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| I took my mare to the vet today because she hasn't been using herself like she normally does. To the eye it's pretty drastic difference.
I'm riding a Martin Crown C with a 8 inch gullet. 5 star pad with it shimmed up.
She is a smaller mare, medium height withers and short back. (Body isn't very wide)
I had X Rays done and everything joint wise was clean. The vet just said she would drop to the floor if he put pressure on her back.
Do you think it's my saddle? I just started using this saddle in July. I have noticed her starting to get sore in the last 2 months. So I feel like it must be. 2nd question......what saddle should I try on her. I had a Cactus and it fit her great and never had any problems. < might go back to a Cactus.
Has anyone tried the Martin FX3? |
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Hungarian Midget Woman
  
Location: Midwest | maybe the bars have too much rock
does the saddle sit hard in the middle of her back? where was she back sore? |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 503
| Just a heads up - the Martin FX3 has the same exact tree as the Crown C. Just fits different for the rider. Did you have this saddle fitted? Also wondering where on her back she is sore. |
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 Thick and Wavy
Posts: 6102
Location: Nebraska | make sure the tree isn't broken |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1076
Location: Winds-A-Blowen, Oklahoma | You are the 3rd person over the last 6 weeks I've heard say this about the Crown C.
FYI the other 2 gals that mentioned to me the Crown C made their horses sore, both ride big horses. One was brand new and the other was bought used.
Edited by Running Drums 2014-10-12 9:20 PM
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| Running Drums - 2014-10-12 9:17 PM
You are the 3rd person over the last 6 weeks I've heard say this about the Crown C.
FYI the other 2 gals that mentioned to me the Crown C made their horses sore, both ride big horses. One was brand new and the other was bought used.
My guess is the saddles didn't fit the horses properly.
Martin saddles are not one size fits all.
I find if the horses back ties in high to the wither, therefore a straight back, the regular Martin tree doesn't work, you need to custom order a flat tree.
I have an 11 flat and a 10 regular, the horse who uses the 10 has a nice wither, but could wear a flat and have no problem. The horse who wears the 11 flat this is the only saddle where I don't have to cut her in half, and when I ride her it has no rock. It is also the only saddle I have found that doesn't sore her up, or cause her to have muscle atrophy at the wither.
I am planning on purchasing another crown c, as my 4 yr old I have nothing that fits her, Lockhart, Sloan, McRae, courts, I borrowed a friends 9.5 flat no rub marks, even hair pattern, no soreness, no rock when I work the barrels. I threw it on another horse and it fit that one well too.
I also use csi pads with all my saddles and shim accordingly, I found I like shimming with handmade wool shims versus the classic equine.
I would suggest to the op, and who ever is also thinking their crown c is making their horse sore to call and speak with Brian and Tracy they have great customer service, and have saddles one can borrow on trial to get the proper fit.
Martin truly cares about satisfied customers, I custom ordered my first 11 in a seat size bigger then I normally use. 6 months later I called them explaining the seat was too big, they took the original 11 back and built me a new one no charge. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 639
Location: God's country...aka TEXAS | I agree, you may need a crown c with flat bars. I had to order one for my big guy that needs a 10 in gullet. The regular bars pinched his back. But also, did you x ray the actual back to check for kissing spine etc??? |
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 Ms Bling Bling Sleeze Kitty
Posts: 20917
Location: LouLouVille, OK | where on the back is she sore? |
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 Texas Taco
Posts: 7499
Location: Bandera, TX | Did you take x-rays of her spine? |
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| No x-rays on her back just her stifles, hocks, ect. She was sore around the (Loin) area. Above her kidneys. vet said not enough padding and not to change my saddle just to pad her up more.
The 5 star I use is 7/8 thick. I guess I'll get a 1inch thick and see if that helps.
He did inject her back.
