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 Veteran
Posts: 224
Location: Southern OK aka God's Country | I have been plagued with trying to get rid of dry spots on my very wide shouldered, no withered mare. I bought an 8" Crown C, I have padded up and down and shimmed, to no avail. The dry spots are still there, and I'm not spending thousands of dollars in saddles--I can't. I have always been under the assumption that dry spots are pressure points, and that the saddle is ill-fitting if they are present. Today I came across this article: http://www.thecorrector.net/id27.html. . . .
And this spoke out to me the most: "Unless riding at speed, DRY spots the size of your open hand or larger, on either side of T/7&8, is an indication of good saddling and riding. Large dry spots are areas of firm contact and no movement and are most often a positive sign."
Who knew! I had to post it here to get other people's opinions. Thoughts?
Edited by SoonerLawyer 2014-02-25 7:02 AM
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 I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
   
Location: In the Hills of Texas | I believe large dry spots are an indication of no contact. I do have and use a CorrecTOR pad when needed. JMO |
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 Own It and Move On
Location: The edge of no where | Nevertooold - 2014-02-24 2:25 PM I believe large dry spots are an indication of no contact. I do have and use a CorrecTOR pad when needed. JMO
I've always been told that dry spots are pressure points.
Hand sized dry spots and larger are ok, it's small dry spots that will turn into issues. |
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2931
Location: North Dakota | I've heard both.
I've heard that dry spots are no contact, and thus no sweat is formed because there's zero pressure.
But I have also heard that dry spots are pressure points. There is SO much contact that the skin can't sweat because it's pinched tight.
I have no idea which one is right. I've just always been told that dry spots are bad. I wouldn't think it would be good to have zero pressure on certain spots, nor is it good to have excessive pressure on certain spots.
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 639
Location: God's country...aka TEXAS | Did you have your horse fitted by Martin for the Crown C? You may need a wider gullet. An 8" is not really that wide. Mine uses a 10" gullet and he is 14.3 hands and not what I would consider SUPER wide. I have no dry spots at all. |
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 Oh excuse me!
Posts: 2473
Location: S. California Beach | People tend to chase dry spots to no avail - behind teh shoulders is the last place to sweat with the least amount of constant contact (at the withers where your horses back moves 2-4 inches up and down). |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 417
Location: CA | Several years ago I had a custom Tod Slone. When talking to him about saddle fit he told me the exact same thing. Dry spots the size of your hand or larger were not a problem. That is, after all, where we pull the girth tight and apply the most pressure. He said the problem was with the small round dry spots the size of a silver dollar or so. Those were spots of extreme pressure. Seemed to make sense to me.
Edited by Grunt 2014-02-24 3:23 PM
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| I never liked dry spots, as my experience chronic dry spots has lead to muscle atrophy on my one horse, I learned from him.
My horses aren't big horses, and with Martin they are in 10, and 11. If you go onto YouTube there are many good saddle fit explanations. One by Martin it was labelled western fit #1.
Also look at what type of pad are you using, which spot on the riggin are you using and where are you placing the saddle, and what are you shimming with. |
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Veteran
Posts: 224
Location: Southern OK aka God's Country | I did not have her custom fitted, mainly because I don't have $2500+ to spend on a custom saddle, and secondly, I had put my friend's 8" on her without a pad and it seemed to fit. So I thought I was safe with it and found a used one for $1900, which is still a lot of money to me, not going to lie. The dry spots I'm getting now are probably about as big or maybe slightly bigger than my hand laid flat against her, sort of behind the wither, above/behind the shoulder, if that makes sense. There is usually a dry spot on top of her withers, where the pad is cut out, and then the 2 dry spots where I already mentioned. That's pretty typical for this mare with both my Martin Sherry Cervi saddle and my Crown C, but I did feel like the SC saddle was too tight on her. I do feel like she is striding out better with this saddle than with the SC.
Edit to add: The pads I've used are a Prof Choice Air Ride, which rolled, a 1" Classic Equine wool/combo contourpedic, 3/4" Relentless Extreme wool/felt w/ gel and currently a 1/2" wool Wade pad.
Edited by SoonerLawyer 2014-02-24 3:46 PM
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 422
Location: Fort Bragg North Carolina | Who knows I agree I was told I needed a custom saddle if I wanted a correctly fitting saddle for my 14 hand mare. I try to use a wide saddle and good pad and don't think any more about it things like saddle fitting get overwhelming all performance horses that get ridden consistently prolly have some kind of soreness anyways. JMO all my horses have dry spots palm size depending on how much they sweat. |
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 Not Afraid to Work
Posts: 4717
| I think its even sweat patterns. For example, my saddle under a light workout, he is typically dry where my tree actually sits. Along the spine and next to the wither. Then sweaty around that area. If a hard work out its pretty much all sweat but still tends to be lighter where my tree sits. |
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Veteran
Posts: 224
Location: Southern OK aka God's Country | I took a pic last night of her without the shim, with the Relentless 3/4" pad. I haven't gotten one without the saddle yet (it was dark when I got done riding). I also threw one in of her without the saddle. It's not great, but it's as far to the side as I can find right now.
Edited by SoonerLawyer 2014-02-25 7:00 AM
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| What Brian and Tracy taught me about their saddle is to have the saddle sit behind the shoulder you need to have the riggin farthest forward so the cinch will be in the right spot, and by the picture you have the rigging in the centre.
