Tight/sore pectoral muscles and girths?

[J-Lu]

Hi all,

Background: About a year ago I purchased a new to me Schleese Obrigado saddle that has been fit to my horse and me twice. About 8 years ago when Sir SpooksAlot was 4ish, I had a saddle fitter out and she recommended a Fairfax girth to prevent the saddle from moving forward and recommended a 28 narrow. He had well-sprung ribs and narrow shoulders. At that time, Sir SpooksAlot was a body score of 5.5 on a good day and we were pumping calories into him. The girth worked well.

Today: Horse is 13, body score of 7 (pretty much everyone who lives on the farm is fat due to the well-managed pastures). He only eats balancer. Large shoulders but larger ribs. My vet was out to give fall vaccines and I had her do bodywork (she’s certified in Chiro and Acupuncture). I told her to whatever she thought he needed. She did chiro (she did it before on him). Basically, she said he’s one of the loosest dressage horses that she has worked on and she adjusted his poll, L5, and worked on pelvis. All in all, she said, not a big deal for horses in work, he was pretty great for the level of work and he was a very willing participant.

The issue: The problematic-ish finding was that his pectoral muscles were a bit uneven but very tight with a bit of edema. I rode before the exam. The issue seemed local. He had collimated long-wavelength light therapy on the pecs. She had me feel what she was feeling. After the chiro work, I put his saddle on with the Fairfax girth tightened to the holes I ride in. (Funny horse, he totally licked, chewed and dropped his penis during this). My vet checked the tightness, position of the girth and said it seemed OK but she couldn’t think of anything else than the girth that would irritate the pectoral muscles, esp. given that the rest of him seemed so good. She wondered about the lack of elasticity in the Fairfax girth. She showed me stretching exercises that he seemed to be “into”.

Questions for COTH:

1. Has anyone else experienced super-tight pectoral muscles? How did you treat it?

2. Is there an anatomical girth like the Fairfax that has elasticity in it?

3. What is your collective opinion of girths with no elasticity? I’ve always ridden in girths with some elasticity before the Fairfax.

Thanks!! I look forward to any opinion about the situation. Oh, horse lives outside 24/7 in his own pasture and shares a run-in with his buddy. Has buddies on the other side of his pasture. While raised in a half-time stall, he’s really not a fan of stalls. All horses have a dedicated stall in inclement weather where he’s at.

[yaya]

No experience with super tight pecs, but I use this stretch anatomical girth.

StretchTec Shoulder Relief Girth™ - English

[J-Lu]

Thank you!!! This a girth super interesting.

[Scribbler]

My mare had super tight rock hard pectorals when I started with her. She was green. They loosened up over time with stretches and lateral work.

[Sue_B]

Long time ago I had a horse who pulled/strained/possibly tore one of his pecs while dinking around in a muddy turnout. Could something like that have happened. he wasn’t obviously lame, nor did he object to being girthed up, but the pec was swollen and warm. Took a few weeks to fully recover. I rode him lightly so he wouldn’t do more damage from not getting exercise, in straight lines, large circles and no lateral work. Healed up great.

[Guyot]

Really like both the stubben equisoft girth but have two super sensitive types, one of which gets very sore in the girth area, go in the prestige sternum relief girth or the donut girth as we call it!

So half my barn is in the stubben and the other half are in the prestige. I have one in the shoulder relief girth as she has a very forward girth grove and the owners didn’t want to pay for the donut which she also enjoyed.

[lorilu]

Yes. THis is a continuing issue with my Lusitano. I do not want to think about all the different girths I have tried. (There is a thread here about it too). I started with Fairfax/Prolite. Then Stretchtec. Even mohair. Finally settled on these two - The Flex Rider https://www.statelinetack.com/item/flex-rider-anatomic-dressage-girth/E027834%2028/?srccode=GPSLT&gclid=Cj0KCQjw48OaBhDWARIsAMd966DWaRjWK4KROqXGXf22pWqmgymsQAotZjE-Bi4HZWFrgoX3WjkHvqEaAiXLEALw_wcB
and the Tapestry girth https://marystack.com/tapestry-comfort-dressage-monoflap-girth/?sku=140581-005&gclid=Cj0KCQjw48OaBhDWARIsAMd966AVgSD5iyFls3ivPa0LcEDSc4R1UZSc75NACEY5HtHAk4cEDyhBc4AaAi6MEALw_wcB

I usually use the flex rider.

