Re: sweating, dry spots & saddle fit

["Dolores Arste" <darste@emi.com>]

I can tell you this. I had the same thing happen and have a permanent white
spot. That spot does not sweat even when he sweats up running in the
pasture.

Dolores
Braken Schips / Entwood Racing Siberians - Morgans Too!
"Authority without domination, Love without subservience, Respect without
fear"
-----Original Message-----
From: Glenda R. Snodgrass <grs@theneteffect.com>
To: Ridecamp <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Date: Sunday, August 02, 1998 5:52 PM
Subject: sweating, dry spots & saddle fit


>Question:  when damaged spots appear on a horse's withers from an
>ill-fitting saddle, do those areas stop sweating normally?  Forever, or
>just for awhile, or not at all?
>
>Just beginning to appear on Lakota's back are a couple of spots on the
>withers with white hairs and thick, whitish, callous-y looking skin,
>which I am assuming are damage marks from the saddle I was using this past
>winter, which I quit using in March when I realized it didn't fit him
>well enough for the longer distances we were beginning to ride.
>
>I bought a used Stonewall in May, which I really like, and which I thought
>fit Lakota fairly well (for interim use, at least), once I shimmed the
>front with some rubber padding.  However, I have noticed recently that
>when I ride him only lightly, there are dry-ish spots on the withers,
>whereas when I ride him to a really good sweat, there are no dry spots at
>all.  I was trying to figure out whether this meant that this saddle was
>causing only slight pressure on those spots, not enough to prevent
>sweating entirely, or whether a heavy sweat would simply run into the dry
>spots and get them wet too.  Then these damage marks began to appear a
>few days ago, in the same spot the dry-ish spots appear under the new
>saddle, and it made me wonder whether the sweat glands in those spots are
>damaged so that they won't sweat now regardless of saddle pressure.  Is
>that possible?  Will he have dry marks on that area forever?  There is
>visibly less sweat in that area even riding with just a bareback pad.
>
>I do plan to get him another saddle, one that does fit him well, but they
>don't appear overnight, and I'd like to know whether I need to just lay
>off riding him until I can get the perfect-fit saddle.  I don't want to
>do even more damage than I have already -- but I don't want him to get
>bored and lose conditioning just standing around in the pasture.
>
>Glenda & Lakota
>Mobile, AL
>AERC # M18819 & H27310
>SE Region
>
>
>