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!

[HairOfTheDog]

He woke up hungry :~D

I'm gonna lunge horses today... It's gonna be nice out.

[AnAmericanMother]

I've still got my g-g grandfather's 1840 model "Old Wristbreaker" that he took off a dead Yankee at Chickamauga. The steel is darkened with age and the scabbard has some good sized dents in it, but we keep the brass nice and the steel oiled.

I've never had a problem with it bouncing out, but my horse has a canter like a conveyor belt. Never tried jumping over anything with it! My dad though was in the last remount of the old 2nd Cavalry division, and he did mounted saber drill which included jumping over stuff with the saber in your hand . . . naturally they left the horses behind when they went to Italy, but he managed to acquire a very handsome warmblood from a German colonel who surrendered. He kept two POWs to look after the horse . . . they were glad not to have to go to the camp . . . and he rode him every day. He named him "Jack" for some reason, and Jack did his part for the German war effort by trying to buck dad off every morning . . .

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I'm glad you're getting some nice days. finally:)

It's rather dreary here today, and is suppose to be pretty cold all weekend. That's OK tho, since I've got to let Harley off a few days anyway. Happening at a good time for a change.

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

It's cold when it's clear like this, but the sun makes it more cheerful regardless :~D

[AnAmericanMother]

There ARE a couple more variables with an English saddle. Aside from the tree width and the height of the head, there's the width of the gullet and the amount of stuffing you put into the lining (or panels - the two matching sections underneath the back half).

My mare has very prominent withers, so I use a small gel-pad that's cut back in the withers area to lift the head away from contact with the bone. I also use a very light quilted pad against her skin, then a lambsfleece half-pad over that. The light pad keeps the dirt off the fleece!

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

The English Saddle I bought has an adjustable gullet. We measured him and he took the widest one that they make. It still clears his withers tho. After I bought it and had the trouble at the competition the lady there that was supposedly good at fitting saddles told me that the gullet was not the only thing and that Windtec's advertising was a bit misleading. Now remember I'm just repeating what I've been told:) It think it's a good saddle, it is just going to need some tweeking to get it right for him. And I will look into it so I'll have a back up if the Western fails again.

Becky

[FrogInABlender]

Frog, oh man, oh man! What the heck did he do to himself??...

I have no idea and he won't tell me. ;o) I just found him that way one afternoon. I about had a stroke.

[AnAmericanMother]

Yep, English saddles are made with the narrow-backed, high-withered Thoroughbred type in mind. When you get a nice muscled-up QH with shoulders like a fullback, sometimes that saddle looks like a pimple on a piecrust. . . .

You can hardly see my mare when she's facing you, she's so narrow.

[FrogInABlender]

...looks like a pimple on a piecrust...

ROTFLOL!!! Now that's a colorful analogy if I've ever heard one! LOL!

[AnAmericanMother]

Stolen from a cheerful little book called Cotswold Privies . . . which we keep in the guest bathroom for light reading . . . a history of privies in the Cotswold region of England, with all sorts of jokes and sidelights on the history of the "dunnakin" (as well as a whole page of euphemisms for same).

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I don't know if you've been following the thread, but he's not soreing up at his withers with the English saddle, he is getting sore where the back of the saddle rests on his back. Did you see this picture I posted the other day:

I would straighten the saddle, get it centered, and then in just a few steps it was cocked like this at the back but when I looked down at the front it looked straight. I asked the girl with me if it looked like I leaned she said no and I concentrated on making sure I wasn't bearing down on that side, but after a few steps the back would slide over like this.

The man at the saddle shop I went to yesterday, is purely western, didn't even want to see him with the English on. I told hiim about what it was doing and he said, he'd guess it was still too narrow, which was causing it to be pulled crooked. That's what he said. But it is at the back where Harely is getting sore in the English.

Becky

[FrogInABlender]

Well, my shoeing clinic is this weekend and darned if they aren't predicting snow for tonight and tomorrow and it just really pisses me off! The lecture part is tonight and I'm taking a half a day off so I can get everything squared away and get over there (it's about an hour's drive away) before it gets too late and the weather gets bad. I think I'm going to find a cheap motel room over there and stay the night because the the hands-on part will start bright and early and will be even farther away at a farm. I've got 4wd, but people in the South aren't known for their driving ability in the snow, myself included. I'm supposed to take 2 horses over there on Sunday, but it the roads are still bad, I ain't taking them. Pulling a big-@$$ horse trailer on slick roads ain't my idea of fun. Y'all wish me luck and I'll talk to ya on Monday...

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

OOHHHH:( definitly good luck. I wouldn't pull a trailer on snowy icy roads either. No Way. I hope it doesn't happen so you can take some horses. Will be thinking of you this weekend.

Becky

[AnAmericanMother]

You mustn't ride in that saddle without a pad. We even use them in the shows, although we use a fitted pad in that case.

My guess would be that Harley is flexed to one side, and it's pitching the back of the saddle right due to leverage from the withers. When you just lope off, which lead does he favor? Most horses favor one or the other. In that picture, it does look like he's a little high on the left.

But the saddle throat is probably still too narrow - that would accentuate the rotation of the saddle. If the tree is not broken or over-flexing.

I would put a good sheepskin or ventilated pad on him, with a lift-back insert on top to spread the weight in the back. He'll be a lot more comfortable. But you have to take the saddle to a saddler who specializes in English saddles to get a good fit. We used to have a man who made barn calls - that was the very best method because he could see the saddle on the horse.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

He had this pad on:)

Becky

[RebaJ]

I didn't know I had a Kay-Kay doll. All of my toys were given away when I was moved and I never saw them again.
I have one breyer that Shirley gave me only because I hid it in my clothes when I moved back to Moms.

[CindyDawg]

Aww. That's so sad. Just your normal American family, huh? I buy my own dolls. Play with this and let's see how close you can get. I couldn't get the nose right on mine. Too many choices so I just picked one. I'm gonna do a little editing though:') (you know us perfectionists) Got to get back to work now.

[USA Horse Lover]

Here's another doll that I made - lately, I'm addicted to the dollmaker!!!

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

LOL....new theories:)

What an informative vet visit this was. Harley's back problems, according to this vet, is not from the saddle or my ineptness in the saddle. His back problems are from our shortening his stride to stop the forging:). She says a horse built like Harley, you want him to forge, that is good. He needs to have that big stride to support his back. She says forgeing is not really a bad thing but alot of people and old time vets don't understand that. It doesn't cause problems really, but stopping it in a horse like Harley does cause problems.

That's basically the same thing that young farrier at the ride told me. That clicking shoes is nothing to worry about and we should not be marked off for it.

Because we have his front toes cut short to cause a faster breaker over, he is shortening his stride in the back to keep from falling down and that is causeing a sore back. He needs his long stride all the way under him to support his back, especially with a rider sitting on him.

She had me walk and trot him, then she walked and trotted him for me to see (that is what I really like about this vet, she'll talk to you till you understand:). At a walk his back foot is landing almost on top of where his front foot just left, but when he trotted it only came about half the distance, and she said it would get even shorter if he loped.

There isn't much we can do about it till he grows out some, Chris is coming on Mon. to put trailers on the back. She said that would help. But also till we get him fixed she recommended that I dont' trot or lope. Walking is OK, and hill climbing is great, that will streghten his back, and backing will be good.

I don't know if this all makes sense. I told Mack about it on the phone and I was surprised (I think he was too:), but he thought it made sense. I hope I explained it to you all as well, so you can understand too.

Becky

[Beaker]

You explained it very well. At least you know that it is something that's easily fixed!