Collar rub??

[jen judkins]

I just got back from 3 days working Peanut at Ted Russell’s place. It was great! We did more work together in 3 days than I think we have done all told since he was broke to drive.

Over the 3 days, his collar seemed to get bigger and bigger, until on the last day, it seem downright wrong. It is a relatively new collar and seemed to fit fine until now. It is possible that Peanut lost some weight…we were working pretty hard…harrowing, pulling the manure spreader and stuff….maybe 4 hours a day total (with lots of breaks…we were afterall simply doing stuff to improve our whoa, to be honest). I checked him over for hot spots each day and found nothing worrisome. We arrived home yesterday and I turned him out. Tonight when the herd came into the barn for dinner, I noticed two symmetric areas of wrinkles on his lower neck on both sides. I felt the area and it had the texture of thin paper and was slightly warm. There was no swelling and no lumps (I’ve seen galls before…this was not that). The hair is not worn at all. Is this something I should be concerned about? I was about to call it a sweat stain, but the slight heat got me alittle worried.

I have already decided to add a pad to this collar for now. Any other thoughts? I have a photo which will hopefully post below. In it I circled the area…cause its hard to see. Thanks.

[Rod44]

For now wash it down with salt water a couple times a day. That is what the some of the old timers around here do to toughen up the skin. Just make sure you collar fits and the hames are adjusted correctly to the line of draft is correct. With the wider necks on my Haflingers, I had to bend more bow into my hames.

From the picture, it looks like the collar is probably too big, but hard to tell. Went the collar and harness is on can you get more that one hand in under the collar at the bottom? If you can it is probably too big.

[Lane Linnenkohl]

Jen, I had a local old timer tell me a few years ago that you can count on an unworked or lightly worked horse to lose at least an inch in the collar when being put to harder work. I have to say, my experience over the past several years has been the same. That’s why I only buy adjustable collars anymore…

[Ed Thayer]

@Rod44 9119 wrote:

For now wash it down with salt water a couple times a day. That is what the some of the old timers around here do to toughen up the skin. Just make sure you collar fits and the hames are adjusted correctly to the line of draft is correct. With the wider necks on my Haflingers, I had to bend more bow into my hames.

From the picture, it looks like the collar is probably too big, but hard to tell. Went the collar and harness is on can you get more that one hand in under the collar at the bottom? If you can it is probably too big.

Sorry to but in Jen,

I have often thought my collar fit to tight on the neck of Oz. I never thought about bending the hames to relieve some of that. How would you do this? Set them in a vice and muster some good arm strength?

[jen judkins]

Thanks, guys. The collar IS indeed too big for him now. It is adjustable, but I bought it with his growth in mind, not his shrinkage, lol! It will probably be ok….he is only 3. I know a pad isn’t meant to fix an ill-fitting collar, but I think I will try to get by with one of those vinyl pads, before buying a new collar….unless the problem gets worse.

[Rod44]

A pad is fine to make it fit. That is what they are for.

Bending hames. I had a friend that was good at mechanical stuff (I’ve broke more than I have ever fixed!) bend it on a press. Better have someone that really knows what they are doing do it. You don’t want to twist them.

[grey]

Depending on how the collar is sitting you might be able to just use a top-pad. It, in effect, shortens the collar by about an inch or so without changing the width.

Some parts of the year (winter, for example) I use the collar without a pad. Sometimes I add a top pad. During the height of her allergy season when my horse paces and stamps all the time, she’ll lean out enough that I use a full pad to shim the collar out.

[Does’ Leap]

Back to Jen’s original post and photo…

I feel like our collars fit quite well, but maybe I will post photos. Anyway, we had similar looking shoulders on both of our horses when we finished our haying stint. Wrinkles, but no heat. We used them for two days after it first appeared with no change, and after a few days rest it still looks the same. Is this normal when you move into regular 6 hour days or is it an indication that things don’t fit as they should?

thanks Kristan

[Carl Russell]

I have always used full deer hair sweat pads, sometimes a felt pad when they gain weight, but have never had such affects on the horses shoulders, even with weight loss, but I also check and adjust collar fit if needed every time I harness.

Another factor to keep in mind is that as the animal losses weight and the collar slips down, the angle of draft will also change, and you may want to tighten your top hame strap, to keep the trace bolt up where it should be so that the collar fits the shoulder under load.

Carl

[jen judkins]

@Carl Russell 9464 wrote:

Another factor to keep in mind is that as the animal losses weight and the collar slips down, the angle of draft will also change, and you may want to tighten your top hame strap, to keep the trace bolt up where it should be so that the collar fits the shoulder under load.

OK, big lightbulb moment here for me, thank you, Carl. Makes total sense.

[Does’ Leap]

Here’s a follow up to Kristan’s last post with some pictures. Could you all give an opinion on fit? I also wanted add that this is new for us. I saw no rubbing this winter while logging 3-4 days/week and collecting sap in the spring. Our horses definitely put on weight in the summer as they get fresh grass every 12 hours cleaning up where our goats previously grazed. Could this be a factor? We haven’t used pads with either horse for over a year as they seem to have grown into their collars (they were 6 when we purchased them 1.5 years ago). We also used a top pad on both collars to reduce the length, but ended up removing them as well.

Thanks.

George

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