Due to being stuck in a long boring class last night, I spent about an hour doodling horses. Then I moved on to drawing specific diagrams of Izzy's back and how the saddle sat on it, what pads I was using, and why I was using them. I remembered that she again (sigh) had funny sweat marks yesterday after another frustrating ride. I should probably scan those drawings, if only for amusement's sake.
Anyways, the sweat mark made me think that it must be a saddle problem. She is exhibiting similar behavior to the last time we had saddle trouble. When I drew the diagram, I realized that the funny marks appeared the be under the stirrup bars, and I remembered reading in a tack book that treeless saddles had trouble in pressure reading with pressure in that area. It's a good thing that I didn't have Jean's phone number handy, because I wanted to call someone who knew what I was talking about and ask if that was the problem. (It was 9 here, so probably almost midnight there.)
I didn't have time to go to the tack store this morning, but one of my other diagrams made me think it might be a padding problem. A couple days ago I screwed around with different pads without actually tightening the girth, so I had a pretty good idea of what was available and how it fit Izzy. This morning, then, I pulled out a new pad. I had been using a wedge pad to lift the pommel up off her withers. Today, I tried just a simple foam pad that was even all the way through. It's completely counter intuitive, because we all know that if a treed saddle camps on a horse's wither, it's like the bad news bears moved in to your house and threw a party.
The new pad obviously didn't lift the front as much, so the saddle looked a little different. I was concerned because it gave her back VERY little clearance over the spine, and I thought that once we'd been riding a while, it would sit on her and make her hurt. And of course, you know her reaction to hurt is rear. That's not really my favorite thing about her. I lunged her before I rode (she was wearing blue polos with a matching blue lunge line. So cute!) and she was kind of looky, but really good.
Our ride started out kind of bumpy. She fussed, she didn't want to go forward, and then... she did. I like the new pad better because due to the nature of treeless saddle, I could feel that I was sitting on the wedge, and it interfered with actually feeling Izzy underneath me. The new pad didn't cause that at all. It was almost like riding the gulletless Classic again. I could feel Izzy's back again and she was much better.
Progress is good. She was much happier, and we were back to having the problems we had before she decided not to be happy again. I think we took a couple training steps backwards this past week, but we're ready to go forward again. Of course, now she has a couple days off while I go out of town.
Saddle fit issues can be very frustrating, and hard to solve, but it sounds as though you're making good progress on it!
ReplyDeleteThe stirrup bars should not be an issue on a Konklusion. Could well be the way the saddle was balanced on her back. Lifting the front too much might well have tipped the saddle back so you were sitting too far back.
ReplyDeleteHard to tell all this without actually seeing the saddle. Remember, the Classic does sit flat on the horse's back with no gullet at all. The gullet pad in the KK makes the bottom of the saddle fit like a Classic.
The full foam pad may be creating that kind of contact.
You can all me anytime. My number is on the Ansur website and I'd wake up for you. Might take me a minute to figure out who you are and what you are calling about, but I generally catch on pretty quickly. *G*
Saddle fit issues are tricky. Have you ever tried sheepskin pads? I have one that I use occasionally and it works wonderfully! It doesn't really change the way the saddle fits, but it cushions the horses back nicely. It doesn't seem to interfere much with feel, either. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteShannon,
ReplyDeleteI want to try a sheepskin pad, but they're pretty pricey. Maybe sometime soon. ;-)