saddle fit | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘How Saddle Fit Affects Performance, Lameness And Shoeing’ Webinar Presented By Cornell Equine

Horse owners and farriers are very aware that poor fitting horseshoes can cause discomfort and lameness in horses. Unfortunately, many do not realize that poor fitting saddles can cause lameness, gait faults, shoeing problems and even personality problems. Ways to assure a reasonable saddle fit to prevent complications with your horse will be presented during the College of Veterinary Medicine's Equine Seminar Series, on Tuesday, September 21, from 6 to 7 p.m. via Zoom.

Steve Kraus is an American Farriers Association, Certified Journeyman Farrier who has been the head of Farrier Services and a Sr. Lecturer of Large Animal Surgery, at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, and the instructor of the Farrier School there since 2010. Prior to that, he worked for over 40 years in his own farrier business in Central New York. He is known for troubleshooting lame, injured and underperforming horses and has shod horses of practically every breed and discipline. He has lectured to farriers, veterinarians and horse owners all over the US, Canada, South America and Europe. He has been a featured speaker at the International Hoof Care Summit, Laminitis Conference, Equine Affaire and the American Farriers Association Convention. Steve has written many articles published in the American Farriers Journal, The Horse Journal and The Professional Farrier. In 2016, he was inducted into the International Farriers Hall of Fame.

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The Cornell Equine Seminar Series is presented by the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine's Equine Hospital, the New York State 4-H Horse Program and Cornell Cooperative Extension. Held monthly, equine experts present on important equine health and management topics. The event is free and open to the public. Register here.

Study: Majority of Horses Considered ‘Lefties’

Wither measurements of 490 horses taken with a flexible tracing tool have shown that the majority of horses have larger measurements on the left side of their withers as compared to their right, suggesting they are “lefties.” Dr. Katrina Merkies, with the University of Guelph, and a team of undergraduate students digitized and compared years of measurement data to come to this conclusion.

The study included a variety of breeds, including finer-boned breeds like Thoroughbreds and Arabians to heavier breeds like Warmbloods and draft horses. Overall, 60 percent of study horses had larger muscles on the left sides of their withers.

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Merkies and her team considered laterality as a possibility for why horses have a tendency to build muscle on the left. Laterality refers to a horse's preference for using one side of his body. The right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and this is where fearful stimuli are processed, the team reported. Merkies noted that horses will often look at an object they are afraid of out of their left eye or step off trailers with their left front leg first, both of which reinforce the notion that these horses are “lefties.”

While examining differences in body sizes and shapes, the scientists also found that horses of medium height were more likely to have more-curved backs than their brethren of other sizes. The team hypothesize that this is because medium-sized horses are often ridden by adults, whose saddle might not properly fit, being too long in the seat and applying pressure to the lumbar region.

Pressure from an ill-fitting saddle can cause pain and affect performance, as well as prevent the muscles from building in a symmetrical way. Merkies stated that proper and twice-yearly saddle fittings are imperative for equine comfort and the development of balanced muscles.

Non-Uniform Saddle Sweat Patterns May Indicate An Issue

The way a horse sweats under his saddle can indicate if he's wearing well-fitting or ill-fitting tack. If the horse has his saddle and pad removed after exercising and his coat has odd-shaped sweat patterns, something may be amiss.

A horse wearing a saddle that has too-tight tree points will often have less sweat or dry spots over his withers where the saddle is pinching him. Sweat glands are unable to function normally if too much pressure is placed on then.

A horse wearing a saddle that has a too-narrow gullet may experience significant saddle shifting, causing it to wobble from side to side. When the saddle wiggles or slips, the gullet can sit too close to the back and spine, increasing the pressure on a horse's back. This pressure can cause edema or transient, fibrous nodules around thoracic vertebrae 13 and 14.

To determine if a saddle fits, it can be helpful to watch a tacked horse move both with and without a rider. A saddle may slip because of the way a horse's back is shaped or because the saddle has uneven flocking. Another common reason for saddle slipping is hind-end lameness that affects how the horse's axial skeleton moves, reports Dr. Sue Dyson.

Dyson estimates that 87 percent of horses with hind-end lameness also experience saddle slippage, often to the side of the lame leg. Once the lameness is addressed, saddle slippage significantly decreases.

It's easier to see if a saddle is slipping if the horse is working on a circle, rather than a straight line. Saddle slipping is not always caused by a crooked rider, but a rider often becomes crooked when riding an uneven horse.

Research Update: The Effect Of A Half Pad On Pressure Distribution

Half pads are used in many English riding disciplines to correct saddle fit, help distribute rider weight and absorb impact. Most half pads are constructed using wool, gel, or foam, and can be of varying thicknesses. The objective of a recent study, conducted in the United Kingdom, was to determine how half pad type affected the distribution of pressure under a well-fitting saddle.

Twelve high-level dressage horses tacked with properly fitting dressage saddles were ridden in a seated trot and canter on both the left and right rein. Horses were ridden with four half pad treatments, which included a control (only a cotton saddle cloth was placed under the saddle), gel half pad (viscoelastic gel pad not shaped to the horse's back), wool half pad (1-inch thick, natural wool pad shaped to the horse's back with a mesh spine channel connecting the two wool side panels), and foam half pad (1 inch thick, foam pad shaped to the horse's back with a mesh spine connecting the two foam side panels). All half pads were placed on top of a cotton saddle cloth and were “tented” into the saddle gullet to provide wither clearance.

At the trot and canter, pressure under the front of the saddle was greatest when using gel half pads, but remained similar between the wool and foam half pads compared to the control. Pressure was reduced in the back half of the saddle when fitted with a wool half pad at the trot, and when fitted with either a wool or foam half pad at the canter compared to the control. Researchers observed that the gel half pads tended to shift and flatten over the withers during riding compared to the wool and foam half pads, which remained “tented” into the saddle gullet. They hypothesized that the change in position may have led to the increased pressure at the front of the saddle. The researchers concluded that wool and foam half pads could help reduce pressure towards the back of well-fitting saddles at the canter, however, riders should consult with a professional saddle fitter to discuss if different half pads are suitable on an individual horse and rider basis.

Read more at the Journal of Equine Veterinary Science.

The post Research Update: The Effect Of A Half Pad On Pressure Distribution appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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