[Honeysuga]

As I have said in a few other posts about my boy, he has some pretty bad pressure marks all over him from must have been a terrible fitting saddle, but how long and how bad would it have to be to cause this much white hair?


Band around his girth area



Left side



Right side

 

[charlicata]

The only time that I've seen that much white hair from pressure marks was on a black and tan cocker spaniel that I had adopted. The previous owners had a collar on him that his neck had actually started growing around. That is really sad.

 

[Honeysuga]

The band around his belly is the worst of it, i can never get a really clear picture of it and in that picture the ends are cut off so you cannot really tell the full extent. i had my vet and chrio out when I first brought him home to make sure there was no severe muscle and nerve damage, and he got the ok, but it just astounds me how much white hair there is, I have never seen so much on one horse.

 

[kevinshorses]

The cinch marks could have been from a dirty cinch not neccessarily and poorly fitting saddle. I trained a horse once that had marks similar to those and what the man had done was take the horse deer hunting and when he shot the deer he dressed it out and then tied a rope from the d rings of the saddle to the deer and led the horse back to his truck dragging the deer. For those of you who have only seen whitetailed deer, a mule deer will dress what a whitetail weighs alive. So this horse was pulling 250-300 pounds from the d rings on the saddle. I have also seen horses get a fungus on the cinch and it made the horse sore all the way under the belly and alot of it came back white.

As far as the other marks go they could be from anything and they look to be in the wrong place to be caused by saddle fit. Usually a white mark caused by saddle fit is to either side of the withers near the top of the horses back. The cinch marks are more likely caused by a careless rider than an ill fitting saddle.

 

[Honeysuga]

Thanks Kevin, your educated guess is as good as anyone's.

I know it was not the saddle tree itself that caused the marks, they are far to far down on his sides, but they are exactly under the front rigging dees, which suggested to me an ill fitting or poorly made saddle that was cinched too tightly or with a cinch that was too thin or even a piece of rope used instead of a cinch.

The marks on his sides are bigger w/o his winter coat but I do not have any unfuzzy pictures, they are approx 2 inches long and 1 inch thick each when his thick winter coat does not cover them.

I never thought of a fungus causing that kind of mark or even dirt since as far as I knew those kinds of marks are caused specifically from damaged nerves and not the epidermis itself...interesting.

 

[kevinshorses]

The hair turning white doesn't indicate damaged nerves. The pigment in the skin gets damaged due to heat or friction. It's rare that a horse that has been used very hard doesn't have at least one. I had a saddle pad come apart a little while I was riding a long ways from the trailer and my horse ended up with a white spot. It doesn't bother him and I don't think he was ever tender on it either. It's more of a blemish than an unsoundness.

 

[Honeysuga]

Thanks. Toms does not bother him either, not more than anything else anyway lol. Never considered it an unsoundness, just the only time I have ever seen the spots they have been small so it freaked me out that his is his entire girth area.

 

[FlyinSoLow]

Funny, I would have guessed it was created by a harness from driving...
mostly becuase the line is so clean, but very thin... not that you can't get a cinch or girth that thin though :lol:. Anywhoo, that would have been my guess.

 

[horseluver250]

I thought the same thing as flyinsolow

 

[Honeysuga]

That makes sense too guys. Maybe I will see if he drives any.

 

[churumbeque]

A harness shouldn't be that tight to cause those marks. I thought it looked like the strings from a girth.

 

[Hunter65]

Thanks Kevin, your educated guess is as good as anyone's.

I know it was not the saddle tree itself that caused the marks, they are far to far down on his sides, but they are exactly under the front rigging dees, which suggested to me an ill fitting or poorly made saddle that was cinched too tightly or with a cinch that was too thin or even a piece of rope used instead of a cinch.

The marks on his sides are bigger w/o his winter coat but I do not have any unfuzzy pictures, they are approx 2 inches long and 1 inch thick each when his thick winter coat does not cover them.

I never thought of a fungus causing that kind of mark or even dirt since as far as I knew those kinds of marks are caused specifically from damaged nerves and not the epidermis itself...interesting. View attachment 26308

Awe he's a cutie pie

 

[wild_spot]

My horse had palm sized white patches either side of his wither from an ill-fitting saddle. He was ridden in it for at least two years that I know of, with quite a heavy rider. There was a fair bit of muscle damage done - We had many visits from chiropractors, massage therapists and laser therapists before his back was back to normal - We also had to get a saddle custom made to fit his back as he was ultra-sensitive in his wither pockets due to the past damage.