Who Needs Kids When You've Got A Horse?

It’s been an interesting week in horse ownership for me, with two pretty large revelations about Ace:

1. my saddle doesn’t fit any more
2. he’s allergic to … well … something

I swear, with everything our horses put us through, it’s gotta be like raising kids sometimes.

Saddle Selling and Buying

Ace is a tough on saddle fit, because he’s got such a high, long wither. I was so fortunate that the saddle I had fit him, as a new one wasn’t really in the cards. It was narrow enough to fit his back well and sit up off of his withers just enough. But with a few white hairs starting to show up on the slope of his withers, my lovely saddle isn’t working any more. The second those showed up, I stopped using it. The hairs are the only indication the saddle was an issue, as he’s been behaving and moving just fine, and to eye it up it looked good. Unfortunately, it looks like my weight added to the saddle drove the twist right down onto that bony back.

Fortunately, I do have enough in my new saddle fund that if I can get my current saddle sold, I’ll be able to get a new one. My plan is get a Stubben jumping or all purpose saddle (with a jumping flap). I talked to one of their reps at Equine Affaire and learned that they will come and do a complete saddle fitting for free if I purchase a new saddle through them. So, not only are their saddles good, long-lasting, and in my budget, I’ll be able to ride in various models and get an experts opinion on which style and size will best fit Ace. They’ll even adjust the flocking if needed.

So I’m excited, but super anxious to get this saddle sold. Fortunately, my mom had one I could borrow in the meantime that is a decent fit and definitely sits plenty high off Ace’s back and withers. It’s kind of old and starting to fall apart, but it will work well for the short term.

Treating and Preventing Hives

On Friday, I pulled Ace from his paddock and the poor boy was surrounding by bugs – and covered in bumps. They were small hard knots; a few on his face and spread out across his neck and sides. I’m used to the sensitive Thoroughbred skin, so I figured they were bug bites.

Saturday morning I went out early to put on his fly mask and cover him in fly spray. By Saturday evening, he had a full-fledged case of hives.

Our best guess is that he had a reaction to the bugs (or a slight possibility something he ate in the pasture as they are starting to get some grass turnout), and that the fly spray aggravated it. I doubt it’s a reaction to the fly spray, as it’s an all-natural kind I used all last year without any problems.

Ace got a nice cool bath with a gentle shampoo to wash off his skin and sooth any itch or pain he may have had.

Sunday the hives were down by about half, and this morning while still present they’re down by about half again. Fortunately they didn’t seem to bother him at all, but he looked absolutely terrible. At their worst, his whole body, including his legs were covered. He was his normal happy self throughout – and probably enjoyed the time off over the weekend.

I’ve kept him stalled until the hives are gone, and then he’ll get to go back on turnout with the new fly sheet I’m going to go buy for him tonight.

Feel free to share any thoughts, tips or tricks, on either the saddle fit or hives issue. I’m always interested in hearing your experiences!

Oh, and mom and hubby, I didn’t really mean it about not needing kids. Just wanted a catchy title.

Oh, and anybody want to buy a nice used close contact jumping saddle in excellent condition?