Uneven muscle development and saddles

[racipaci]

Dave is a lot weaker on the left side of his body than the right. Consequently his muscles are a lot less developed although he is slowly beginning to even out with lots of exercises.

The problem is due to the imbalance and partially due to the way he moves to avoid bending round my leg, his saddle is sitting to the left, even the dressage judge yesterday picked up on it! :o

Where it is slipping it is exerting a bit more pressure on the left side and is is slightly sore, the physio has done all she can to it and the saddle fitter has stuffed the left side more but it is still slipping.

So what do I do when the saddle is fitted as best as it is ever going to fit?I'm hopefully getting a new saddle for my birthday next month but any saddle is still going to sit the same due to his shape!

So any solutions, I ride in a prolite pad to try and reduce the pressure which has helped a bit and he's not extremely sore but I feel it is affecting how he moves and feels!

Any ideas?? :D

[Yann]

One way would be to use a Korrector Pad which is basically a 4 chamber air bag, they are expensive and fiddly but allow you to get everything bang level and adjust to keep it that way as the muscle recovers.

You could always just use some folded fybagee under that half of the saddle and again remove it bit by bit as he recovers.

Another option would be to try a Suber pad, I've just bought one and am quite enthusiastic about it, it works in a similar way to a bean bag and moulds to the shape of the back and I'd imagine you might be able to adjust the filling to allow for lateral differences.

Rio also has some differences between each side of her back, but nothing serious enough to have a noticeable effect on rider straightness.

[racipaci]

Thanks Yann, I did have a look at the Korrector pad earlier and if that's the only solution I will get one but as you say they are pretty expensive :eek:

A friend did suggest Fybagee which does seem like the best solution at the moment but I haven't heard of the Suber pad so I'll definitely look into that........more money :rolleyes: :mad:

[Yann]

Yep:) The link if you're interested is http://www.davidahnequine.co.uk/ and they're £65.00.

[racipaci]

I've just had a look and they do sound good but I'm unsure how it would work to compensate for his lack of muscle on the left, would it automatically fill more to the left?

Think I'll e-mail them and enquire..they sound so comfy! :)

Edit...maybe not, there's no e-mail address! :o

[kayjayhorses]

I find synthetic saddles would be better in this situation. I have a horse that has muscle loss on one side just near his withers, he has a synthetic saddle and as it moulds to the horse quickly unlike leather, it has moulded to his shape and I dont have an issue with it sliding to one side, even the back lady has seen an improvement where before the saddle would slip and finally rest at a place that it couldn't slip anymore, then that area would become sore.

[Yann]

Racipaci, ring up and ask David Ahn about it, he's not on email as you say but is a lovely bloke and very helpful.

At the very least the filling on the low side won't squish as much as that on the high side, I'll try and think on to check whether it's possible to load one side more than the other or not with filling on mine.

[kedwards]

From my own experience, I'd also suggest you have your instructor (or another bystander) look carefully at your position to ensure that you haven't gotten into the habit of riding a little unevenly to compensate.

I did this for a very long time and it went completely unnoticed by me and my old instructor. I only realized the problem when I started with someone new. It became a very ingrained habit and I'm still working on trying to even myself out.

[Funky MeerKAT]

It is unlikely that the saddle it just slipping on its own, you probably have a crookedness that is making is slip. Everyone is crooked in some way, when I went thru my growth spurt I rode with my right foot about 4 inches lower that my left foot and I couldn't even feel it!! my saddle slipped terribly.

I would not advise having uneven packing in your saddle as this will only hide the problem, not fix it and it is not good for the muscle development on your horse.

You should try taking your stirrups away and doing about 20 mins normal work and then have a look at your saddle. Without stirrups you will have to sit square on the horse, so if it is you pushing the saddle over, it shouldn't happen without stirrups. If it still slips it is probably your horse pushing the saddle over. In which case you will just have to keep working on getting him built up more evenly. Lunge work, making sure that both sides get worked very evenly should help him too.

Have you tried any other saddles at all to see if it makes a difference?

[Yann]

It's not a saddle slipping problem, it's an uneven back problem, if the saddle isn't sitting level because the horse isn't the saddle needs to be levelled up, or what the rider does will be irrelevant. I'd agree about uneven saddle panels though, I'd want them to be identical and make up the difference externally.

The filling in my Suber pad is in two halves, so can't all migrate to one side. I'd still think it would be worth investigating as an option though.

[racipaci]

Thanks for your comments and I do understand that my position could be a possible cause of the saddle slipping, however as Yann say's it's definitely an uneven back problem, the physio has commented on it and he will build up the muscle slowly but if you have an uneven horse the saddle will automatically sit unevenly on it so I need some kind of false padding to make up for the difference.

However I am aware that where he is stiff on the left side he pushes into me and tries to force my weight off his back so I do always check that I am sitting as square as possible.

You can feel the saddle sits to the left as soon as you sit on it. I haven't tried any other saddles as he's so difficult to fit to and I've spent ages getting him a saddle that fits I wouldn't want to try another one which I hadn't had fitted. :D

Yann: will call David and see what he say's if nothing else it might alleviate some of the pressure and he does have quite a sensitive back so anything that helps is worth looking at.

[kedwards]

Hi Racipaci, my saddler and chiro had the saddle fitted to my horse's back, which included padding it slightly more on one side to compensate for his uneven musculature. I have the saddler out on a regular-enough basis that it can continue to be adjusted as he evens out.

I mentioned checking your own seat not as a cause of the slipping, but as an additional thing to be cautious of when riding an uneven horse. However, it sounds like you are already well-aware of this possibility and checking on yourself regularly.

Best of luck!

[racipaci]

Hi kedwards - sorry I don't think my posting came out quite the way it was meant to - I do think you're right in that where he is uneven and weak he braces against my inside leg, I think this then forces me off my seat bone and exaggerates the problem so you were definitely correct in what you were saying about my position not helping... :(

However, i tried the fybagee last night and what a difference it made :D i felt squarer in the saddle and he was 100% happier, there was no tail swishing or shuffling steps and when I took the saddle off his back muscle was still all soft and relaxed! :D

I'm so pleased, as is Dave so thankyou all very much for your suggestions!

Rachel.

P.S. Fybagee is definitely not the most stylish of accessories! ;)