Saddle pad strategy for the almost-sway-backed horse?

[rhymeswithfizz]

I’m bringing my older schoolmaster out of retirement to teach my kiddo his tricks. He had been mostly retired for a while after being plagued by injuries, and then I had “officially” retired him a year or so ago after yet another injury, but the vet says he looks oddly fantastic now, and there’s no reason he can’t have a nice little job toting a kid around. They had their first ride this week and it is an excellent match – they looked fabulous, had fun, and they are both extremely pleased with themselves.

But, unfortunately what was already a challenging saddle fit with an absolutely giant TB wither has now become even worse… his back is quite hollow, and perhaps showing the beginnings of a sway back, as he has lost his top line after being out of work for so long.

Suggestions for padding him up?? I have seen those “sway back” pads that says they are 1.5" in the middle to 0.75" at the edges, and that is laughable, that isn’t even close to what he needs. I played around with sheepskin and wool half pads (or both)and they were just OK, but still not great long term. We need major filler to get the saddle above his withers.

I’ll have to see if I can get some pictures. In the meantime, imagine the biggest TB withers you have ever seen, and then scoop away about two more inches of back muscle from behind them.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Experience riding the slightly swaybacked horse?

[Laurierace]

Not sure what to do about the withers part but I took a lift back pad and cut the lift parts out and stuffed them into the back of the Mattes correction pad. I stuffed the front with the shims they included with the purchase. Recently I saw a correction pad that came with six pockets so you could shim the middle as well. I can’t remember what brand that was.

[poltroon]

The six pocket pad is Total Saddle Fit. I’ve been looking into it as well, would love to see what the shims look like and get a better sense of how the six pockets work.

The Mattes has four pockets, which seems exactly wrong for a horse you want to shim in the middle.

Someone lent me this kit of shims:

http://www.parellisaddles.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=A-NH-SHIM

Yes, Parelli, I’m sorry. But the center Therafoam pads seemed to work really well for my daughter’s older and curvy Arab. I’m not sure if there’s anything else out there similar. I’m probably going to buy the pair of center shims, which I am using in conjunction with a lift-back pad for the horse in question.

These shims are sold for a pad that has one giant pocket so you can adjust the shims exactly as you want in terms of front to back, and overlap them, etc.

[Mango20]

I made my own pad for the elderly pony who taught my kid to ride. He had sharp withers with hollows behind them. I didn’t want lots of padding on the withers but needed to fill in the hollows. I cut pieces of firm carpet padding (because I had some) then made multiple trips to the barn to cut to the exact right shape, layer, etc. Then I taped them together on the pony’s back so I could sew a covering which would keep the shape. I think I used an old pillowcase or something, so it was only the thickness of the case over the withers, but the pockets of padding hung on either side. I’d put this between a regular saddle pad and the saddle. I have no real sewing skills or anything, so this is not something you need to be an expert to do.

[LookmaNohands]

I use a Cloud Nine pad with a center shim for my 31 year old.

I also use TTouch with lots of back lifts to help his posture. At his age it is hard to keep that back up. He really likes the Cloud Nine. I find it comfy too!

[JB]

Go to www.balanceinternational.com and look at their method of shimming the dropped back. That’s what I would do.

[CatPS]

He might need a new saddle I feel your pain… I’ve got a 23yo shark-finned TB with a “curvy” back. (ie - he’s starting to sway) A Mattes pad is great to fill in the spots where his back is bony or hollow but a curvy-treed, high-headed, fully gusseted saddle is a must have for him.

[FraggleRock]

Thorowgood hi wither saddle was the only thing I could get to fit (and give extra clearance!) my older shark finn withered TB

[rhymeswithfizz]

[QUOTE=CatPS;8257933]
He might need a new saddle I feel your pain… I’ve got a 23yo shark-finned TB with a “curvy” back. (ie - he’s starting to sway) A Mattes pad is great to fill in the spots where his back is bony or hollow but a curvy-treed, high-headed, fully gusseted saddle is a must have for him.[/QUOTE]

What saddle are you using? Not sure I could invest in a different saddle that may only get a handful of rides with my kiddo, but I’m interested to hear what you found that works. We will be using a 15.5" Stubben Siegfried which is rather curvy and relatively generous in the gullet, but we will still have to pad the heck out of it. I can’t use a narrower tree, because he still has a pretty good spring to his barrel and ribcage, and a great big shoulder.

Thanks all for the excellent suggestions and ideas – I hadn’t even thought about making a pad ourselves, but that might do the trick.

