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This is just a stab in the dark..but sometimes a saddle will have a broken
tree that can't be seen by just a visual examination. Sometimes the tree will
be broken in such a way that a portion of it extrudes from the body of the
saddle (and into the body of the horse) only when there's weight on it. Do a
very close check of the material lining the panels..you are checking for
holes, foreign objects imbedded in the lining or poking out, anything that
shouldn't be there. Press firmly on it with your fingers..if you get stuck by
something, you have found the evil little thing that is causing your horses
problems.
To check to see if your saddle's tree (if it has one!) is still sound,
place the saddle on its side and try to push the upper flap towards the lower
one. If you can do this without effort, the tree is broken.
You also may want to check to see if the gullet of the saddle is clearing
the horse's spine. A good gullet width is three inches from front to back.
Some saddles seem to have a narrowing of the gullet in the center of the
saddle. If the gullet is pinching the horse's spine anywhere along it's
length she's going to have problems.
If it's not the saddle, and the vet can't find anything wrong with the horse,
then switch saddle pads..it's not worth the health of the horse to keep a
pad that
causes problems!
Michelle
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