I understand that research shows the most pressure is on the side of the horse behind the elbow - yet that is right where we put the buckles on our dressage saddles. Long ago I could use long girths - but like you, I have an Obrigado, and since its monoflap, there is no way to run the girth up high.

[J-Lu]

@Scribbler, he’s 13 and always does lateral work in our schooling.

@Sue_B, interesting! He doesn’t have much mud to deal with and his pasture is good grass that goes downhill then uphill. When it rains, a river runs through it. He does get upset alot when he can’t see his buddy and runs to his other buddies so maybe he did pull something. He’s not lame, doesn’t object to girthing yet the pecs didn’t feel warm to us. Thanks! Although it is in a difficult place, we’ll do ultrasound if it doesn’t improve.

Thanks @Guyot and @lorilu. I guess I may be about to enter “girth hell” since I had the “saddle hell” worked out. No one ever talks about “Girth hell”!!

[J-Lu]

Thanks. I think I’ll have to move to a 30 or 32 inch girth because he has grown and as my vet put it - he has “middle age outward growth” but will have to measure on my Obrigado. Good thing I keep my flexible tape measure at the barn these days. He just got a new bridle which required measurements.

[lorilu]

Lucky you if the bridle is all one size. My guys are always a mixture of oversize browband, full crown piece, cob cheeks, full noseband… those short wide faces we all love!!

[J-Lu]

Well, it just arrived today. I sent the measurements to the bridle maker who thinks my horse can go in the horse size. He has a very “araby” face for a westfalen. We’ll see about the noseband.

[outerbanks77]

I tried quite a few girths on my mare who just tends to be tight muscled. No conclusive reason, but I felt the girth was part of the equation. She has been doing really well in a Mikmar for several months. For a while I was swapping between a Stubborn Equisoft and Mattes anatomic on the theory of breaking up any chronic pressure distribution from one girth always pressing on the same areas. I have a Fairfax, but didn’t love it on her. Le Mieux makes a similarity shaped girth but softer and with elastic, which I’ve used on my other mare for about two years.

I have a 30" Equisoft for sale if that’s on anyone’s list to try.

[J-Lu]

Which LeMieux do you have? I’m on their website now and don’t see a Fairfax-similar girth with elastic. I only see the "gel-Tex"s and they don’t seem to have elastic.

[J-Lu]

Hmmmmm, I’m thinking about ordering an elastic girth extender for the Fairfax… Thoughts?

I think I like the flex-rider, too.

Hmmmm…

[outerbanks77]

On the SmartPaj website it says “Elestication is built into each buckle attachment, and is just enough for flexibility without effecting saddle fit or girth tension.” It is not a lot of stretch, but I notice a difference from the Fairfax.

[J-Lu]

THANKS! Interesting they don’t mention that on their own website.

[lorilu]

I was just coming here to mention it, and it is on their own website, hidden deep in the details about the girth.

[J-Lu]

Well, I’ve been riding on one hole looser and the pecs don’t seem to get as hard as they did before. But I’ve only had 2 rides this way and today, he tried his new bridle.

I think I’m going to order an elastic girth extender to see if that can help. A whole lot cheaper than another girth for this experiment.

[Carried_Away]

Chiming in to add that the pectoral muscles run from the chest area back under where the girth goes, so a non-elastic girth could absolutely make them tight. I often find this when I’m working on horses and it’s helpful to use a massage gun or your hands to help keep the tissue loose. Collected work can also cause tightness in this area. I use the TSF Strech-Flex girth as well and love it.

[J-Lu]

Thank you so much! He’s mostly tight, by my increasingly learning hand calibrations, in g’ above. Not so much in g or h. I’m pretty sure my vet found tightness in h as well. I massage all of this and he lowers his head is very expressive much of the time (even before this vet visit) when I curry between his front legs and really reaching back into “h” territory.

I purchased elastic girth extenders but will have to punch holes in my girth higher up than I thought.

I will look into the TSF girth and hopefully they’ll have a narrow version.

Thank you!!!