddle. I've seen things for English before that do something similar. Thanks for the tip! Saddle fit is an art.
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