My horse seems to have gotten more cold backed as he’s gotten older (he’s 17). You can get right on in warm weather. However, once it starts to get cold, if you get right on he won’t walk nicely. He resorts to jigging and scooting. On a good day, he’ll settle after 10 minutes or so. 10/15 minutes on the line also solves the problem, but I hate to lunge him every ride. So I’ve been considering a BOT type quarter sheet. I’d be interested if anyone has any experience with them beforeI spend my money.
I bought BOT saddle pads and the quarter sheet for my older gelding. They definitely helped shorten our warm up but also make sure your saddle fits as well.
I have a BOT mesh sheet and hock boots. Bravo wears them for 30-45 minutes before I ride. It helps a lot. I also use a BOT saddle pad, but jsut for schooling.
Both me and the horses I ride LOVE the BOT quarter sheets I use. Recently I was moved to a bigger lesson horse and I could only find a ceramic quarter sheet from Smart Pak, (Smart Therapy) and that seems to work as well as the BOT one.
I ride older horses (late twenties) who tend to be arthritic and stiff. The difference in their movements when they wear the quarter sheets is quite amazing. Right now I use a BOT saddle pad or a Fenwick Western saddle pad (which extends over the loin),BOT exercise boots and a BOT neck piece as well as the quarter sheet. If I do not use these it takes me half my ride to warm up the horse enough for decent movement, with them I can just get on and have a decent ride.
A BOT sheet for as long as I could manage before grooming, and then a BOT saddle pad, helped my big WB in noticeable ways.
Looking back, I would have probably blanketed him a bit more, so if you don’t blanket yours, consider doing that, or blanketing a bit heavier and/or warmer than you are currently, and see if that helps.
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Thanks. He’s a tough horse to blanket because he runs hot and tends to sweat if overblanketed. Usually if everyone in the barn is wearing 200 gram he’s wearing a sheet or a 100, LOL. But I might try more now that he’s older.
Yeah, sometimes their metabolic status can change, and just me noticing things, 15 seems to be that tipping point for a lot of horses.