I would try to move the rigging forward and the saddle back an inch or two as it looks like it still could be on the shoulders.
I would also take the pad off put the shims on then feel underneath the saddle and make sure the pressure is even
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 333
| I have a question...has anyone had a horse appear to not like your existing saddle...you switch, and now they seem to like the new saddle. How long did it take the horse to "appear" to like the new saddle? Maybe the horse would dance around with the bad saddle, etc....when did the bad behavior quit after switching to the better fitting saddle? |
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| Move the tugs of your breast collar down to the D rings of the saddle and get you a longer roper style mohair cinch 2 inches longer than the one she is wearing .. Your breast collar is pulling downwards on the swells the way she is tacked up right now.
To place the saddle in your photos ... find the top of her shoulder blade and place your finger tips on the back side of it ... move your saddle so that the conchos are even with your finger tips and cinch her up. (the bars of the tree start right under the conchos) This will assure you of not restricting her shoulder blade movement and that the saddle is sitting in the 'sweet spot' right at the back side of her withers.
Chasing dry spots is futile ... feel what you think is a dry spot for moisture and if hair is laying flat and not ruffed up and all you are seeing is a little more saddle pad wicking the moisture away .... a lot of times people forget their older saddle pads can become permanently compressed where the bars of the saddle are ... sometimes a good washing and rinsing will uncompact them or you need a new pad ...
I would not be concerned unless the cantle of the saddle is raised up when cinching her up or flopping up and down when you are riding ...
GOOD LUCK ... |
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Veteran
Posts: 224
Location: Southern OK aka God's Country | Thank you to you and Cheryl. I am working with a resident saddle fit expert who was super nice enough to PM me, and we both agreed that the saddle was too far forward. I had actually been placing it further back and on the advice of someone else had moved it forward again, but I agree, it's too far forward. I am going to move it back again and go from there.
As far as behavior issues, this mare has never had any issues or acted out with regard to saddles. What I do notice is that she is striding out a lot better with this saddle, but I'm also riding her more regularly and building her confidence. She is not a very confident horse by nature, but she does very well with praise and encouragement, and the more I ride her, the better she is doing (duh!). I wasn't even really aware that was her "nature" until I watched the Dena K videos. It really struck a chord with me when she was discussing the difference in her babies that she used in the videos, how one was very aggressive by nature, and the other one not. So, off topic, but relevant. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1857
| I was always told it takes two people to figure fit. One needs to stretch the leg up and out so that you can see how far the scapula comes back. Mark that spot and then place your saddle right behind that point. The screw below the pommel should not be over the scapula. You can't just fit a saddle for a horse standing but you need to fit it for one moving. You then can slide your hand underneath and check to make sure you have even pressure under the bars in front, middle, and rear. You can then do the same thing with the pad underneath the saddle and see if the pressure remains constant and even. |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | cheryl makofka - 2014-02-25 12:26 PM What Brian and Tracy taught me about their saddle is to have the saddle sit behind the shoulder you need to have the riggin farthest forward so the cinch will be in the right spot, and by the picture you have the rigging in the centre. I would try to move the rigging forward and the saddle back an inch or two as it looks like it still could be on the shoulders. I would also take the pad off put the shims on then feel underneath the saddle and make sure the pressure is even
When you move the rigging all the way forward, then you have too much pressure pulling down on the very front, IMO. Mine is moved back, yet my saddle is still behind the shoulder standing still. I don't see how you can ride one far enough back for the shoulder blade to not come under the tree when they reach. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| Three 4 Luck - 2014-02-25 1:24 PM
cheryl makofka - 2014-02-25 12:26 PM What Brian and Tracy taught me about their saddle is to have the saddle sit behind the shoulder you need to have the riggin farthest forward so the cinch will be in the right spot, and by the picture you have the rigging in the centre. I would try to move the rigging forward and the saddle back an inch or two as it looks like it still could be on the shoulders. I would also take the pad off put the shims on then feel underneath the saddle and make sure the pressure is even
When you move the rigging all the way forward, then you have too much pressure pulling down on the very front, IMO. Mine is moved back, yet my saddle is still behind the shoulder standing still. I don't see how you can ride one far enough back for the shoulder blade to not come under the tree when they reach.
That is just what brian and Tracy said, as if you move the saddle back to where it should be, the front riggin spot will be the perfect spot for the cinch to go, as if you have it in the middle, then the cinch will be pulling the saddle forward. |
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Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | cheryl makofka - 2014-02-25 1:33 PM Three 4 Luck - 2014-02-25 1:24 PM cheryl makofka - 2014-02-25 12:26 PM What Brian and Tracy taught me about their saddle is to have the saddle sit behind the shoulder you need to have the riggin farthest forward so the cinch will be in the right spot, and by the picture you have the rigging in the centre. I would try to move the rigging forward and the saddle back an inch or two as it looks like it still could be on the shoulders. I would also take the pad off put the shims on then feel underneath the saddle and make sure the pressure is even When you move the rigging all the way forward, then you have too much pressure pulling down on the very front, IMO. Mine is moved back, yet my saddle is still behind the shoulder standing still. I don't see how you can ride one far enough back for the shoulder blade to not come under the tree when they reach. That is just what brian and Tracy said, as if you move the saddle back to where it should be, the front riggin spot will be the perfect spot for the cinch to go, as if you have it in the middle, then the cinch will be pulling the saddle forward.
My cinch is back behind the normal spot, but the saddle stays put. No sliding forward or back or rolling. |
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