Tuesday 30 August 2011

A Minor Set Back


I have had to stop riding Niko as recently his saddle has been rubbing him I tried him in a different more padded numnah but still no good, so I’ll be getting this funny little thing ugly I know but it is only going under the saddle anyway, it’s been designed for horses with high withers or a poor top line, Niko has both high withers and sadly a poor top line too due to my incompetence in the saddle I am unable to get him working from behind and so have a lot of difficulty building his top line, anyway I am hopeful this will do the trick and stop the rubbing as there is very little point in getting a new saddle know as I now he isn’t going to be staying this shape for long.

In other news I am having another lesson tomorrow so I am hopeful that all will go well, I will let you all know how it went in my next post.


7 comments:

juliette said...

I may have to get one too - Foggy has high withers and a poor top line as well. No saddle on him as of yet because of it - only bareback, but the north winter winds are going to require a saddle.

Hope your lesson goes well.

RDA Pony Tales said...

A couple of the horses in the yard have these foam pads under the saddle and they seem to work ok. Don't worry Edward, if you continue with your lessons then I am sure the instructor will give you good exercises to get you working Niko from behind. Don't forget to work on your own fitness too, it is hard work making a horse work!
Most of all... have fun! :) Abby

Sherri B. said...

Oh, poor Niko, but I just bet he will like the new thing to help out. - Good luck with your lesson, I'm sure it will go well, looking forward to your report.

allhorsestuff said...

Darn it, high withered horses, top line or not, are difficult to fit...I know!
So, by the sounds of it, you must stop riding in the winters?
How far away are your lessons?

I actually used one of those foam correction riser, last time I rode.mine's white and even, no back bumpers, Like yours. Unfortunately sometimes if the saddle is already tight enough or wide enough to touch and rub( in my experience) more padding sometimes just makes even less room there instead of.raising the saddle.

Hope that works for you Edward. I'm going to try my sheepskin half pad next.

Sand. said...

: ) Yay! We're all in the same boat! Toplines and withers, be the death of all of our saddles!

AC Quigley said...

I've always used a foam protector under my saddle to avoid rubbing, I hope yours works for both of you. Enjoy your class!
Andrea

Edward said...

Thank you all for stopping by and leaving a comment.

Juliette, I think the saddle pad is a good idea just while the horse is changing shape and building top line, I will do a post about how I get on with the pad maybe it will help you to decide if you want to buy one.

Abby, I think I am going to get on well if I just keep having lessons and hopefully I will be able to have Niko working nicely soon, I don’t think I need to worry too much about my own fitness I am 17 and bordering on a six pack despite my skinny looking build, but I do have to worry about my breathing, but yes I know it’s very hard work I don’t think I have had such a hard time riding since I first started.

Sherri, thanks I hope the pad will help, I have done a post now about how the lesson went so you can check it out if you like.

KK, yeah looks like you were right all that time ago when you thought Niko had rub marks on his withers and I said it was freeze marks, I was wrong. No I hope I will have Niko ok by winter so I will be able to ride or at least that’s the plan anyway, not too far about 10 miles or so. Sheepskin half pad sound good I really like the look of sheepskin on horses very stylish.

Sand, yes sadly very true, I have been wondering about a treeless saddle as we have so many horses it would probably be quite useful.

Andrea, well it’s good to know that quite a few other people get on well with saddle pads I just hope I can be one of those people.