Training Journal
tldr: We almost found a saddle for Milton, but fell down the NQR rabbit hole instead.
The local tack shop had a used 18″ Steuben. Ideally, I ride in a 17 1/2″ saddle, but 18″ is not a dealbreaker. It was old, but those saddles last forever. Eventhough Milton was taking time away from riding [Getting A Break], we brought it home to try. Fit well. He went well, at least at the walk and trot. Since Milton & I are not cantering outside of the ring yet, I wanted to ride him at Stepping Stone Farm before we closed the deal. Between shipping Rodney (yay!) and ridiculous levels of heat, we kept not getting over there.
Meanwhile, the tack shop found another 18″ Steuben. Brought it home. Fit a little better in the cantle, less well in the pommel, but on average about the same as the other one. Milton did. not. like. it. No hysterics, but he never relaxed at the walk. Even my ground crew thought I should end the test before Milton began expressing himself more firmly.
It almost as if he doesn’t like having any saddle on his back. Did he go well in the Devoucoux because it fit or because he was used to wearing a saddle at that point [Does This Saddle Make Me Look Sporty]? Did he dislike this particular saddle or had it been a while since he wore any saddle?
We returned both saddles and resolved to take another stab as sorting him out.
No one – vet, massage therapist, instructor – has found anything amiss. Well, the saddle fitter thought Milton had a sensitive back. Dig those fingernails into my back, and I’d flinch too. Everyone has given him a clean bill of health. The instructors have both told me to give him a good thump in the sides to get him moving. Given the horse we presented to these folks, their judgments make sense.
The problem is a host of little things that you only realize if you see the horse day after day. He’s a shade too grumpy. He’s a little cold-backed. He doesn’t like being groomed. His dressage is mediocre. He has not embraced jumping, even at the lowest level. And so on. Every individual attribute is explainable. Together they don’t add up to the horse Milton ought to be.
We’ve tried so many things. Naps. Feed changes. Spray and unguents. Baths. Meds. There appears to be some progress at first. Then we settle into a new status quo pissy. It definitely involves his skin, but it’s not fungus or itches or anything on the surface.
Current theory is a histamine reaction that we are treating with Benadryl.
Scenario. He is a fine and happy horse in Canada. He comes down to Alabama. Over the first week, part of his new environment infiltrates and sets up a low-grade irritation. It’s minor, until we put a saddle on his back. The sensation is not pleasant, “Oh shit. Ow. What the hell? No. No. No.” It’s almost as if his initial outburst was as much of a surprise to him as it was to us. Photo below taken seconds before he absolutely loses him mind, dumps me, and takes off bucking around the field [Did I Piss Off the Universe and Not Notice?]. None of us saw it coming. Including Milton? Over time, he adjusts to this annoyance as his new reality, but he’s never happy about it.
Interesting narrative. Now to see if it has any bearing in reality.
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Virtual Brush Box 
My young horse seemed cold-backed. It was always random, but every few rides I’d go to get on him and he’d curl up like a shrimp and act like he wanted to hop around when I asked him to walk forward. He never actually did that, but he clearly wasn’t walking off like he felt great and happy to go. A couple of “iffy” steps forward and he was fine, but his reaction truly bothered me. Over the last year I tried a gazillion different things to try to improve this, including some pretty ‘woo-woo’ stuff, and I’m not a ‘woo-woo’ believer at all. Two things helped. Not sure exactly what solved the issue though, because I made both changes simultaneously. 1. Front shoes. 2. PEMF. (Pulsed electromagnetic frequency) He’s on his second set of shoes and all I can say is WOW. He didn’t seem to mind going barefoot (great feet), but clearly this has made a difference. Duh. Should have done that sooner. The PEMF response is harder to nail down, except to say that when I run a finger down the muscles along his spine he doesn’t flinch at all. Nada. So there’s that. No other “body work” I’ve tried has even come close to that kind of lasting improvement. He hasn’t had a single shrimp response since I made these two changes. Not even a little. As for saddle fit? Meh. I will admit that I don’t begin to understand the constant conundrum English riders seem to have over that. It’s totally beyond my comprehension and would thoroughly try my patience and drain my checkbook.
I hope I have a breakthrough to talk about. Soon. Someday. Sigh.