The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread EIGHT

See our "who's who" page! ^

[HairOfTheDog]

The FreeRepublic Saddle Club - Who's Who *pics*

This is a horse chat thread where we share ideas, ask for input from other horsemen, and talk about our riding and horse-keeping. We have a lot of different kinds of riders and horses, and a lot to share. In the previous threads we have had a great time talking through lessons, training, horse lamenesses, illnesses and pregnancies... and always sharing pictures and stories.

I always have a link to this thread on my profile page, so if you have something to say and can't find the thread in latest posts… look for it there and wake the thread up!

I also have a ping list for horse threads that are of interest, and MissTargets will now be pinging everyone most mornings. Let MissTargets and/or me know if you would like to be on the ping list. As FreeRepublic is a political site, our politics and other issues will probably blend in…. There are many issues for horsemen that touch politics… land use, animal rights/abuse cases that make the news…. Legislation that might affect horse owners.

So... like the previous threads, this is intended as fun place to come and share stories, pictures, questions and chit-chat, unguided and unmoderated and that we come together here as friends. There are lots of ways of doing things and we all have our quirks, tricks and specialties that are neat to learn about.

Previous threads:

The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - thread ONE
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - Thread TWO!
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - Thread THREE!
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread FOUR
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread FIVE
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread SIX
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread SEVEN

New folk and occasional posters, jump right in and introduce yourselves, tell us about your horses, and post pictures if you've got them!

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I figured all that out, I just can't figure how to change it. Like I found some hair, 173, how do I put that on the girl?

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

double click the hair and it should put it there.

[Duchess47]

Fun :) but I couldn't find salt/pepper hair

[HairOfTheDog]

It's definitely biased toward youth and good figures ;~D I couldn't find big oversized sweats like I actually wear, either ;~D

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

">

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

There ya are!

[Duchess47]

I spent a good while playing with it - had a horrible time finding the rain so I could get rid of it :)

Off to take a shower and start dinner. Today is Bob's birthday and the kids are all going to be here for dinner. I laid down to take a nap this afternoon and Tracey cleaned my house for me (love that child) and my son is doing most of the cooking, but I should at least look presentable :)

[HairOfTheDog]

but I should at least look presentable :)

The little number you're wearing in the doll picture ought to work ;~D

[Duchess47]

LOL in real life it looks a little worse for wear.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Well, are you all tired of hearing my problems.....

Harley came in with a sore back today:(.

I'm at a loss. I guess when I go to the vet Fri. I'm taking every saddle I have available, English, Western, and Jenny's western. If there is nothing wrong with his back, we're going to go thru every saddle and see what fits and what doesn't. If she can't tell, the saddle shop is right across the street.

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

Dang. Was it just a normal length daily ride? What pad setup today? How did you determine he's sore... from poking him with your fingers down the back? Sore in one place or another or the whole back? Was his sweat pattern even?

So this saddle shop has a saddle fitter that can look at everything? That sounds great... I bet they can tell better than the vet.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Well remember I rode yesterday for about 2 hours. I didn't check him yesterday, I forgot with Celia here and watching her ride her young one. We did alot of hills yesterday.

Today we did almost 3 hours, but we did more flat stuff, but did long trot. I had her ride behind me, and she took this picture to show me that after just a few steps the back of the saddle would always slide to the right, but she said my butt always stayed centered. I couldn't feel the slide to the right and when I looked down at the front it was straight.

I don't know if this is my fault or if the saddle doesn't fit.

I checked his back by running my fingers down, but it took very little pressure to get him to cave in:(. He was sore were the back of the saddle hits him, both sides. The sweat pattern looked even.

The saddle shop accross the street from the vets is the saddle shop that built my western saddle. The man that owns/runs it is suppose to be a "saddle man". I never had trouble with my western saddle on any horse till Harley. The reason I haven't gone to him up till now, was it was his brother, Charlies friend Joe that said the saddle tree was broke. Then they went and ask Stanley (the shop owner), but didn't show him the saddle and he said it was broke too, so I took it to another shop and they took it apart and of course it wasn't broke. I've been hesitant to go to him, because I didn't realize till recently that Joe just told Stanley about my saddle but never showed it to him. I thought he'd seen it and said it was broke so I was thinking he didn't know all that much. I didn't trust him. Does any of this make sense:)

Anyway the shop I took it too is now closed, so Stanley is the only one around. But if the vet says Harley's back is fine that it's the saddle, I want Stanley to SEE my saddle, the worn place on the fleece and see it on the horse and make a decision. I don't know if he'd know anything about English Saddles. If they tell me it's not fitting I'll go back to western, and just have one made for him if they don't have one already that would work.

FWIW, Celia said it looked like I kept my legs in good postion, and I wasn't sitting to far back.

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

Are your stirrups the same length?

I think that crookedness there is the problem. That can't be good. If it looks straight in the front, is this skewing maybe caused by his uneven wither you were talking about? I haven't seen that but you mentioned it last time.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Yeah the stirrups are the same length. We checked them. I'd no sooner straighten the back, take a few steps and it would be crooked again.

I had Mack walk out and look down his back, he's tall enough to see without standing on something, and he could see that his right side is bigger, but he says not that much. I don't think it would take much tho to be a problem, what do you think? I don't know if that is normal in horses???

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

I don't think it would take much to skew the saddle over because if he's uneven in the front, the movement of his shoulder would push the back of the saddle out of whack. Where is he bigger, in his shoulder muscling or in the wither itself?

Is it possible you can move the saddle back a little and avoid it?

Alternately, I think short of having a crooked saddle that matches him made, you might be able to do something with custom padding... add some to the small side to even him up.

Aren't all the turns in barrels one direction? Is it perhaps a conditioning issue that you could correct with some circling in the opposite direction? Or is it just his structure you think? That might be a vet question.

At any rate, I think that picture is important, I would either print and bring it with you, or saddle and ride him with that guy watching.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

It's in his wither. I'd describe as at the back of his wither.

I don't know if I could move the saddle that far back....can you??:)

I have been told by every one that no amount of padding will fix a bad fitting saddle. Of course this is not the saddle is it, but a badly shaped horse, so I don't know.

No the turns are not all in the same direction for barrels, I did 1 right and 2 lefts with him. I really don't think that's the problem, I always loped circles in both directions equally.

I'm hoping the saddle shop has a computer with access to the internet so I can show him this picture. I don't have a printer.

Becky

[FrogInABlender]

Alright Duchess! Looking good! Looks like you got rid of the rain too.

[FrogInABlender]

Now Becky, that looks just like ya! Even got a barn in the background. Pretty cool!

[HairOfTheDog]

I hope you can either show the saddle guy the picture, or your butt in the saddle. He'd know where to place it, and what can be done for fit.

I really hope there's a combination that works for him soon.

[Beaker]

Well my first time was when my trainer was making me do balancing excercises on the horse. You can guess how good my balance is.
The second time wasn't my fault. Someone was giving me a leg up, didn't know their own strength and launched me right over the horse. I tried to save myself but it didn't work.