From: Kerry
Hi Jessica
Thank you so much for all your help.
My friend rides a 19 year old TB gelding called Star. He is an absolute angel and always does his best. He is fit and healthy and being ridden twice a week. The problem is that he has developed a saddle sore on his withers. He has very high withers and a slightly swayed back which makes it very difficult to keep the front of the saddle off of his withers. We have had the vet in who says that the saddle needs to be restuffed and that we need to do some excercises to build up the muscles in his back so that it will lift and reduse the pressure on the withers and also to not ride for a while. My friend plans to do this and Star's owners have made arrangements to restuff the saddle. Unfortunately my friend is not able to afford to buy a new "high pommel" saddle so we have to make do with what we have.
Do you agree with our vet's advice, because we're not sure if that will help and also are not sure how to do back strengthening excercises. We would like to give it a try so I would greatly appreciate it if you had any ideas on how to do this. We can't do any ridden exercises for at least a month so we would need to maybe do them from the ground and on the lunge. We have also been using a zinc oxide cream for the saddle sore. Do you have any other ideas. We really care about Star and would hate for the saddle sore to come back after it has healed. We really need a good long term solution, if there is one.
Thanks again Kerry P.S. My friend was riding Star in 2 thick saddle pads under her saddle before the sore developed, to try and counteract his swayed back. i know this is not really an answer but we don't know any other way. Should we continue to use them?
Saddle sores in the withers area can be very dangerous for horses, because it's a delicate area with very poor drainage; infected material tends to ooze back into the injury instead of draining out of it. Your vet gave you good advice. I should think that Star will probably need several months off, followed by very careful riding in a different saddle.
There are indeed exercises you can do to help Star lift his back. At 19, the amount of "drop" a horse shows in his back is partly breed (TBs tend to have high withers), partly family heredity (some horses have longer, weaker backs that drop more easily), but mostly it's a reflection of how the horse has been ridden. A horse that has been well-ridden will tend to have a higher back and better muscling than one that has been poorly ridden. A horse with a bad rider or an ill-fitting saddle will tend to drop its back in an attempt to get away from the source of discomfort. I mention this because the fact that Star's saddle has made a sore on his withers is very significant. Every situation has two sides.... it's certainly possible that Star's low back has contributed to the extra pressure on his withers and the creation of the sore, BUT it's even more likely that the poor saddle fit and the pain in his withers has caused him to drop his back!
Not that it matters terribly much, because in either case, the solution is the same.
First, stay OFF his back, keep saddles, pads, harnesses, etc. off his back, and treat the sore with whatever medication and treatment protocol the veterinarian recommends. I'm not sure why he would have suggested zinc oxide - you should probably ask him whether hot compresses and an antibacterial cream or ointment mightn't do more good. Your vet may have a particular product and/or course of treatment to recommend.In addition to medication, a month or two or three in a sunny field would be a great help. Sores like this are slow to heal - and very slow to heal completely; there will still be damage under the skin even after the skin has healed completely, which is why Star may well need several months off.
Second, help Star learn to lift his back again, by doing "belly lifts" with him. You can do these when he is standing in his stall, when you are grooming him, really at any time. You can do hundreds of them. He may not enjoy them at first, but he will come to like them in time, as they will allow him to stretch his back muscles. What you need to understand about a horse's back is that it can only lift, or stretch as much as the opposing muscles, those of the belly, can tense, or contract.
Humans have a similar problem - humans with weak backs are forever being told by their doctors that they must strengthen their belly muscles, because the health and longevity of the spine depends on strong abdominal muscles. Humans can (but usually don't) leave their doctor's office and return home to begin a regular exercise programme incorporating many sit-ups and more specialized abdominal crunches.
As you can imagine, it's worse for horses, because their spines are at the top of their bodies, and their very heavy organs and guts are all hanging off (and supported by) the spine. This alone is enough to cause a "sag" in some horses, particularly older ones with long backs, like Thoroughbreds. Then add another factor to that situation: Someone sitting on TOP of the spine. There's more weight - more pressure downward, this time from on top - and more reason to sag. Finally, put something acutely painful between the sitting person's weight and the horse's spine - such as a saddle that presses directly on the horse's withers - and you have a burning formula for an unhappy horse with saddle sores and a badly dropped back.
Fortunately, there is something you can do.
You can't teach Star to do sit-ups or crunches, but you can get him to DO crunches, horse-style, if you'll give him some help. Look in the HORSE-SENSE archives for more information on belly lifts.
Third, you are definitely going to have to do something about the saddle! Having it restuffed will help, especially if the saddler understands the situation and can add extra stuffing to the front of the panels. But if the saddle tree is simply too wide for Star, even extra stuffing will only take you so far. The problem with using extra saddle pads is that the saddle is still rubbing him, only with the pads in between. A saddle that sits too close to - or, heaven forbid, ON - the horse's spine is not sitting, as a saddle should, on wide thick pads of muscle. Instead, it is sitting - and putting great pressure - on an area where skin covers bone and nerve tissue. You can get an idea of how this feels by first putting some heavy, hard object on your thigh, and noticing how it feels - then putting the same item on your shin, where there is much less muscle and fat to protect it. Then, if you really want to understand Star, have someone SIT on the object! You'll quickly know how that sore developed.
A better-fitting saddle, once Star has healed, may be the only real answer to this problem. A good-quality new leather saddle may be too expensive, but consider the other saddle-purchase options:
1. A good-quality USED leather saddle that fits well 2. A good-quality synthetic saddle that fits well
You might also look into the Flair system, which can be added to an existing saddle and puts air bladders into the saddle panels. This lets you customize the fit to the horse on a ride-by-ride basis, but the saddle involved must already fit the horse reasonably well in terms of tree size and back profile. It's an interesting and useful system, but be warned: This will cost as much as a good-quality used leather saddle - and more than a good-quality synthetic saddle.
Using pads to improve saddle fit is not easy, and if the saddle is already too tight, adding pads will only make matters worse. Think of it this way: A couple of pairs of thick socks can improve the fit of shoes that are slightly too large for you, but if you try to walk in shoes that are too tight for you, adding a couple of pairs of thick socks will not make you more comfortable.
The least expensive option - again, assuming that you can find a saddle with a tree and profile that fit Star reasonably well - would be to purchase an Equi-Ride pad, which is a foam-and-air filled, deflatable pad that can help even out the saddle fit and lift the saddle a little higher off the horse's back, away from its withers. You'll find more information on these pads in the HORSE-SENSE archives.
Please be very patient with Star. This sort of injury is usually much more serious than it looks, and takes an extraordinarily long time to heal. It may heal on the surface without healing underneath. Stay in close touch with the veterinarian, and don't attempt to saddle or ride Star until you have official medical approval. If you use the time to help Star with belly lifts and quiet walk-trot work on the longe, he should be fitter, stronger, more supple, and better balanced when you can finally begin riding him again.
Good luck!
Jessica
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