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> I have dealt with cold backed horses before but never really heard a good
> physical description of what's going on. Anybody care to explain? When
> I've seen them react it seemed almost unintentional on the horse's
> part...more of a reflex. She said his breeder lunged him awhile when he
> saddled him.

I'm not sure if everyone uses the term "cold-backed" to refer to the same 
thing, so I might be telling you something completely unrelated. But I had a 
filly that we called "cold-backed" because if you cinched her up too fast 
and jumped on she was likely to buck. She needed her back muscles to be 
warmed up a little so she could carry the saddle and rider correctly. She 
also had a super-sensitive cinch area (around here we just called her 
"cinchy") because she had this almost reflex reaction if you tightened the 
cinch too fast the skin and muscles right behind her elbow would sort of 
twitch or jump. I always spent a few minutes massaging the area, then 
gradually cinched her up, then walked her a bit and lunged a few minutes to 
loosen her back, then tightened the cinch and she'd be great.

It was never a big deal - just had to do things the way she liked 'em and 
she was great.

Hope this helps -
Jen

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