Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Hello Diana,
Like Heidi, I too think it's your saddle. Even 
tho it's treeless they are made fairly flat but 
most short-backed arabs have a lot of natural 
curve in their backs. When you ride in it the 
saddle is forced to bend and applies extra force 
at the shoulders and kidneys. I would get the 
stirrups, fenders, etc all up out of the way then 
with no pad gently lower the saddle onto the 
horse's back and see how much space is in the 
middle when the saddle touches the shoulders and 
kidneys. Then cut a felt pad of the proper 
thickness (I needed and used 1") that will fill 
the space (go big because you can always make it 
smaller) and taper the edges with a very coarse 
(#36) disk sander. Put the new spacer on the 
horse, set the saddle down gently. A perfect fit 
would be that the saddle would touch the 
shoulders, kidneys and the spacer all at the same 
time with no high spots. Keep trimming and you 
will get it very close. I have done this exact 
thing for my short backed arab to improve the fit 
of my modified western saddle. When I was happy 
with the fit I used contact cement to glue two 
pieces of 2" wide velcro (the hook part not the 
loop) 20" long on each bar of the saddle tree and 
when I lowered the saddle onto the felt spacer it 
attached and does not move around and I leave it 
attached. Now cinch up the equipedic pad with the 
modified saddle and see if the hair loss stops. 
After several months I had to add some more felt 
in the middle to get it just right. I use a 
Woolback Endurance-Cut pad with the saddle. Good Luck, Don Huston


At 04:57 PM 2/9/2006 Thursday, you wrote:
> Hi
>
> I have a really short backed arabian gelding. I 
> am at the end of my rope... My equipedic pad ( 
> barrel style ) has rubbed his back so much that 
> a lot of his hair is gone in two spots right were the kidneys are.
>
> So what can i use on him now ? I tried 
> everything.I really liked the feel of the 
> Equipedic pad.  Does that mean i have to go to 
> and english saddle ?  I had a broken tailbone 
> and have to ride a treeless saddle. I ride a BM 
> saddle , round skirt on him and we never had 
> problems. I think the english version on the Equipedic pad would be too short ?
>
> Can someone tell me what they use on there short backed arabs. ?
>
> Diana :-(
>
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Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
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Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

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