[Kateb985]

This summer, my mare Georgia has been getting these small fluid filled limbs on her spine between the spinous processes after a ride. They go away after about 10 minutes after I pull the saddle off and I can press on them like crazy and she doesn't care at all.
I have used numerous saddles and pads because I thought my saddle was pressing.
I've used my English which does have a narrower gullet channel then I'd like so I used my friends English saddle with at least 4.5 finger widths all the way through, but hers still did it.
I've use a full QH bar barrel saddle with an air ride pad, a 5 star pad, and a classic equine pad. Thy all do it.
I've used numerous saddle pads with the English saddles, a thin line half pad, a shedrow half pad and a back on track pad.

The thing is she is not sore whatsoever. She rides beautifully, never bucks, does all gaits great, rounds up when I ask her, and the lumps are never sore. Someone told me maybe she has kissing spine. But I truly don't believe she does based on symptoms she has none of the symptoms.
I had a friend I mine who is a REMT come out and work on her yesterday and she massaged and taped her. She was a bit sore in her lumbar area but nowhere else on the body was she sore.

I was wondering if anyone else has had this issue. I am not going to get a vet out at the moment. Jut inquiring. In the picture I posted you can see a slight raised bump in the middle of her spine.

 

[trailhorserider]

My first thought (before looking at the pictures) was that FQHB is too wide for her and the saddle is sitting on her spine. It takes a pretty round back to fill out FQHB. But then I looked at the photos and she does look pretty wide, so I don't know.

It doesn't look like a major issue though, to me anyway. Sometimes saddles will actually touch a horse's spine and you will get a lump on the spine (not good) but your girl sort of looks like it is just a minor swelling between the vertebrae.

So it will be interesting to see what other people say. It doesn't look like something I personally would be overly concerned with. But I am just looking at one photo on the internet.

Best of luck.

 

[SilverMaple]

A friend's mare does this, too, only hers come and go whether she's been ridden or not. She's not sore, she's fine under saddle, and nothing seems to change it, so she doesn't worry about it anymore. The mare is 16 and has done it her whole life. Numerous x-rays and vetwork turned up nothing, and the vets said unless she's in pain, not to worry about it.

Make sure, though, that saddle isn't sitting on her spine when you're riding. Run a thin belt or fabric tape measure along the spine under the pad and saddle with a few inches hanging out the back, then ride and reach back and see if you can pull it out smoothly. If you can't, there's too much pressure on the spine. Try it with the standing still and moving. You might be surprised how much lift a gaited horse has in the back. A lot of horses have a saddle that fits fine when they're standing still, but not when moving and vice versa.

 

[Kateb985]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I forgot to say she is quite a wide mare, her sire and dam are both quite wide and she comes from halter stock. She was my project horse to start in college when she was 2 (that was six years ago) and she had been sitting out to pasture for five of those. She had gained quite a bit of weight and was quite mutton withered. She's lost about 50-75 pounds since then. I got her last August. But I do agree that since there is no pain or any problems with any movement that I'm not going to be too worried.

Thank you!!

 

[SteadyOn]

My old mare, who was about 16 at the time, used to get a couple little fluid-filled bumps along her spine after every ride. They would disappear completely after about 20 minutes. They were completely painless, she moved well and showed no signs of any back problems. Her saddle fit perfectly fine. I never had them checked out by a vet because they seemed to be unrelated to anything problematic at all.