saddle sores and High Withers

[Joane Pappas White <Lyoness@Castlenet.com>]

Hi Julie,

Both my AngloArab CC and even my purebred arab Fallon have very very
high withers. I have also managed to get white hairs on both but have
never had either sored at a ride.  I have tried about 6 different
saddles and found that any saddle that is not completely open over the
withers will cause rubbing. The english saddles are the worst on the
withers on my horses. The sportsaddle is too flat across the withers. 
The Italian Trekker is totally open and has never seemed to cause
soreness but Fallon now has some white hairs and the Trekker is the only
saddle she has been in until 2 weeks ago. 

Even with open saddles like my "McClyde" custom made for me and molded
specifically for CC's back by Dr. Clyde Larsen with a McCellelan open
rigging will rub if a pad causes pressure. We even did a computer
evaluation on the McClyde.  No problems.  Yeah, so what are those new
white hairs on my very dark bay coat! It is very frustrating to see
white hairs in my dark horses.  I check and check for soreness, swelling
etc.  The vets at rides always assure me that the white hairs are from
"past damage" and not this ride. Great! No saddle can be pinpointed as
causing it; no specific ride has caused noticeable soreness.  So how do
we stop the problem? We do balanced riding lessonsand study dressage and
our teachers don't see a problem.  Maybe I'm a problem but even Baby
Tzar (dark bay) has white hairs and the only person who rides him is the
11 year old 75 lbs. child on a sport saddle or little hereford.
 

My answer now agrees with earlier Ridecampers--ride white horses!

AND WATCH TO SEE IF YOUR PAD IS CAUSING ENOUGH PRESSURE ACROSS THE TOP
OF THE WITHERS TO RUB OUT HAIR WITHOUT CAUSING SWELLING AND SORENESS.

Joane and the Herd
Price, Utah


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