Re: RC: Re: Panic Attack - Long

[Lucy C Trumbull <elsie@foothill.net>]

Barbara McCrary wrote:
> 
> I have a 7 year old who is "cinchy", too....
> ...Some people have suggested claustrophobia,
> caused by the girth tightening around his belly.

Isn't there a nerve or something that runs in the cinch area? 

Another thought, but probably not the problem here - if you
use a pad with open-cell foam inserts, they take a while to
warm up and take the horse's shape and smoosh down - so
although you may know that your horse's cinch is tight
on hole 3 (or whatever), until the pad smooshes down, 
hole 2 may be super-tight.

I use a SS with a Toklat or Skito with 3/4" inserts. My
gelding is cinchy (in as much as he'll pull faces and 
snap), so I've started cinching him the same way Marlene
describes. Once the pad warms up and smooshes down, though, 
I can usually tighten it at least one or two holes more.

I tend to use a mounting block (log/truck/step) to get on,
just so's I don't have to try and yank it tight to begin
with (while the pad is still in it's fully expanded cool
state).


-- 
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Lucy Chaplin Trumbull - elsie@foothill.net
Repotted english person in Garden Valley (Sierra Foothills), CA 
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