From: Anya
Jessica,
Thanksinadvance for any help you can give!
I bought my 16H Holsteiner/TB filly a year ago just as she turned 3. At the time, she looked very thoroughbredy, so I decided to buy a used NICE (the French brand, though it's a comfortable saddle too!) close contact saddle with knee rolls. It has been a dream for jumping, although if I tried to canter without stirrups for an instructor of mine, it would force a chair seat and I'd also end up leaning off to one side (still a problem *with* the stirrups!). One time, when we slowed a stirrupless canter to a trot on a 20m circle to the left, off I rolled!
I knew that someday I might end up with a Holsteiner underneath me, and have to switch saddles, but when? This year she's been filling out very nicely, and the girth is definitely a notch looser on each side. She's grown an inch in back, then in front, and could easily add another inch or two based on skeletal angles and her 17 hand sire.
Well, about a month ago, my filly, otherwise oblivious to being saddled, started the habit of wanting to bite me as I tightened her neoprene girth. Her now wider profile causes her thin skin to bunch up on the tightening side. I have to either tighten up on both sides in increments or pull on a lower section to ride of the wrinkles. Any suggestions? I never liked leather as it would slide on me (SE Michigan is very humid, so the horses sweat easily). Could the saddle profile be contributing in any way? We seem to be fine while riding trails or dressage -- if I lean forward to go under a branch, she speeds up, but that's typical. She canters both slow and fast, and with minimal prodding. Her preferred trot has always been fast, but if she knows she can't canter until she gives me a very slow sitting trot, boy do I get a nice one, as slow as a walk!
Anya
Fussing about the girth can mean a girth problem, but it often means a saddle problem -- the horse is anticipating pain under saddle. If she offers to bite when you tighten the girth, she's telling you as clearly as she can that SOMETHING HURTS. Listen to her. You're a good owner and you groom your own horse, so if she had girth sores, you would notice them -- I'm betting that she has a sore back.
Just to cover the bases, though, Let's talk for a moment about the mechanics of girth-tightening: always fasten it very loosely at first, then pull her front legs forward, one at a time, before you take it up another hole or two. This will smooth out any wrinkles behind the elbow, keep it from pinching her skin, and shift the saddle back into position (in case it's too far forward, which it may well be). Walk her a few steps, tighten it another hole, etc. Never try to tighten it all at once.
Leather may slide, but sliding is GOOD -- material sticking to skin is what pulls and pinches the skin. Neoprene is good precisely because it DOES slide.
Two things you say about her behaviour under saddle worry me a little. Speeding up whenever you lean forward may be "typical", but typical of what? Yes, it can be typical of young, unbalanced horses, but it is also typical of horses with saddles that pinch! If your horse speeds up when you lean forward, it may be a reaction to pain caused by the saddle arch bearing down on her withers or shoulders.
The other thing that worries me is what you say about the sitting trot. The "sitting" part of sitting trot is the rider's responsibility -- the horse should offer the same trot, whether the rider is sitting or rising. If a horse always shortens stride drastically and loses all suspension when the rider sits, it's a good idea to take a long hard look at the horse's back, and at the saddle.
Since your young mare is still a few years away from jumping, and you're probably focussing on introductory dressage training and a lot of trails at this time, you shouldn't have much trouble finding a suitable saddle for dressage. First, you'll need to figure out where and how this one doesn't fit her now (without seeing her, but knowing that saddle and that type of horse, I'll guess that she needs, at the very least, a wider tree). Then you'll need to look for another saddle, this one with a medium-wide or a wide tree, depending on the horse's needs. Find something that fits her now and will fit her for another year -- and remember that in three or four years, she'll probably need an even wider tree, so don't worry if the saddle you buy now isn't precisely what you wanted to be using in ten years. It almost certainly won't be, at least on this horse. ;-)
There's quite a lot of information about saddle-fitting in the HORSE-SENSE archives -- take a look, it may give you some ideas. When you find the right one, there should be no reason for your mare to try to bite when she is saddled.
Jessica
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