A part of me still thinks saddle.....but i'll try a thicker pad and go from there. |
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Hungarian Midget Woman
Location: Midwest | When mine was sore in the loin, it ended up being hocks. Hope you get it figured out. |
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 The Bling Princess
Posts: 3411
Location: North Dakota | Back soreness can be caused by a multitude of things, sore stifles and hocks (even if xrays come out clean they can still have inflammation), kissing spine, and not so good saddle fit. Just interested to know when you purchased your Crown?? I ended up sending mine back a couple months ago (i got mine in May) to be retreed as it had warped, which resulted in a rather large and unsightly lesion on my horse's back. He was so back sore that if you pressed on the "spot" his knees would buckle and he'd drop out from under your fingers.
What makes you think its your saddle? |
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Ms Bling Bling Sleeze Kitty
Posts: 20917
Location: LouLouVille, OK | are her angles correct?
I had a horse get sore in his back due to angles being to low years ago... do you have a side picture?
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Location: KS | If your mare is having issues with her ovaries it will make her back sore. |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | I had a horse sore in that area from a chiropractic adjustment gone wrong. Injected it and it was better. I would do what your vet says.. try a thicker pad, and if it doesn't get better go back to the saddle that fits. |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Sounds like this saddle is too wide for your mare, an 8 inch gullet is pretty wide if you mare is on the small side.. I would go back to using your other saddle for awhile and see how she does. |
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 Own It and Move On
Location: The edge of no where | Try riding her in your old saddle and see if the issue goes away. JMO, but I never had any luck riding narrower type horses with martins. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1094
Location: Idahome | SwingingGdiamond - 2014-10-13 11:14 AM No x-rays on her back just her stifles, hocks, ect. She was sore around the (Loin) area. Above her kidneys. vet said not enough padding and not to change my saddle just to pad her up more. The 5 star I use is 7/8 thick. I guess I'll get a 1inch thick and see if that helps. He did inject her back. A part of me still thinks saddle.....but i'll try a thicker pad and go from there.
Maybe flushing her kidneys out will help. Not to say that it isn't your saddle, but their kidney get overlooked too often IMO. The bars of the saddle sit right on top and if they are sore, it is going to show. |
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| I rode her with a Cactus 2 months ago and she never had any back problems. She started blowing out of her 1st and trying to duck the 2nd due to soreness that so happened to be after I switched saddles. That is why I think it's my saddle. I told my vet to look into any possibilities, he said nothing about kissing spine or thinking it might be. Just bought a Cactus Marlene McRae flex tree, going to start riding that on her and see what results I get. My Crown C is a 2012 model
My mother in law has a mare with kissing spine. I just don't think that is her problem. |
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| My mare is only 5. She was ran maybe 10 times last year. She was off for 6 months because I had a baby. Her and I both started back 2 months ago. Here is a video of her first run back and then another recent video. The last video is her bad run and she clearly didn't feel right.
1st run back
http://youtu.be/5XfBCdC_Ekg
recent
http://youtu.be/NHMOeaHRppI?list=UUTyCHVjBWuqtdM4e7hSQOSA
Sore
http://youtu.be/W4CNLOW8QdI?list=UUTyCHVjBWuqtdM4e7hSQOSA
My main reason for this post was to ask if anyone was having problems with this same issue? Saddle soreness from the Crown C not fitting. If so, what did you do to fix the issue? Pad? change saddles?
She has been diagnosed by a veterinarian already.  |
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  More bootie than waist!
Posts: 18425
Location: Riding Crackhead. | If she wasn't sore before why did you switch saddles? Let her heal up and then go back to your Cactus. If its not broke, don't fix it. |
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| Your exactly right! I just wanted to try the Crown C on her and to see if the muscles around her withers would build up. Which it did, but then caused problems with her back. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| SwingingGdiamond - 2014-10-14 9:06 AM
Your exactly right! I just wanted to try the Crown C on her and to see if the muscles around her withers would build up. Which it did, but then caused problems with her back.
If the atrophy has resolved, then you need a different fitting anyway, generally horses go through a few sizes before they are finished filling out properly. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 747
| From watching the first two videos, it seemed like your saddle fit alright. Not to much gapping and bouncing. But the third video, it looked like it fit totally different. Maybe she's filled out and is ready for a bigger gullet? |
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | You have a really nice mare, I would go back to the saddle that you were using befor she got sore. All saddle's fit different, and looks like the Cactus fit good. |
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Crown C back soreness?