SADDLE GALLS. 103 



PREVENTIVE MEASURES.— We should use only well-fitting 

 saddles of suitable shape and size ; should avoid the adoption of a 

 seat which is likely to cause saddle galls, and should attend to the 

 stuffing and lining of the saddle, and to the fit of the numdah, if 

 one be employed. The best kind of panel (see " Riding and 

 Hunting ") for a saddle which has to be used for long work, such as 

 hunting, is one of good flock and covered with serge ; supposing 

 that there is a competent saddler to whom the saddle can be sent, 

 say, once a year, to be overhauled. As the panel is apt to get hard 

 and " lumpy " from the absorption of perspiration ; it should be 

 dried, beaten and brushed as may be required. A saddle-cloth 

 will act as a useful protection; and, if it is of felt or cloth, 

 it will soak up the perspiration. Leather saddle cloths, which 

 should be a little larger than the panel, are useful as a rule in 

 preventing sore backs ; but care should be taken that they are kept 

 soft by having fat or oil rubbed into their rough side, which is more 

 porous than their smooth side, which is next the horse. In most 

 cases, felt acts better than leather for the purpose under considera- 

 tion, on account of the readiness with which it absorbs per- 

 spiration. It goes almost without saying that young horses put 

 into work for the first time, or animals which have had a long 

 spell of idleness, are, when ridden or driven, much more liable to 

 become galled, than those which are in regular exercise. A 

 " heated " state of the system naturally predisposes a horse's skin 

 to become inflamed. 



When saddle cloths or numdahs are used, the groom, before girth- 

 ing up the horse, should, with his finger or thumb (Fig. 41), raise 

 the cloth well up into the arch of the gullet plate, so that it may 

 not press tightly down on the w^ithers. At the same time, care 

 must be taken that the numdah is not so thick as to fill up the 

 gullet plate, and thus pinch the withers at each side. Useful as 

 numdahs undoubtedly are for preventing a badly fitting saddle from 

 hurting the horse, or for saving the panel from becoming wet 

 with perspiration ; their j^resence naturally increases the liability 

 of the saddle to shift. 



I have seen horses galled by the pressure of the points of the tree, 

 which in such cases were too close together for the horses on whom 

 the saddles were used. 



The employment of pads or pieces of felt (sewn on to the panel, 

 or loose) to relieve local pressure, is generally ineft'ective if the 

 animal has to be ridden for a considerable time, as out hunting ; 

 because the failure to fit, lies in the tree and not in the panel, and 

 because such appliances can rarely be put on sufficiently evenly to 

 properly distribute the pressure. They may, however, answer well 

 during a short ride, as at polo, or during a race or steeplechase. A 



