Which Saddle For A Sensitive Skinned Chestnut

[BionicBilly]

I need some advice to get the right saddle for my horse, a chestnut TB gelding.  I borrowed a friends ffoenix suberpanel, but after a couple of weeks he was telling me he didn't like it (slinking off to back of stable when I approach with saddle, planting himself several times on a walking hack).  And then most recently I noticed he had 3 hard bumps the size and shape of the cork filled cells of the suberpad when I took off the saddle.  He is high withered and currently lacks back muscles as he has had some sacro-illiac trauma in the past (but hasn't stopped him eventing with previous owner!).  This also means that he has a bit of an uneven action behind and anything that moves about on his back too much rubs him.

The problem is.. I just love the saddle so much and for me it is one of the comfiest I have ever sat on.  I want him to think so too!!  Especially as a sixth sense tells me he won't be so grumpy if I can sort this out.

Would a prolite be suitable for his high withers?  

Anyone else had this problem? and what was the solution?

[Madams Walk]

I use a prolite fhoenix on my chestnut tb ex racer, i have 2 shims in the front and use an equitex pad under it which she really seems to like.
 

[r's easy jet]

I have a treed western saddle and a treeless english saddle.  I also have a sensitive skin orange chestnut.  I cant use anything synthetic on him at all.. I now use a classic equine esp contoured pad... It works great and he loves it.

[myhorsefaith]

I am sure others may be able to help more than me, but I'll give you my horse's feedback.

i originally purchased the dressage suberpanel- and boy it was great. because of body limitations, I've been struggling with riding. i did notice that the suberpanel left some marks on my high-withered tb mare. She didnt really ever object to the saddle, but then again, we only ride every so often. I dont know if under a  regular schedule she'd say differently.

This is my theory- the suberpanel was limited and caused problems because of me: the way I sat in it and the way I interferred with it.

Anyhoo, I also have a prolite gp. I just used that for the first time a few weeks ago on this mare. It has a set of shims in it, and a mattes 1/2 pad, prof choice girth. My body, though it struggled the common struggle with the saddle (my lower leg wanting to go backwards and tipping on my fork), was much more comfortable in this one.  The mare did not object at all, and no marks were present.

A little story to go with this post:

To set the scene: it has been 2 years since this mare and I had done any real under saddle work.

2 weeks ago a friend and I went to a schooling show.  For grins and giggles and also to support my friend, we went to a schooling show and entered the same classes. I figured I'd just bring her for the exposure, and if I got to ride and all was well, that would be a bonus.

Not only did we ride, but we placed in every class, 4 in total. Kind of funny that we were competitive against this group- we got 2nd's and 3rds out of 8-9 students,  :lol:
2 of the classes were w/t over ground poles- the mare and i havent really stepped over anything in 2 years, nevermind a mini-test in front of people.  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

Afterwards the judge came by and congratulated us, and told me my mare was beautiful and looked so happy and calm out there. She also began to give me advice like : changing my saddle to a hunt seat saddle, asking my horse to "round up" blah blah blah. I let her finish and then told her that not only was this my first time riding in this saddle (that requires some getting used to), this was my first time riding this horse for anything longer than 5 minutes in over 2 years!  :lol:  I also told her that every treed saddle ever tried has elicited a bucking/rearing/speed-going 'fest, and that most of her relaxed nature had to be due to the saddle she was wearing. She quickly changed her tune and said that she was amazed that i literally pulled this horse out of the field and that she did so well, with a brand new saddle and no preparation. With a little consistent work, she should be amazing.

LOL I totally agree    :P

So there ya go. The fhoenix prolite gp was great match for the both of us. I'm sure the suberpanel would suit as well, I just need to get my own act in order and not get in the way of the saddle.
 

[nix]

The Suberpanel doesn't really suit high withered types (eg TBs) that well. The "prolite" panelled Fhoenix, suitably shimmed/padded is often a better option. An agent would be able to help with the fitting, if you wanted to have one out? I think Stranger is near you, isn't she?

[BionicBilly]

Thanks Nix and myhorsefaith.  I will have to call my physio to check whether 5 weeks road walking is enough (puleeese?!).  We were supposed to do 6 before attempting anything faster than walk due to coming back into work after a cortisone injection in his sacro-illiac .  It would not be worthwhile testdriving one of Stranger's saddles until I can try him in all gaits and jumping.

This is such a steep learning curve for me.  I have only ever had the kind of advice from people who say Oh just get on with it, rather than people who have taught me that I should trust my instincts and watch for my horse's reactions (eg the hiding in the back corner of the stable!).  So thank you for all the advice everyone

I agree Nix, the prolite has got to be less bumpy.  Hopefully not so smooth that it slips laterally when I climb aboard though (using a mounting block, of course).

I have been on here a couple of weeks now without introducing Billy.  I will try to upload some pics so you can see what I mean about his shape It can only get better, but it will take a while.

[BionicBilly]

Erm, how exactly do you put photos up.  I think I might need to resize my photos as they are too big, but I don't know how to do it.  Any hints?

[Cloud_cirrus]

The photo needs to be less than 100K.  If you open it up in Microsoft office picture manager on the right hand side it will tell you what size the picture is in measurement and in file size.

My picture of Charlie was 1.14MG and 2592 x 1944 pixels.

I clicked on Picture, Resize and reduced it to 20% of the original size.  Then I saved it with a different file name.

This reduced it to 518 x 389 and down to 59.2Kb.  You can then upload the picture by clicking on Browse next to file location and navigating to your new picture.

Alternatively you can open a Photobucket account (which is free) and upload to that, this resizes the pictures and then you cut and past the hyperlink into the EE message.

Hope this helps, lots of graphic packages work in the same way, your digital camera software should also be able to reduce them, the important thing is the file size.

[shiralee]

If the suberpanel appears to fit fine except for a problem with friction, before you give up on it, I'd try putting sheepskin under it - either a pad with sheepskin panels, or a half pad.   Sheepskin is brilliant for friction problems.  

[Fizzbw]

I have a prolite Gp with a Mattes Gold high withered sheepskin numnah under for my v old chestnut thing - he's perfect it this combo. Previously with treed saddles he has rubbed up under the saddle and in the girth (also has v forward girth groove) after 5-10 mins walking when not in condition. Never had a problem with the FA. Now he did transfer to treeless in a fitform and lost his atrophy within a year, and improved even more in the FA - he's not ridden hugely now but still enjoys hacking out.

Niki x

[BionicBilly]

Here are the swellings
 

[BionicBilly]

and here are some pictures of him naked.  Like everyone, he looks better with his clothes on!

The first one is of his better side...

[BionicBilly]

And this is his jumper's bump side.  The lighter squares are where he had electrophysio.

[Cloud_cirrus]

He's changed a lot from when I first saw him BB, I'd keep doing what you've been doing!

[Appy2quarter]

Hi there

I also have a sensitive chestnut - a QH not TB, but he also has quite high withers and is built downhill.  He got rubs from the suber and prefers the moulded panels.  I use these with shims in the front and a sheepskin half pad.

He definitely likes the sheepskin pad (and also has a sheepskin girth sleeve, too!).  In anything that pulls down onto his withers he simply refuses to move forwards.  I'd see how you get on with a sheepskin pad and, if you still have problems, perhaps try the moulded version.

Hansome boy btw!