When I got Nicole, I remember distinctly saying to myself "I'm not going to have a pansy-fragile-flower horse, she's going to be tough."
Ha, was that ever a delusion. As the fates would have it, I have a fragile butterfly. Nic is now off for a couple days because of a girth sore. This horse has more skin problems than I've ever seen in my life. She's on flax because of excessive dry skin; pre-flax, I would brush her and large flakes of dandruff would emerge, as grandiose and consistent as the Atlantic tides on the sand at Normandy.
She spent most of the summer scratching her belly against the ground, so that sores would appear and remain for weeks. Now that the summer is over, so is the scratching.
Currently, we are in girth hell. Nothing seems to keep her from developing these sores, and one has appeared on her belly and has direct contact with her girth. I started her with a leather girth, which aggravated an already-existent sore on her side (a little added feature when I bought her).
Enter fleece-covered elastic girth stage right, which created this current sore in less than 2 weeks. Rope girths aren't an option.
We shall try a neoprene girth next. I wish these things came in actual bodysuit material because the neoprene is too similar to plastic for my tastes.
