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  Discussion on Therapeutic pads & manufacturers claims....
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Member:
Lindsey

Posted on Friday, Apr 7, 2006 - 2:26 pm:

I must be missing something or be very stupid.

Sorry folks, perhaps a rather long story for a single question in the end, thanks for any one taking the effort to read and apologies for the english (after all I’m belgian :-)) . Here I go :
I’ve got a very tall warmblood, who’s build more like a TB then a WB. He’s not sufficiently muscled up along his back and his spine is quite prominent, in a sense that his back is shaped more like a bottleneck then an upside down V-shape. He’s a bit hollow behind the withers and needs to be worked more in an outline so I can get some more topline on him.
Anyway I therefore suspected him to have a fragile back and made sure I bought him a well fitting saddle. Bearing in mind we would like the muscle to come up a bit, we kept his saddle a tad too wide to accommodate growing muscle. Nevertheless the saddler still sees it as a very good fit.
Being a caring and overworrying mum, I think I spent more then $1,000 in therapeutic saddlepads over the last year to “protect” his vulnerable back. I’ve got them all : saddleright, equipedic, surpracor, Old Mac therapeutic, SMX airflow, Korrektur airpad etc, you name it, I got it. ((I hope my husband doesn’t read this message $$ !!))
Having used them all, I figured I like the surpracor best.

However lately my horse started being upset when changing blankets: pawing the floor, kicking at the blanket and turning his head looking at the blanket almost in disgust. I felt re-assured it was just a behavioural thing as he stood very still & happy to be saddled and girthed up. I nevertheless had an acupuncturist look at him and YES, he does have a sore back. And lately he now does fidget when being saddled up. :-(
I feel powerless and sad because I’m trying so hard (good saddlefit, expensive pads, be very aware of my position when riding him, working from behind etc) and still I seem to be wrecking the poor horse’s back.
I started feeling & checking his back after each ride and noticed tiny little swellings along the sides of his prominent spine. They are soft swellings and don’t appear to hurt him when I touch or rub them. About an hour after the ride they disappear, but they come back each time I ride him.
I started taking a very good look at ALL my pads and how they fit the saddle, his back etc. And now I am VERY confused. Virtually every manufacturer claims their pad ensures a free spine, relieving all pressure of the spine! However when I fit any of my pads underneath the saddle & do a snuggy (pull the pad into the gullet to ensure it doesn’t sit on the withers) I noticed that you basically entirely fill up the gullet in the middle of the saddle as well as between the backpanels. So add the weight of a rider, I now cannot see how these pads leave the spine clear. It looks to me as if they actually DO put pressure on the spine rather then the opposite???? And it therefore then completely defeats the idea of a saddle’s gullet because the gullet is entirely filled up with a huge fat pad????? Is it just me, or what am I missing?
I’ve given my boy a break for a few weeks & will let the acupuncture do its work. I intend to start riding him again and this time will just put a normal cottoncloth underneath.
This is a totally new approach to me, because I’m so freaking out about riding my horse without a therapeutic pad, because I fear if I don’t protect his back, he’ll fall to pieces. But hej, I’ve used all sorts of therapeutic ones for a year now and his back is falling to pieces regardless. I guess I’ll have to take a leap of faith & for once, just once, dare to ride him in a plain cotton cloth & see what happens.
I must be neurotic.... perhaps I need a shrink...

Anyone ideas/opinions on saddlecloths and therapeutic pads??? I’d be curious to know your opinions, as ‘I’ for sure have lost the plot here, and I feel a lot lighter in my purse with a sore horse in the end. :-(

Thanks a lot, Patsy.
Member:
Hwood

Posted on Friday, Apr 7, 2006 - 2:49 pm:

Patsy,
I had a horse with similar fitting problems, I think. The best I could figure was that he needed soft padding to fill in the dip in his back behind his shoulder so that there wouldn't be undue pressure digging in behind his shoulders and so the saddle would sit level. I DO think that tucking the blanket up inside the gullet is a good idea, but I wonder if the pad you are using creates a ridge on either side of the horse's spine . . . and the pressure of the saddle with the rider pushes down on those ridges(sort of like wrinkles in one's sock)?

I wonder if it will help if you just make certain that the pad isn't pulling across his spine as you tighten the girth? Maybe if you don't tuck it up inside quite as much, because maybe after you put pressure in the saddle, it squashes the extra fold of pad in the gullet and creates the ridges?

For me, the ideal pad would have been one that had extra fill in the center and tapered off to both the withers and the loin to make the horse's back more level, not so much that the front and back of the saddle didn't touch his back, but to relieve any bridging that would occur from a regular, flat pad. I would even, sometimes, fold an extra wool blanket and lay it across the horse's back over the regular pad, but with the pressure of a rider, the folded edges of the blanket would still create pressure points across my horse's back through the other pad. The type of back you describe is a hard one to fit.
Member:
Canter

Posted on Friday, Apr 7, 2006 - 4:39 pm:

This is a wild shot in the dark, Patsy, but the bumps you describe after your ride sound like an allergic reaction. Could your horse be reacting to the fabric? detergent you use?