I am thinking something wool, that acts like added flocking, so that it doesn’t compress too much. I may need a good 2-3" of shim thickness in some of the worst spots (that is, 3" when compressed) since we have about 8-9" of height difference between ginormous shark wither and back.

[Frog_Pond]

I ride my older Standardbred in a Barefoot London treeless dressage saddle with a Skito equalizer pad. He’s got the same thing going on that you describe – shark fin withers, a topline that isn’t well muscled right now. He’s comfortable in it, and so am I. It’s my only experience with treeless, so I can’t recommend another style that would work well for you child, but, I’m sure if you start investigating you’ll turn something up.

[SaddlebredHunter]

I completely recommend the wool. My Saddlebred has a swayed back and high withers. Currently I use a gel pad by Acavallo that I ordered from the Uk for my horses back sensitivity, but for the added padding that doesn’t compress I recommend wool. I got my wool half pad from the Dover store. Sadly, they don’t sell it online. The closest thing they have is a Mattes wool correction pad.

[BilyandJack]

I use a thinline on my shark fined and no top line tb. You can get shims and put them in the middle of the pad if nessasary. Maybe try a back riser pad too?

[IndyEquestrian]

My giant withered Trakhener (the opposite of what he should be) went really well with one of the ECP correction pads with the gel and the Memory Foam. Once he finished his “career” and retired to just carry my mom around occasionally, he needed a ton of help, even with “his” saddle. He is now 30 and even more sway backed, but I have still tossed the half pad on him (shimmed to the max) and gone for a wander around. He seems pretty comfortable!

[red_mares]

Check out the saddlebred focused tack shops - World Champion, Terry Bennett, Show Horse Tack, Fennell’s or P&S. All have an online store. Thanks to Al Ruxer there are a lot of sway backed saddlebreds out there, so these places generally have “low back” pads.

[PNW_AMTS_Dealer]

Skito has a pretty good shimming system for those oldsters with dropped backs.
http://www.skito.net/Products.html

[Watermark_Farm]

Years ago I saw an article where they used carpet padding and crazy glue to create a ‘custom’ pad for a dipped back horse. I tried it and it worked very well! I wish I could find a copy of the article. Basically what you do is start with the lowest point and cut a piece of dense carpet padding to fit. Then cut another piece of carpet pad to sit over that. Glue them together as you go, until you have built up the depression to be level with the rest of the back. Basically you are building an upside-down mountain that fits into your horse’s dips. Over the whole thing you lay one last larger layer of pad.

Use this ‘custom’ pad over a cotton square pad. I topped the whole thing with a second thin square pad so the carpet padding would not show.

[CatPS]

[QUOTE=rhymeswithfizz;8258338]
What saddle are you using? Not sure I could invest in a different saddle that may only get a handful of rides with my kiddo, but I’m interested to hear what you found that works.[/QUOTE]

I ended up with a Kent & Masters hi-wither dressage. It’s one of the very few saddles I’ve put on him that doesn’t bridge at all… and I’ve tossed a LOT of different saddles up on that back in our search for a good fit!

[Mistral]

I’ve had a lot of luck with a Beval Wool Wither relief pad. Just tons of bulk which is sometimes needed. Everything else compresses too much on the older horse I think. Mattes, Ogilvy, I have them all.

I am also very interested in the TSF correction pads as well, though. I find them very reasonably priced compared to some of the others as well.

[CustomDesign]

I have a 20 year old shire/Morgan cross with big withers, a curvy back (getting curvier every year), and big shoulders. I have a Pessoa Legacy saddle (an older one before the adjustable tree) that fits her back shape very well. To lift it up a bit so it doesn’t sit on her withers I use a cotton Thinline trifecta half pad and I made custom shims for it by cutting up a wool felt western saddle pad. First I cut pieces to fit perfectly inside the half pad, and then I took it to the barn and drew with chalk on the pad a line around her giant shoulder and cut that part out. So now the shims look half-pad shaped but with scoops cut out on the bottom front. I think it does a good job of keeping the saddle off her wither but also not pinching her shoulder. It sounds like you would need thicker padding than what I used, but you can get wool felt in a variety of thicknesses, or you could layer it. I could get pics of my setup if you’d like!

[The_Blood_Bay_Mare]

I have the Total Saddle Fit six-pocket sheepskin pad with wither freedom. It’s expensive ($190), but really really nice and was extremely helpful for my sharky mare. Then I got her a Thorowgood high wither saddle because the pad still wasn’t getting us quite enough wither clearance. She’s only 8, but her withers are huge and the Thorowgood clears them easily even when I’ve been riding for an hour. You might look into a T4 if you’re looking for a non-pad solution and not set on leather.