the back of my saddle is wearing the hair down on my horse...

[Steve Brewer]

Greg.I have had this problem before,The skirts can't move with the horse.We fixed it by cutting the laces loose.No more wearing hair off.

Steve

[greg gomersall]

Greg.I have had this problem before,The skirts can't move with the horse.We fixed it by cutting the laces loose.No more wearing hair off.

Steve

Steve I agree with you , as i said early in this thread the skirt edges need to be able to move independently of each other. Somehow Bob has my name listed as someone who doesn't think this could be the problem. Greg

[Traveller]

I took the laces out (dang they were in there tight!) but of course I can't see right away whether that's made a difference because the hair has to grow back first. I had a really good ride after removing the laces but I've been having lots of good rides lately so can't be entirely sure that I've solved the problem.

I'm happy to take the cotton pad out but am not entirely convinced it's the problem since I wore hair away on that part of Traveller's back before under a previous saddle and a 100% wool felt pad. I know cotton can be a problem in athletic situations since it gets wet, stays wet and rubs, but I don't sweat the horse much even though we work reasonably hard. When the weather warms up he'll start sweating again but he's a pretty mellow horse and is in good shape so I can arena ride him mostly at the trot with some good stretches of canter for the better part of an hour and he doesn't even sweat under his cinch this time of year (the cinch is sheepskin-lined and he always sweats there in the summer).

The main reason the cotton pad's there is so is that the hair didn't rub off like it did the last time I used a wool felt pad. Plus it's easy to keep clean so that I never have to put a dirt-encrusted pad on my horse's back. As for it being a smaller size, I agree, David, that it's not ideal but the rubbed hair is in a bigger area than just where it meets the edge of the felt so I'm not sure that's the source of my woes.

It's easy to remove the cotton pad (and I'll do that) but I think the problem is mostly to do with saddle fit, since I don't remember noticing rubbed hair until after I got physio done on the horse and he improved his way of going. Before physio, he was often inverted and tough to get round but had no rub marks, and after physio he started rounding up easily and is now round more often than not but has rub marks. I've had the saddle for about six months but the change in his body shape has changed the way the saddle fits. Pah, says I.

I haven't replaced the wool felt/gel combo pad I'm riding in but will do that soon. You have all convinced me that 100% wool is the way to go.

Joanne

Edited January 5, 2009 by Traveller

[hidepounder]

Sorry Greg & Mike & Doug & Bruce!!!!! I didn't say what I meant to at all! I was trying to say that I agreed with the points all of you made regarding the underpad and Navajo pads and gel pads, etc. That's not how it came out and I apologize to everyone...I didn't do a good job of explaining my thought!( not unusual!)

I also agree with everyone that skirts should be allowed to move, and if Traveller gets them corrected she will be better off! However, I personally don't think that is what's happening in this case(I could be wrong, wouldn't be the first time!). What bothers me is that the problem persists with an English saddle! I can't help but be suspicious of another cause...and a rounded back decreases contact with the back of the saddle...not increases it...so that's why I zeroed in on the cotton underpad. Anyway...my apologies to you guys...I didn't mean to put words in your mouth!

Bob,

P.S. Greg...I wouldn't suggest jogging anywhere here in the desert, in a double wool blanket or a neopreme pad!

[Doug Mclean]

Traveller:

We are probabaly giving you a lot more free advice than you had hoped for. Here's the deal! 14" snow -10 to -20 and wind blowing. What else is there to do!!!!

Maybe what you should do is post some pictures of your horse's back just after unsaddling from a normal ride. Then everyone would see first hand what you are describing.

[Traveller]

14" snow -10 to -20 and wind blowing. What else is there to do!!!!

I'm glad I asked for advice in the winter! It sounds like summertime advice wouldn't have been anywhere near as good.

I'll get shots today after my ride.

Thanks!

[Traveller]

Here are some shots of Traveller's back where the hair is worn down. I took them immediately after the saddle came off today. It's getting quite bad, actually. I've only ridden twice since I cut the laces out and had a very good ride today, though it's got to be irritating for him, to say the least.

Thanks again for all your suggestions.

Joanne

[bruce johnson]

I am still having some trouble asking myself why this problem is showing up when he is moving better and still not showing soreness, being ridden in the same gear. I think it is motion. Do these pads shift at all when you move him around? I hate to say if it was my deal I would do this or that, but am going to anyway. I think he may be moving differently and creating more motion across the back under the rear bar pads. I would get rid of the underpad. I would swap out that front cinch for a string cinch. While that may not be an issue, the lining of the cinch has a slight amount of movement. That would be magnified in the back end. I'd put that back cinch on too, but then I use one all the time.

[Denise]

Joanne,

Am I seeing the pictures correctly that he is close to bald at the back near his spine? That is way past any bars and would point to the skirts holding tight down there as being part of the problem at least in my view.

Thinking of other options: You removed your back cinch on October 30th. (http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=5847&hl=) Could that be correlated with when the hairs started to break off? When did you first notice and how long do you think it may have been happening before you noticed? As some commenting in that thread on rear riggings, how the front one is built affects how the saddle sits, and I wonder if the rear cinch is needed for this combination of horse and saddle. More questions for you...

[Traveller]

Bruce, I'd have thought a more inverted horse would run into the back of the saddle, too. Maybe he's using his hind end more so it's coming more into contact with the back of the saddle? Or maybe since he's using his hind end more, he's got more movement happening in his back (he's definitely swinging more), so there's more opportunity for friction?

As for the underpad, I rode the first two-thirds of my ride today with the underpad and then the last third without (it was going to be the last half but the ride got cut a little short in the end) to see whether he went differently and there was no difference, so I'll remove the underpad. If it's not helping it might very well be hurting.

Denise, it's quite possible that removing the rear cinch had something to do with this and it just took a while for the hairs to get short enough for me to notice the problem. I always snugged up the rear cinch but of course not in the way you would the front cinch and never imagined it would help hold the back of the saddle down (it would be too tight then, right?). As you say, though, the back cinch may "balance" the saddle.

It's good to know that the rubbing is happening behind the bars. Maybe that's why he's not showing soreness, even though it can't be entirely comfortable.

Thanks for your time!