>>>> I thought Tivar's white spots, almost perfect rectangles,. were old >>>> things. But now when I ride Trausti I see the rubbing in his hair >>>> there.
Uhm, Janice, WHAT rectangles? I just looked at Tivar's back, and I don't see any rectangles. There are two tiny patches right on his spine - maybe 6-10 white hairs each, but that's it. Don't I remember that he had them when he came here two years ago, before you ever got him? I think he did. I know that he had an unfortunate accident long before I got him with a trainer and a broken saddle tree - one of his first known bucking episodes, if I remember right. Honestly, that was the first thing I noticed about Tivar when he got here. His back is in great shape - no atrophy from either saddle fit or from his old "tolt posture." I know he'd been ridden in a treeless saddle for a long time even before I got him, but he would still go into that dreaded "tolt frame" whenever he'd get tense, way back then. He had some atrophy when I got him - not from the saddle, but from the posture he held himself in, but what was likely learned from the "tolt training" he had. I don't think I'd "blame" you (or the Sensations) for the shape Tivar's back is in...I might give you some credit, but no blame. BTW, two-year-old Tifa has more white hairs in her saddle area than Tivar has...and she's never had a saddle on her back. It's great that people care enough to worry about saddle-fit and white hairs, but not EVERY white hair comes from a bad saddle, and sometimes it takes years for the white hairs to show up. Karen Thomas, NC
