Q.
Chelsie,
I have a horse that developed white hairs on both sides of his withers. This is in the area at the front of the saddle, front of the bars. I have read about and tried a built up pad. I talked to a local saddle shop. He advised cutting out the pad, in the area(away) of pressure. Eight year old quarter horse I have owned for three years. The white hairs showed up about two months age and have all but disappeared. This seems to have fixed the problem. I just think there is a better way, then a pad with two big holes.
Any Imput Thanks!!
-Frank P. from Old Fort, NC
A.
Hello Frank,
Thanks for the question. I want to just touch on a few things first.
Most saddles have a wood tree in them; the wood tree does not always fit our horses’ backs like they should. The tree can be too big, too narrow, or just not the shape of our horse’s backs.
What causes the white hairs is a pressure point from the tree that kills the hair follicles, sometimes permanently, so you are lucky that they went away.
By building up the pad you are trying to make the saddle fit the horse better. Most of the time building up the pad is a great answer and I am glad you looked into and tried it. I am not sure where you built up the pad, which can make a big difference. If you put the built up part to far forward you can cause too much of a pinching on the horses back and if you put it to far back you cause the saddle to push in even harder at the front. Where the built up part needs to sit is right behind the withers in the little hollow spot.
Why most saddles need to be built up is because most horses do not have the amount of muscle they need right in that hollow spot so the saddle pushes down on them there too much. Also, the tree in the saddles are not always made to be the best fit on a horses back and will pop up in the back and push down in the front. Saddle makers will make a saddle look like it fits the horse but if you know what to look for you can see where the tree sits on the horse and not what the saddle maker wants you to see.
Unfortunately most saddles do not fit horses and our poor horses have to put up with it because most people do not know what to do. Most horses need their saddle built up in the front.
You said you have had this horse for 3 years and just two months ago you started having the problem. I don’t know if you changed saddles , but if not, the reason why a horse can all the sudden have a saddle fit problem is because our horses backs are always changing, getting more muscle or losing muscle, so we need to always be looking and making sure our saddles fit our horses ever changing backs.
Here are some reasons cutting a hole is not the greatest answer:
Your saddle pad does not always fit in the same place every time you saddle, so will not always relieve pressure from where you need it.
Also cutting a hole does not offer your horse’s back any support in that spot and the saddle will just move its pressure somewhere else.
It can also irritate the muscle and hair around the hole and cause more problems than it is worth.
I would say the reason that you are seeing some success with this is because your saddle is too narrow for your horses back or is pushing down in the front and needs to be shimmed up. Sometimes changing to a thinner pad and then adding a little to the front of the pad will make a narrow saddle fit better. Most people think that it is the other way around and that adding more pad is the answer. I would love to see a picture of how the saddle sits on your horse without a pad under it so that I can make a more educated decision, if you can take a few pictures and email them to me I would love to see them.
Also, where exactly, are the white spots? If they are in the hollow behind the wither all the above applies. But if they are on the top of the withers then this means that your horse has too high of withers for your saddle and that your saddle is sitting down on your horse’s withers.
I think you need to look into getting another saddle that will fit your horse better. I know that is not what most people want to hear but sometimes there are saddles that will just not fit a horse’s back even with some help. When I see the pictures I can tell you better, and if you need to get a new saddle I can help you know how to shop for one that is going to fit your horse better.
When you send me pictures could you include ones of your horses back with no saddle, with saddle no pad, and with saddle and pad. Profile shots are best. I look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you,
Chelsie Kallestad
