Girth or saddle issue? Take your pick.
Breezy may have a saddle or girth issue with her dressage saddle.
Breezy and Andromeda have bodywork done every month and they are also seen by a chiropractor every 3 months. For the past few sessions, my bodywork specialist has noticed some issues on Breezy’s back, withers, and girthing area that might be related to saddle fit. She has mentioned this several times.
After I got back from the UK in October, I noticed that Breezy’s front left foot was growing in a different shape. It looked flared on the outside and upright on the inside. She was also consistently tripping at the trot and canter. She was only a few days away from the farrier appointment, so I stayed off of her until then.
The farrier had us look at Breezy from behind and above–which clearly showed that her front left shoulder was more muscled than her front right. She’d been using it more for some reason. We thought at first that maybe it was related to the back right, because leg issues tend to be diagonal on horses. Breezy has moved a little weird on her back right when picking up the canter. She doesn’t flex that leg as much as the other. She’s not lame at all; perfectly sound. (Later we discovered that she had a bone chip in her front left.)
Breezy’s chiropractor found a bunch of stuff during the October visit, but she did not think it was related to saddle fit at that time. After the late November visit, our chiropractor thought that the issues she found might be related to the saddle or the girth. My chiropractor found a few things, including a soft tissue issue related to old scar tissue/injury underneath Breezy’s front left leg (armpit area). She thought that the larger muscling on Breezy’s left shoulder was caused by Breezy trying to move in a way that was more comfortable. My chiropractor suggested using the Wintec straight girth instead of the shaped Total Shoulder Relief girth.
There are a bunch of other things going on, so there is no one clear indicator you can point to and say “This is what is causing it.” It’s not a clear saddle or girth issue. It could be a contributing factor to the overall picture.
Because there is a chance that things might be related to saddle or girth, I’ve started exploring saddle options. I’m not actively looking for another saddle. If these issues persist, I want to know what type of saddle Breezy might need and what girth options are out there.
Exploration time!
Current saddle: Dynamic Dressage
I use a Dynamic Equilibrium Dressage saddle made by Dynamic Saddles International (not to be confused with the other saddles of the same name made by other companies). This saddle has a polymer tree that conforms to the horse’s back during the first 5-10 minutes of your ride. Because the tree is polymer, there are no tree points to get in the horses way.
I’m a big believer in this saddle. I have video of Kasane being ridden in her other saddles versus this one. There was an immediate, huge difference in how she moved in the Dynamic saddle.
One of the tell-tale signs of an ill-fitting saddle is poor back and topline development. Breezy has never had that. She has a gorgeous back.
Saddle exploration
We had the saddle fitting last Saturday. Breezy is so funny. You can immediately tell if she doesn’t like a saddle because she makes faces. The first saddle we tried was the Wow saddle. (Wow saddles are modular, so any part–panels, flaps, seat, gullet plate–can be replaced or modified.) It looks weird on the rack, but it was actually pretty comfortable to sit in.
When we tried it on Breezy, she had her ears back, bit the lead rope, and was like “heck no!” She didn’t stop complaining until we took it off of her. So funny. On a technical note, my saddle fitter said that the saddle in its current configuration did not fit Breezy. The seat would have put me sitting too far back over her ribs and the tree width did not fit her. The saddle fitter didn’t even think it would have been okay to do a test ride in.
The next saddles we tried were the 34cm and 36cm Duett Fidelio. The 34cm tree was too snug but the 36cm was probably the best one we tried. Breezy didn’t make faces when we tried it on her. The test ride was interesting in the Duett (has the socks over the stirrup leathers) because the saddle felt like it provided no support for me and I felt removed from her back. Like there was a bunch of stuff between the seat and what I should be feeling. The consensus was that the Duettt might work in a smaller seat size and a 36cm tree.
The last saddle I tried was a Cavaletti dressage saddle (my saddle fitter’s personal saddle). It was interesting to try and felt like a serviceable saddle. Breezy seemed okay in it. Even though it felt like a closer connection than riding in the Duett, the seat was like riding on a board and hit my hip bones in not quite the right spot.
This is all so interesting to see how these saddles fit and how Breezy responds to them. Hopefully, we won’t need to change saddles but maybe just make an adjustment or two to what we’re using.
However, it’s good to be aware of options and learn more about saddles.