The Horse Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Saddle chafin - no access to a saddle fitter

3K views 14 replies 7 participants last post by  Horsef 
#1 ·
Hi all. Before I continue I would like to emphasize again that I do not have access to a saddle fitter or even a tack shop. I have to buy everything online.

I got my mare in March. My then instructor helped me buy a used English saddle. We chose the one which fit the best of the three which were on offer at the time in classifieds. Not a great situation, I know.

It seemed to have worked fine up until about two weeks ago. Then, all of a sudden, hair on her back, towards the back of the saddle started chafing on both sides. I didn't change any tack at that time. I was using the same saddle pad and sheep skin numnah I've been using for about four months. She has been clipped, two months previously and also in the beginning of summer.

I have no idea what happened. I have started to ride a little bit more sitting down, sitting trott and sitting canter but not by much, maybe a few minutes increase. And all in all, I sit for maybe 5 minutes a ride at most.

She isn't sore when I touch her there at all. And she is riding better than ever.

What are my options? I can afford to buy a new saddle online, but there is zero guarantee that it will fit.

I can stop doing any sitting work. Will that help?

Are there saddles online which I can try to fit myself? Do they work?

Are there pads designed to prevent this? Do they work?

I did ask my current trainer for help, but we just don't have access to other saddles to fit them.

I can't ride bareback as a permanent solution because she is rather uncomfortable

Help, please?
 
See less See more
#2 ·
I am in a similar situation and went through about 7 saddles for my horse. It's a huge PIA. But over time, I did end up selling all the extra saddles (albeit at a bit of a loss each time).

I know a lot of people think Wintecs are not the best quality, but they do have the one with the interchangeable gullet system, which is very practical. I have two of those and they are our go-to saddles for lessons. They were recommended by our coach as an economical solution for someone just starting out. I have other saddles for trail riding.

Your horse may have changed shapes because of the seasons, the difference in coat, or just a different fitness level. I'm not sure where you live, but a lot of saddle stores will let you try on saddles and return them if they don't fit. Sometimes you have to pay the shipping, but it's better than spending hundreds on yet another saddle that doesn't fit.

I also recommend the Thinline half pad (I have the Trifecta with sheepskin rolls which helps keep it into place). Those pads are shimmable and provide cushioning without the bulk. I'm looking for a second one for my mare because I like the one we have so much. They're not cheap, but I think they're well worth the investment. We use ours on top of a regular square pad to keep it clean.

Finally, did you try to do a wither tracing? It can be done at home using any pliable metal. I had some flowers my daughter had bought at the dollar store for a craft. Sounds silly, but they worked. Coat hangers are too stiff, but you need something that will retain its shape. There are websites that explain how to do it if you google it. You then trace the shape on a large piece of cardboard and take a picture with a ruler across it. Send it into a saddlery as an email attachment and they will tell you what size saddle you need. It's possible you are way off on the fit and don't realize it. I sent mine into Skylands Saddlery and they were very helpful. Turned out my little Arab needed a wide gullet.
 
#3 ·
Hi Horsef.

What do you mean by "chaffing"? Could you post a foto? I've seen Western saddles rub at the back of the saddle skirt, but English saddles don't got 'em; just the panels . . . Have you reviewed Jochen Schleeses' very good series on saddle fitting? Here is a link to the first one of the series:



As far as buying a saddle on-line, it's largely hit-or-miss, and alas mostly miss, as AA indicates. One thing I can heartily recommend, if you can afford it, would be to have Synergist make you a custom saddle. They will send you an Equimeasure kit, which is a sheet of thermoplastic that you mold to your horses back, and which they then use as a template to shape the saddle bars. They will also customize the seat to fit your butt, and any other customization you are interested in. They made one for George, who is extremely difficult to fit as he is a very donkey-like mule; round as a barrel, and no withers.

Additionally, if you find a used Synergist saddle that is reasonably close, Synergist will rework it for a "perfect" fit for a modest cost.

The other thing you might look into is a better saddle pad. I really, really like the Supracor pads, and my critters agree; they're all we have used for the past several years. The 5-star felt pads are very nice as well; my wife "borrowed" Oily's 1" thick endurance pad to use under her Plantation saddle, and it works remarkably well, even tho not really designed to be used with an "English" saddle. I think 5-Star is making an English pad now, anyway.

Steve
 
#4 ·
The marks look like two circular shapes where hair is very short. They are aprox. 10cm in diameter and slightly oval towards the front and more rounded at the back. There is no discoloration or swelling or anything like that. I will post photos tomorrow.

