>From the treeless saddle list: I'm sorry folks if this turns into another of my long postings but I wanted to carry on the recent discussion about saddle related soreness.
As an Equine massage therapist, I see much evidence of this. It's really refreshing to read from a saddle fitter (Barb) who truly understands the anatomy of the horse and doesn't see the "atrophied shelf" as a sign of a super fit horse! This happens so much here as so many saddle fitters do not understand the way the horse moves and how the muscles can be affected if there is restriction. In my own experience, soreness in the muscles can be from direct pressure but more so because they are compromised and unable to move as they were meant. Direct pressure will affect blood flow and if the muscles fibres are not fed effectivly, then they will deteriorate but the inability to use the muscles as necessary add to this wasting. For example, a horse that has what we call a "giraffe neck", i.e. carries his head high usually does this to either avoid an extreme bit and/or heavy hands or they are hollowing away from the pressure their saddle is exerting. The knock on effect of this leaves the longissimus and the sacro muscles under constant tension and if you tilt your own head back you will understand this feeling. Now imagine this under the weight of a rider and a restrictive saddle. Over time, the horse loses topline and if the saddle fit is really bad, the shape of the saddle panels will start to show in the back musculature and in the extreme will give a "shelf" as Barb described. The brachio muscle beneath the neck will get stronger whilst the splenius and both the cervical (in front of wither) and thoracic trapezius (behind the wither where hollows are seen) will weaken and work under tension. This contunes through the back and the horse starts to move much less efficiently with a choppy gait up front and difficulty to step through from behind. With all this, the horse has "narrowed" in his back and the current saddle is now too wide, so a narrower tree is fitted and the cycle continues. However, once the rider becomes enlightened and starts to look at saddling alternatives, it is when the ongoing problems are truly realised. Once you swap to a saddle such as a treeless that allows the horse to move correctly without restriction, time will be needed for the horses musculature to adjust and this many mean further soreness especially if too much is done too soon. For many, the improvement in their horses way of going can be almost immediate and it easy for the owner to overdo it because their horse is going so well. But if you imagine muscles that have been working under tension, they have been working in the shortened, contracted state. Once that pressure and tension have been removed, they are effectivly stretching whilst working for the first time. The muscles nearest the joints will be the worst effected and can be why loin soreness can continue because this is the junction point of where forward movement from behind has met restriction from the front. Because of this, we always recommend our own customers really take their time when introducing a new saddle, especially if going from treed to treeless and if the horse is really sore, time off before a new saddle is even better. Little and often is best, starting with a few minutes a day. Addressing your own riding ability is also a must - as many of you may have already found, treeless saddles show up your faults very quickly. Horses were not designed to carry weight and the horses back is afterall like a suspension bridge connecting the front and back legs so just adding the weight of the rider somewhere in between has the potential to give the horse a simple back ache without the complications of saddle fit. Helen Freeform UK _____________________________ Judy http://icehorses.net http://clickryder.com
