I wanted to pick your brains on something that's going on with my gelding.  

I have a 17 yr old gelding.  I've had him since he was 4, and used to barrel race with him.  Long story short - the last years I've been having/raising kids and then received a cancer diagnosis, so he's been put on the backburner through no fault of his own. 

About 6 months ago, I started getting back into riding, and he is obviously fat and out of shape at this point.  He seemed very irritated when I was putting the saddle on and cinching him up.  I assumed that this was just because we were getting back to work.  He's always been very calm and has a puppy dog personality.  Would blow out some when cinching, but never what I would call cinchy.  

I was still receiving chemo at this point, so riding in between when I could. Fast forward to now - he is still doing it, and now sometimes once I get him cinched, he will pull back.  He will kick his back legs up when I cinch him, and just really acting like it is bothering him.  Saddle, cinch, pad - nothing has changed.  Once I get him cinched up, and take him out to ride, he rides off fine.  He doesn't act like it hurts him when I'm riding, and doesn't feel off.  I had the vet out because my first thought was ulcers.  She came out and looked him over, watched me saddle (he didn't pull back, but did act uncomfortable), watched him walk/trot, and said she didnt' think it was ulcers because he is still eating, poop is normal, gut sounded fine, and isn't nipping at his stomach or anything.  She thought maybe it was something behavorial, and gave me some bute to bute him for 7 days to see if he still acts the same way with the reasoning that the bute should stop the pain, so if it's pain, he should act better on the bute and if it's behavioral, his behavior would stay the same.  So we did, and he acted the same.  I didn't ride him since it was cold/wet/muddy on these days, but did put the saddle on him and cinch him up.  He acted the same.  

Just knowing his personality though.....I don't feel like it's behavior.  He is a puppy dog, and always tries to please.  I feel like SOMETHING is hurting him.  Where do you guys think I should start?  Should I call her back out and push to see if there's drawbacks on treating it like an ulcer, or seeing if we can scope him to confirm/deny ulcers?  I saw something called the 21 Day Hind Gut that is supposed to help if they have digestive issues, but costs like $250 for the 21 days - anyone with experience with that?  Anything else I'm missing?  Have the chiropractor out?  I've considered buying a new pad and cinch.  Vet looked at the saddle, and thought everything fit fine.  He does have a big belly right now, but like I said - he hasn't been working for awhile.  He is wormed on schedule.  Thoughts?? 

My horse used to be full of bleeding ulcers from his larynx to his gut, he had no symptoms other than just stopping at the gate when I would go to run & standing like a statue refusing to move. He ate fine, acted fine, shiny coat, kept weight easy, etc. Both of my vets that scoped him said it's by far the worst they've ever seen. One vet said they thought probably 80% of his stomach lining was ulcers based on the scope. So don't rule out ulcers based on those reasons she gave. Also, if it was ulcers bute would just have angered them more and the pain would still be there & it would make them worse. You sometimes can't tell at all until you scope. Also I've seen them get agitated if the cinch is too small, the Ds can put pressure in places that feels like a big pinch. If there's a lot of latigo strap from the saddle to the girth that can pinch too, I've been pinched by that & it's awful. If he's a lot overweight it might just be the cinch setup 

Thanks for the reply.  It seems to me that most of his extra weight is toward the back of his belly rather than where he is cinched, but I will take a closer look at that to make sure that it's still long enough. 

Good to know on the ulcers - especially the part about bute making it worse.  I wouldnt' say he acted any worse, but he was still ****y and uncomfortable.  Did your horse recover ok?  Do you remember the approx. cost of the scope?  I think I'm going to push for them to come out and scope him.  Then at the very least, it would rule out ulcers.       

It was $200 for the scope and the last time I treated it was $200, but that was 4 years ago. My vet gets his own omeprazole paste made from the lab, so it was cheaper. And he's on a daily prevention now & has kept them away for almost 4 years now after almost 7 years of fighting with them. If I give bute, banamine, or equioxx I give a dose of the omeprazole the same days to prevent them bringing them back. You can try giving like 60cc of Maalox around 20 minutes before you saddle for a few days, that would coat the ulcers & he may act better. Could be a cheap indiacator for you to try. Or MVP Gastro-Plex paste can do the same thing 

My gelding started kind of flipping his nose out when I was cinching him up towards the beginning of 2018, nothing bad and I really only noticed it in hind sight type thing.  Then in the fall of the same year he started pinning his ears when I went to cinch him up, check the cinch and pad, no burrs, nothing.  Fast forward to early spring of 19', he kept tripping, didn't want to continue loping, kicked out coming out of a roll back...and let me tell you, this horse has never taken a wrong step or been naughty in his life, I've had him since he was a coming 2 year old who had been saddled 4 times. A, he is too lazy to be naughty, and B, see A.  Went over him again and noticed that he was starting to lose some top line, so nagged my shoer and we doubled down on cavelettis and collection and doing belly stretches.  Top line improved some but it was actually more just getting more into shape than anything, got a new pad and things seemed to work themselves out or so I thought.  Took my saddle in to have my tree checked also, not twisted, not broke.In June I was giving a young lady a lesson, was standing there on Tucker and went to walk off on him and he kicked out .  Again, not like him at all to be ****y or moody.  Spanked his butt, sent hm down the fence and rolled him  back, sent him down the fence again and he half offered to hump up.  That is when I knew for sure we had a problem.  Unsaddled him, and put the saddle up on him with no blanket, reached up under there and Boom, we had a significant bridging issue going on.  

I tried several different shim pads, the Diamond Wool one seemed to work best , no more kick out, no head tossing when cinching him but he still wasn't reaching in his turns, he'd run to the barrel, then kind of stand up and get himself around it.  I noticed that he had developed a little dip in his neck right in front of his withers and then a bit of a hunters bump type bump .  I ended up getting a Circle Y Tammy Fischer saddle, spent a month or so fitting him up again and I had my horse back.  I'm not sure how I feel about treeless saddles in general, but for him it was the right answer.  

A rib out or a sternum out will cause them to be cinchy.  Go to Walmart and get some aloe Vera juice and Maalox.  Give 30 ccs of both about thirty minutes before feeding twice a day.  You should see a difference in a couple days if it’s ulcers.