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.
Read more at Stable Management.
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