Thank you so much for this information, I will get right into reasearching all of these options.
 
#11 ·
The marks look like two circular shapes where hair is very short. They are aprox. 10cm in diameter and slightly oval towards the front and more rounded at the back. There is no discoloration or swelling or anything like that. I will post photos tomorrow.

Thank you so much for this information, I will get right into researching all of these options.
Marks like this are often caused by the horse 'wagging' the saddle as it moves, causing the rear panel to move side to side, fixed at the wither, hence the semi-circular pattern. It's caused by the saddle being too tight in front so it's affected by shoulder movement and can be either because the tree is too narrow, too wide (it drops behind the shoulder so ends up being too tight) or it's the correct width but the panel needs re-adjusting (maybe because the flock has settled or the horse has changed shape. The latter can sometimes be corrected with a graduated pad, but not always.

Awkward call, and can be a case of trial and error. If you want to have a go at correction bear in mind you always need to be guided by the saddle's balance. Lifting the rear panel away from the problem area in an attempt to alleviate the rubbing will not correct the fault, I'm afraid.
 
#6 ·
While I'm a little wary to say "oh it fits" when I'm definitely not positive it does...

Around here it's VERY common in the winter months for horses ridden regularly to have a bit of fuzzy fur and even MINOR baldness as it sounds like you're describing. These are horses whose saddles DEFINITELY fit. Especially horse who have been clipped. Heck I know some clipped horses that get rub marks with pretty much everything.

Basically the fur is getting longer and there IS movement under the saddle, the movement interferes with the longer fur. Now if it gets worse/spreads/she seems anything other than 110% ok.... I'd definitely be keeping an eye on it but your description doesn't alarm me.

Heck I rode the pony bareback the other day for 15 minutes and her fur was all messed up after. Not enough to even notice the next day of course but for a horse ridden very regularly it's common.

This is assuming she has a long/thick coat.
 
#7 ·
She has been clipped about two months ago so she doesn't really have very long fur, maybe 1cm at best. I do understand what you are saying but I'm a first time horse mum so any and all scratches, boo-boos and marks are thoroughly examined and brought to my trainer's attention (who promptly rolls her eyes and walks away usually) :)
 
#12 ·
Here's a pic (from google)



that I assume is what you are talking about. Note that the horse is clipped, I like this picture because it really shows you how thin the hair is and how easy it is to rub. While again, you always want to be cautious about saying someone shouldn't be concerned about something in case it is something to be concerned about, seeing that on a clipped horse in winter that is ridden regularly would not be a shock to me (though those are definitely pretty dramatic patches on my google sample). In the summer or anything that seems like it may be an issue (soreness, skin is abraded, etc) would be more concerning, but not that. Definitely have your trainer check

Heck I know a young horse with "spur rubs" on each side bigger than that (and she doesn't even wear spurs!)

As far as what to do sounds like you're doing everything you can, you can try treating the spots but haven't really found anything to fix them 100%. Heck the fancy dressage horses at my old barn got them yearly too, and if their custom saddles refitted every 6 months don't fit then I don't want to know how bad my own horses saddles are! lol

Does your horse tend to rub in general? Why do you clip her twice a year? I'm thinking her coat is just thin.

The biggest advice aside from monitoring and such would be to next year leave a saddle patch when clipping, though I know a few that rub from the end of the saddle pad touching them! Some grow right back but others just don't have enough protection when clipped.
 
#13 ·
That's exactly what it looks like! Except smaller. (I tried taking photos this morning but my phone froze - litteraly. It was -10C)

She never rubbed before but I only had her since spring.

My trainer suggested a clip because she grew quite a big coat going into winter.

My trainer saw it and she wasn't all that concerned. She also suggested leaving a saddle patch next time we clip her.

And, funnily enough, we also have a mare at the barn with huge spur marks, and I am 100% sure she's never been ridden with spurs in her life.

I am a bit calmer now because she is really riding so well at the moment, despite the freezing weather. We had one of our best rides ever this morning, so I'm guessing that it doesn't actually bother her.

Thank you all for helping a first time horse mum with her nerves :)
 
#15 ·
I thing I figured it out. I lunge her before riding every day and for some reason I stopped tightening the girth all the way for lunging when we moved indoors (I'm sure I had a reason but can't remember it for love or money now).

It wasn't loose but it wasn't completely tight either. I would do another two notches up before mounting. I noticed that the saddle was wiggling a bit at the trot. So now I'm lunging without the saddle and I'll report back on the results. Thank you all for helping, I will update in a few weeks time.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top