New girth success. But odd behaviour, any ideas?

[Jane&Ziggy]

I put the saddle on Sid with the new Stübben girth. He seemed to like it, in that he only put his ears back and pointed at me once in all the time I did it up. It felt soft and very secure.

The numnah is too small. Anyone want a new turquoise numnah which is too small for a massively wide 15hh cob?



We did a bit of mounting block practice and he was ever so good. So I led him to the gate to practice with our steps. He was not so good, so we did a fair bit of repositioning until he stood quiet. Then I got on.

I thought I would reward him by just riding him back to his field (about 100m!). He rushed, very unlike him, and about halfway there I thought he stumbled behind, but then it happened again and I realised he was either kicking out or doing little nano-bucks. I gave him a kick on and tried ignoring it but he upped the frequency to every stride, which was annoying, so I made him back up each time he did it. After 2 back ups he stopped bucking.

I rode him back to the gate to try again and on the way to the gate he was calm, relaxed, ears forward. On the way back he behaved himself, but was definitely tenser. His back dropped.

Now I don't think this was the girth, because when I unsaddled him he didn't try to scratch his girth area for the first time ever. It might have been:

• numnah too small and uncomfortable;
• saddle not right (although it has just been fitted); or even possibly
• looking forward to going out and cross that we didn't.

If discomfort, why did he not display any bad behaviour on the way out to the gate, either time?

In any case I am not going to hack him out in his saddle until my RI has seen it and seen me ride on it, just in case the saddler got something wrong. I wasn't bothered by the nano bucks and I'm pleased that backing him up did the trick (and also that he is well behaved enough to stop and back up when he is complaining about something) but I am puzzled. Very interested in your views!

 

[Jessey]

Were there any flies around his manhood? If they swipe up with a hind leg to shift them that hip hitch can feel odd, and sometimes they can do it repeatedly as they walk

 

[carthorse]

Is the saddlecloth too small? I can't see a problem with it other than the front needs pulling up into the saddle (and probably all along the gullet too). The one thing I do notice in that pic is that your girth buckle isn't on the saddle, do you think it could have pinched him?

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

Is the saddlecloth too small? I can't see a problem with it other than the front needs pulling up into the saddle (and probably all along the gullet too). The one thing I do notice in that pic is that your girth buckle isn't on the saddle, do you think it could have pinched him?

See, this is why I love the forum. I am widely known to be an intelligent person, but when it comes to tack, I am a dork. Yes OF COURSE I should have pulled up the numnah, I had forgotten entirely about that. And yes, you're right, the buckle does look not on the saddle and that might have bothered him. I didn't (and almost certainly wouldn't) notice.

Were there any flies around his manhood? If they swipe up with a hind leg to shift them that hip hitch can feel odd, and sometimes they can do it repeatedly as they walk

No flies that I could see, and this didn't feel like a fly kick to me. It felt like deliberate (if rude) communication - "you're not paying attention so I am going to do this harder AND HARDER". I don't want to ignore him, even though I shut him up.

 

[domane]

I'm going to play devil's advocate here and suggest having him scoped for ulcers. (sorry)

 

[Doodle92]

I also noticed the saddle cloth. My first plan would be to pull it up next time and see what happens. It can get so tight I’m sure it can hurt.

If not I agree with the ulcer check. Robin would be different horse in the same ride depending on what we were doing and would flip from switched off to you are about to be ditched. I could also tell him to shut up and he would because he is a nice boy.

 

[Huggy]

I'd tentatively go with saddlecloth too - I have to treble check my numnah is pulled up before riding, as Hogan hates anything flat on his back. I'd suggest a numnah, rather than a saddle cloth, as they tend to stay up better, through the gullet of the saddle, or at least that's what I've found.