AboutDorothy Clarke Expertise I can answer most horse care questions, training stallions, jumping, dressage and roman riding.
Experience Polo ponies, Roman Riding and bareback riding at the John F. Ivory polo club and farms. International Circus, Rodeo and Horse show performances for the White Horse Troups and the Arena Kachinas.
Education/Credentials I have experience in roman riding, dressage, jumping and western.
I have trained horses in all of these styles, to 6' in jumping and piaffe and passage in dressage. I was trained by Johnny Wallace in Jumping and Chuck Grant in dressage. Background site: http://jfromanrider.tripod.com/
Question Hi Dorothy,
I got my horse, Blue, fitted to a saddle by a very experienced horse trainer. A few months later he developed a back pain and started bucking and rearing when I tried to ride him in any saddle.
Would this be due to an ill fitting job or something else.
Please help me I would love to be able to ride him again.
Answer Hi Billie-jane,
It would seem to me from what you say the saddle does not fit the horse. Have you ridden him without a saddle? If he only has this reaction to the saddle then the problem is the saddle.
If this is an english saddle try a western saddle or a bareback pad. The best way to ride him to ease his back pain is bareback. There are english saddles without a tree or with a very broad tree which will fit almost any horse. It would seem to me that although the horse trainer is very experienced, saddle fitting is not his or her expertise if you're getting this reaction to the new saddle.
Now there may be another cause for this reaction if the horse responds the same when ridden bareback or with a broader tree saddle. If you are doing work on collection with not enough extension work; work on high level collection with a horse whose conformation is not suited to this work; jumping a competitive course without the proper balance work; or any advanced work without the proper preparation.
The way to find the problem is to ride the horse bareback for awhile to see if the problem resolves without the new saddle. If this doesn't resolve the sore back, then change your pattern of working the horse and go back to relaxing work with your horse.
Feel free to ask me to clarify a point or ask more questions.
