"White Pants, Big Withers And Thoroughbreds Are All The Rage At Burghley"

I LOVE this article!  Not only is it hailing the big withered but proves that OTTB's are amazing beasts and not a thing of eventing past.  That they are very much a part of eventings future!  And I haven't been able to get the image of the photo of Sinead and 'Tate' out of my head.   Tate's body type looks insanely like Steady's.  It has given me a huge sense of relief that even this amazingly fit 4* horse who got 3rd in Rolex and had a very respectable run at Burghley at 15th place can still have not only shark withers but completely hollow behind and even a dip at the base of his neck.  And not veiwable in this photo but if you watch anyh other videos of them he also has large proturding hip bones that Steady also has.  Tate is as healthy as a horse can be and that is just 'him'.  It made me realize that a horse can just be made that way.  I have always felt by people's comments and standards that Steady was lacking something if he was not filled in behind his withers.  And that if he had the slightest dip in his neck then he could not be fit.  I would look at him and his boney withers every day and think I wasn't doing something right for him.  Not true.  It is his body type and so everyone else can kiss our healthy butts!

Now I am going on the hunt of Sineads saddle choices for such a saddle fitting nightmare.  I mean people can give me all the advice in the world but unless you have ever owned a horse and tried to fit a horse with such dramatic fitting issues you could not possibly understand.  It is not your run of the mill big withered TB it is much more extreme than that and it can cause many, many headaches.  But I got some peace of mind seeing that photo.