Ok guys, I'm hoping to pick your brains about an issue I'm having with my mare. Backstory: I bred and raised this mare. She's the type of horse that's fairly opinionated and lets you know whats on her mind. She has virtually no withers so I had a time finding a saddle that would fit her. I eventually tracked down a Charmayne James that fit her better than anything else and I paired it with a CSI and honestly it seems to fit decent. I dont think it's a perfect fit by any means but I'm trying to wait for her to mature a little more before I get a custom made for her. Over the past 6 months she has become increasingly cinchy - to the point where she has tried to bite me on a few occasions during saddling. However, she never bucks or shows any signs of dicomfort when I'm riding. As far as barrel racing, she hunts the barrels, sits good in her turns and fires hard so I dont see much cause for alarm there. We are still seasoning so I'm not necessarily pushing her hard at this point. I had her looked at by a chiro earlier in the year and he said she was in good shape and wasnt showing any soreness around her withers/shoulders. He did notice she has one hip higher than the other...which is odd but he didnt seem too concerned with it and said she wasnt sore. At this point obviously something is hurting. I havn't had her vetted recently but I'm wondering if I should take her in for an evaluation to determine the cause for the attitude. I know ulcers will come up...I havn't treated for them but I dont feel like this is a gastric issue. Any ideas?

As a sidenote, this filly had some issues with tying in the beginning and had a few episodes where she flipped herself over after breaking halters. I invested in a tie ring and she no longer pulls back. 

I had a similar issue with a gelding of mine. Fully vetted, lameness exam, chiro, scope, xray of spine to check for kissing spine, the whole deal... found no pain or gastric issues. Very frustrating. I got a shoulder relief cinch and that seemed to help at first, then started acting cinchy again nodding his head and nipping. Finally, with him I figured out to put the saddle on and barely tighten the cinch and let him stand there for a minute or two, tighten a little more and wait, tighten a little more and wait, walk him for a minute then tighten enough to get on and walk for a minute, tighten before I ran and he was fine. After a few weeks of doing this and him realizing that I wasnt just going to crank down on him the first time he would stand like a perfect gentleman and I would only have to do the tighten and wait, walk, then tighten again before we ran. Not sure what exactly the initial deal with him was but I think something was pinching him or hurting him and somehow making him sore so he just had to get it out of his head that it wasnt going to hurt anymore. It was a pain at first because it took a while to saddle, but well worth him not nipping at me and knowing he was comfortable and happy. 

Thanks for the reply! I'm happy to hear there wasnt anything wrong with your guy because deep down I truly dont feel like this mare has any serious issues going on. Of course, I could be wrong. The only thing I have really considered is getting x-rays done of her withers/back to see the bone structure and how her discs sit due to the lack of wither. And of course to make sure the flipping incidents didnt cause any damage. She isnt sore when I run my hand down her back without a saddle and like I said, she rides great. I will try to work on cinching her slower to see if there is any improvement. 

Thats what we call simply a " COld Backed" horse. 

I was always under the impression "cold backed" meant a bucker lol

I really hope there is nothing wrong with your girl either. The flipping over could have definitely caused something to be amiss in her spine/ neck/ withers so if it were me I would have it checked out just for peace of mind. A scope probably wouldnt be a bad idea either if the xrays come out clean.

Another economical option would be to just go ahead and treat for ulcers and/ or put her on a mare supplement to rule out any repro related soreness issues and see if there is improvement if you do not want a vet visit involved just yet.

Although for my own piece of mind I do want to KNOW that there is not an underlying issue (that can get worse before it gets better!)  because you can do all the training you want but if they are hurting then it wont do any good. It's great she's still running fine, but you never know, she may have an issue and once you sort it out she will run harder! Bright side! 

I am like you..I need to know. I will definitely look into my options. Thank you!

What type of cinch are you useing on her?

A cold backed horse in my part of the country is one that will hump and pitch/buck untill you get them nice and warmed up.

I'm currently riding her in a mohair cinch. Everything else I have tried rubs her hair off.

I have one I cant use the mohair on, I use the Professional Choice wool roper style cinch, have you tryed one of those yet? 

Where can I buy one? I just looked but im not seeing the "roper style". Just straight wool cinches.

I goofed  , sorry I have the Classic Equine Sensor Flex Fleece roper cinch, Riding warhouse has them and I think maybe Jeffers and Valley vet might have them, I'll look and see

Valley Vet has them too,

Not to me, if I was told a horse was cold backed I would cinch them a little at a time and not just get on real fast. LOL

Couple of things.... roper style makes an enormous difference in my 2 cinchy ones.

I never cinch mine tight right away... i just dont have to and personally i like to walk them off to where i am getting on and let the saddle shift a hair here or there where it wants to be. So many put their saddles too far forward. My 5 year old isnt cinchy but a friend rode her and cinched her right up and she wasnt pleased. She just doesnt prefer it.

Now my gelding, later diagnosed with kissing spine but always was a touch cinchy. He took a bad fall, caused some kissing spine "like" damage... got super tight in the lumbar area and super cinchy. I used to rub his cinch area, back and forth. Lightly at first and almost warming the spot up... it losens the fascia (sp?) and it worked. I cinch him to his belly, walk to where i am getting up and cinch right up without issues.

My neices mare, she has some track trauma. Lots of reasons shes a freak but we literally cinch her a tiny bit at a time, little walking, cinch, few more steps, cinch, etc etc.

Obv ruling out pain is big.. but some truly just get cranky about it too.

Thank you! I will say that I never cinch her tight while she is tied - I have another mare and a gelding who I cant cinch tight at the trailer so it just became a habit a few years ago to always loop the billet through the cinch, untie and then cinch up tight right before I get on. She just gets ill immediately when I put the saddle on her back and the ear pinning and nipping starts when the cinch touches her belly. She's a bit cranky naturally...and maybe a touch lazy...so I think just the thought of "work" ticks her off LOL. I'll be purchasing a roper style cinch since that seems to be a good idea. As far as saddle position, I will be sure its sitting back far enough. I have caught myself with my saddles sitting a little too forward. The kissing spine makes me really nervous because I feel like I hear about it all the time. I hope nothing like that is going on with her.

Thank you so much! Looking at them now.

Another cinch you could try if that one does work is the shearling cinch from Professionals Choice. They don't last as long and are more upkeep, but GREAT for a cinchy-type horse.

Word of caution, I tried a Shoulder Relief cinch on my sensitive-skinned gelding this year. He really has a well sprung ribcage. Well, it pushed that cinch forward like it does all the other cinches, but because they make the main part of their cinch out of a stiff leather, it folded the fleece over and directly rubbed the leather behind his elbow and gave him a horrible rub mark. I know lots of people have liked them but I would not recommend for a horse that has a well sprung ribcage. (the company was fabulous to work with btw, and actually allowed me to return the cinch!)

I had a gelding that suddenly started to nip at me while cinching.  Turned out to be the cinch I was using.  He only likes neoprene, go figure.  I was using mohair!