Earlier this spring I heard very good things, from a couple of unrelated sources, about an equine Osteopath fairly new to our area. Lena and Lisa were both excited about how their horses had responded to this therapy so when I discovered they were talking about the same person, I just had to have Vickie Keam out to work on our horses.
Although this year has been thankfully uneventful with regard to the well being of our horses, I had Vickie check out Gord's horse Magic, who is 21 this year; and Navar, because of the catastrophic hock injury he sustained last year. Sherri's horse Magnum is also a senior and so she had him checked over as well. There were a few things Vickie was able to detect; and it was rewarding to see the horses respond so well to her therapeutic touch. Since none of our horses has any serious issues, we considered this visit to be more of a preventative measure.
Vickie is also a saddle maker who mentored under renowned saddle maker, Andy Knight; as well as a knowledgeable saddle fitter. When I mentioned that Navar had shown some unusual twitchiness under saddle recently, she asked to see my saddle. Admittedly, I was a bit nervous that she would find something glaringly wrong with my beautiful new saddle. Over the years, I have bought and sold so many saddles trying to find a good saddle that would work for me and my horse and certainly didn't want to head down that path again. My fears were unfounded as she reassured me that if she were making a saddle, it would be very similar to the saddle I am using.
Always being one to question tradition when it comes to management, training, or handling of our horses, I was ecstatic to learn something new with regard to cinching a double rigged saddle. We have all been taught to do up our front cinch snugly first; and then our rear cinch so it just touches the horse but is NEVER as tight as the front cinch. In fact, you more often than not, see 6 inches of daylight between the rear cinch and the horse. I was astounded to learn the exact opposite - the rear cinch is done up first, very tightly and the front cinch is snug but not tight, tight, tight. Vickie had me place my hand into the gullet, under the saddle pad while she tightened the front cinch. I could feel my hand being squeezed as she tightened. She then had the horse flex its neck to each side and I could feel a definite pinch. She then loosened the front cinch and tightened the rear cinch - moving the horse around with each hole to ensure the horse was not worried by the new sensation. As she tightened the rear cinch, she had me place my hand in the gullet, under the saddle pad and it was remarkable how roomy the saddle now felt. We then snugged up the front cinch. Vickie proved to me that by setting the saddle in place with a tight rear cinch, it is not necessary to have the front cinch so tight, thereby minimizing any pinching around the scapula.
Navar is all the proof I need - no more twitchiness.
Thank you Vickie for your knowledge and experience!
Tovie, Sherri, Navar, Magic and Magnum
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