KEN'S COLUMN
I imagine, like me, most people are absolutely bored with the daily papers – endless reports about ‘the crunch’ – even more about the serious malpractices in the House of Commons and the appalling scandals relating to MP’s claims. Every single news page seems to be filled with negative stories – all this combines to add to the national deflation and make us feel even more depressed. It is so easy to be spiralled down lower and lower when what we really need is a big, big boost – something stunningly good to cheer us up.
Of course, horse owners generally remain pretty cheerful no matter what. When you’re worried and down in the dumps, horses can be a great source of comfort and inspiration.
The other day I was asked by an equine vet to give my opinion about a horse that was ‘refusing’ to be saddled. I discovered the ‘refusing’ consisted of determined efforts to sink close to the ground as his owner approached carrying his saddle. And no – the saddle wasn’t a ghastly fit – in fact it was actually good and passed all the standard checks with flying colours. The next logical step was to ask to see the horse ridden. Well – we didn’t get quite as far as actually riding! The owner, very sensibly, started to lead the horse over to the mounting block. En route, the horse attempted to sink to his knees and it was only my encouraging him from behind that prevented him. He tried the same trick three times more before being stood up by the block.
Courtesy obviously demanded that I should offer to hold him whilst the client mounted. Just as well I offered! He tried to shy away from the block and collapse – all at the same time. Eventually I managed to persuade him to stand up like a gentleman – and the client mounted. Oh dear! The problem was immediately obvious. Despite mounting from the block, she crashed onto his back with a bang! Had I not been holding him, I have no doubt the horse would have sat down!
Amazingly, when the vet had examined the animal’s back, he only detected very minor sensitivity. Obviously the constant banging hadn’t actually done a huge amount of real physical harm – but it had certainly affected him mentally and shattered his confidence.
Problems of this nature take a long time to sort. Horses are creatures of habit – you could say all their schooling and training relates to this fact. It’s always said – quite correctly I am sure – that it takes a horse far longer to unlearn unwanted behaviour than it ever does to learn it in the first place!
The lady concerned was not, shall we say, in her prime, and she told me she suffers with a bad knee which makes mounting very difficult. This was obviously exacerbated by the fact that the horse took a lot of persuading to stand close to the block. The re-schooling problem was not insuperable – but it was certainly going to involve an awful lot of firm kindness and patience.
Shortly after this incident, I was faced with another entirely man-made problem. Yet another that should have been obvious to the owner - and it happened this way.
I was called out to do a saddle fitting check – largely because the owner had detected a little sensitivity in the horse’s wither area. The animal’s conformation was very idiosyncratic– very high withers combined with a short back – not an easy combination to fit. The rider competed in riding club level eventing and, although the saddle was adequate for flatwork, I was concerned that it might be creating pressure points during the jumping phases. It was with this in mind that I asked to see the horse ridden over a few fences. Somewhat to my surprise, the owner dismounted and, saying she would just ‘get the pads’, she returned with some pieces of foam which she proceeded to insert under the front of the saddle!
The best of intentions can sometimes be disastrous. The rider thought she was helping. In fact, she was simply taking up space that made the fit much tighter and created nasty pressure points – hence the sensitivity around the withers.
In actuality, the saddle – minus the padding – was just about adequate for jumping. Add the pads and I wouldn’t go quite as far as disastrous – but certainly getting on for it! Fortunately the horse had only been purchased fairly recently, consequently the damage was quite limited. A couple of weeks without being ridden – kept fit on the lunge – and the bruising would heal.
Vets, saddle fitters, equine physiotherapists – we probably all make some money out of solving problems that shouldn’t have happened. Good for us – not quite so good for the horses that suffer in the meantime.
KEN LYNDON - DYKES is a qualified Society of Master Saddlers’ saddle fitter who specialises in fitting competition horses and horses and ponies that are ‘difficult to fit’. He is also much in demand as an after dinner speaker and to give talks and demonstrations for Riding, Pony Club and other equestrian groups. Ken can be contacted through the office – 01622 844440 – or by mobile – 0973 501873.
