Left Side
And the right.
It's also interesting to note that Chase's stiffer side, and the side where he rushes and gets a little upset at hindquarter yielding, is the left. This comes into play as currently, the full extension of his scapula on the left side is much shorter than that on the right. He also has a knot right on his withers on the left side exactly where the last orange line ends. After his last massage, the knot on the right side in that spot mostly released itself.
So I then fiddled with the saddle. Did some research on Parellisaddles.com and changed the saddle as much as I could. I was a bit hesitant to put it back farther as I was afraid of pressure on his loins, but that fear obviously wasn't getting us anywhere. So I put it back as far as I could put it and still put the girth on-which turned out to be starting at the first orange mark. And I put it on at first without a saddle pad or shims to get a clear look at fit.
As you can see-eek. There is no contact in the middle of the saddle. It would literally grind into the lower part of his back and his withers-ouch!
I then slid one thick shoulder shim on each side right behind the second line.
Contact all the way through now, and a lot more room for his shoulder. I worry a bit about the angle still, but it is much, much better. When I did properly and pain-stakingly put the whole nine yards back together, it looked like this.
Compare that to how I normally saddle him-which looks like this.
For clarification, you can see that the end of his mane in the second photo is actually partially covered up. Also, in the first photo, I actually had to angle the girth forward so it would still be in the correct area. When I tightened the girth, it's important to note Chase tightened to brace against the oncoming 'ouch', and then resorted to licking and chewing-a lot-and blowing out which are signs of relaxation or release of tension. And he continued to do that for the next several minutes.
I did not get to ride to test it out. The arenas were unavailable, although I did not know that when I went out. While he did lick and chew a lot, which is a good sign, I couldn't tell of any movement changes through the gaits. I suspect that is solely because his back and withers were a mess of knots that I spent my last forty minutes at the barn trying to massage out.
Part of me honestly is hesitating in posting this, as it points out my faulty original judgement as a horse owner. However, seeing as I have not ridden him regularly in two years, and I'm catching it in less than a week's worth of sessions, I think there's probably some cushion in that. Assuming his back feels better tomorrow when I go out to check-and I'm hoping the massage I gave contributes to that, I am planning on hopping on to see how he goes.
Ta Ta Ya'll.
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