Just a thought...
Member:
Lindsey

Posted on Friday, Apr 7, 2006 - 6:01 pm:

Aha, thank you both Holly & Fran, both very useful reactions :-)
-The ridges you are talking about Holly very much make sense, so I may be playing with that idea to see if & how I can adjust a pad to deal with that.
-An allergic reaction, that actually never passed my mind, but I have to say 3 of my above described $$ pads, have the same wooltype bottom lining!! So worthwhile considering indeed!

PS, I may sound a bit upset towards the makers of those pads, but I don't wish to attack them. I guess it's more a sense of desperation on my behalf. I'm sure there must be people out there having had good experiences with them too.

Certainly thanks for your thoughts here!
Patsy.
Member:
Kthorse

Posted on Friday, Apr 7, 2006 - 10:20 pm:

I have had saddle problems for years with my hard to fit arab. I had my new saddle stuffed to fit his back with a saddle fitter. I found the wintec with the gullet change the best wool stuffing only. But it still wasnt perfect, so I found that a sheepskin pad that you can add padding to either the front or back to work perfectly. You can custom fit it. If fitted properly the pad should stay up in the gullet as there is no shifting and moving of the saddle . I did have a saddle Right pad, Similar, only to have white hairs appear so I know what you are going thru. I spent a fortune on pads. I think I found the solution. Plus my horse loves sheepskin. My more ears back or wanting to kick and bite at saddling time and no more sore backs. I just got another sheepskin pad off e-bay that has the sheepskin correction pads for only $90.00 It makes my saddle fit so perfect I am so excited. The mattes on e-bay are not sheepskin they are wool pile. Sheepskin is the best. Hope that helps
Katrina
Member:
Lindsey

Posted on Saturday, Apr 8, 2006 - 7:51 pm:

Hi Katrina,
Do these sheepskin pads have a name? Or where could I find them? It sounds like they have 4 pockets then? I've never heard of them, but I'm still willing to try anything, as I've got to find a solution for this saddling problem.
Thanks a lot.
Regards, Patsy.
Member:
Kthorse

Posted on Sunday, Apr 9, 2006 - 8:20 am:

Hi Patsy,
Here is the link.
https://cgi.ebay.com/Sheepskin-Saddle-Pad-Correction-System-Black_W0QQitemZ723264 7091QQcategoryZ16245QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
They have mattes pads however the mattes on e-bay are wool pile not sheepskin so you are better off with these ones. Mattes sheepskin go for close to $200. These are just as good as I have both. Shims are included. Before you adjust it to fit youu horse you need to put the saddle on with out a pad to see where you need the balancing. In my situation the saddle needed lifting in the front as the back would lift sligtly when girthed and the saddle would slide onto his shoulders. Hope this helps
Member:
Lindsey

Posted on Sunday, Apr 9, 2006 - 6:12 pm:

Super. Yes I think the front in our case is also the problem.
Thanks a lot! :-)
Patsy
Member:
Frances

Posted on Monday, Apr 10, 2006 - 4:11 am:

Hello Patsy,

Griffin NuuMed make "high wither" numnahs and saddle pads which I really like. As the name implies, they're cut so that you don't have to pull them up over the wither - they're up anyway. It makes so much more sense. Perhaps the ones Katrina recommends are the same.

I've always been told that if your saddle fits well, all you need is a thin pad to absorb sweat without taking up space. NuuMed have a thin "everyday high wither numnah" like this in either dressage or GP which I really like. If this is not enough for your horse, they also have an excellent "high wither combination" pad which has pads that can be velcroed on to fill in places with inadequate musculature. Again, this may be similar to the link above. Let me know if you want the link.

Good luck!

Lynn
Member:
Lindsey

Posted on Monday, Apr 10, 2006 - 10:11 am:

Hi Lynn,
Actually I have got a couple of Nuumed XL high withered wool ones. But oddly enough he really heats up underneath, with a steaming back when I take it off & those little swellings again. However I combine the Nuumed with one of my pads, usually the 'saddle right', to help with the dip behind his withers, so perhaps combining the 2 actually causes the heating.

Yesterday I did ride him with just a thin cotton cloth. Result no swellings, not overly sweaty, but I had to constantly re-adjust the saddle whilst I was schooling, as it keeps on sinking to the left. As a result he tenses up and goes very hollow & all is lost. But when I pad the saddle we don't have the slipping, but we do have the little lumps :-(
I'm going to try the Mattes. I need to have another look at it, because it would be helpful if I could adjust only the left front -I think-.
This slipping is very annoying, because nor the saddler, nor the vet actually sees a difference in his muscles right to left. I used to think it was me, but when other people ride him the saddle slips too. This is now saddle number 3 that does this, so it has got to be him rather then the saddle. Again when I put a 'saddle right' or 'supracor' on him, we don't have the slipping to the left :-(.
For now back to lunging I guess :-)
Thanks Lynn.
Regards,
Patsy.
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