Measuring Aaruba was serious business. He's the one getting the custom Stonewall endurance saddle, so I needed to get it right. Travis and I squared him up on the driveway and started through the now-familiar process.
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At first, I was concerned because the S5 card didn't fit neatly over Aaruba's withers. However, Jackie Fenaroli of Stonewall Saddle Company explained that the saddle's generous gullet will easily accommodate such variations; the important thing is that contact between horse and card be equal on both sides of the short, black line on the wing of the card, because that line indicates where the horizontal center of the tree will rest on Aaruba's back. The horizontal lines you see crossing the vertical lines on Aaruba's back in the photo above correspond to the short lines on the cards.
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Finally,
Travis and I used soldering wire to make a tracing of Aaruba's back. The lines on this graph paper represent the shape of Aaruba's back at three-inch intervals from withers to flank.
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I've sent photos and measurements off the Stonewall so Jackie can check me for accuracy and advise me regarding anything I should re-do or double-check. Meanwhile, Aaruba is spending the day at Idaho Equine Hospital being scoped for gastric ulcers. Though he seems perfectly healthy 98% of the time, subtle symptoms and occasional, mild colics have us searching for an explanation. Cross your fingers for him!
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3 comments:
Gastric Ulcers - I have a mare that was treated for this her symptoms were chronic (weekly) mild colic. Gastroguard was prescribed and it worked well costly stuff but it does the trick.
I now give her Aloe Juice (a cup a day) as a maintenance regimen, its cheep and has other health benefits too.
Tamara, please be sure to send your measurements in to me at: qiwmn@yahoo.com for the SM/CS saddle tree fitting project. We need all the SM/CS/Barbs we can get for the database. Please make it possible for the Painter Barbs to be included. Be sure to include their pedigrees as far back as you can. I need the documentation to research if any similar conformation traits revealed by the measurements run in family groups.
;)S
Interesting measurement/fitting protocol.
Have you used the "equimeasure" kit that molds a sheet of plastic to the horse's back?
sj
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