More Saddle Woes

[Louisa_Pierce@ne.3com.com]

The topics on Wintec saddles, thick vs thin pads has been super timing. For
the first time in 9 years
my horse has developed pressure points/burn marks on each side of his back
just below the wither.
He has had this burn (that is the best way to describe it) for over 3 weeks
now, how long will this take to heal?

Background:  I have had Sultan for 9 years and I have always ridden allot
of miles, but not competed in any
CTRs until last year.  I have been riding in a  Wintec 500ap for the past
year with no problems.  then in June
I did the Vermont 25mi and Sultan developed what we thought were heat
bumps.  When I got home from Vt I
gave him about 2 weeks off and the bumps went away, but were replaced with
white hair, a sign of friction/burning
under his saddle area.  I got my self a new saddle pad and I went on
another 25mi ride, but after the ride Sultan
white haired area was now a red like burn on one side and more white hair
on the other.

He has had over 3 weeks off now, and I have been keeping the burn area
clean and putting sunblock on it as well
as novasan, but his burn has barley healed in three weeks and the white
hair on the other side looks very "thin" to me.
It looks like even if the red burn area heals, the white hair area will
burst open and also turn into a burn area.

Of course I am not riding my horse, and I did go and buy a woolback saddle
pad, and  I have called for a saddle
fitter to come out to the barn - but can any of you give me any hope of
ever riding  my horse again?  Do you have
any secrets to help heal his burn area?  I don't want it to heal fast to be
able to ride him again, I just want it to heal
quick so he looks move comfy and happy.

Depressed,

Louisa and Sultan



=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=