Girthiness

Question
I have owned my 7 year old Andalusian/TB for a year now.  He is fairly strong-willed and can be pushy, but is also very affectionate.  He hates schooling (flatwork) and really so do I, so we hack out a lot, which at the same time is exposing him to as much as possible, improving his rather spooky behaviour.  We have both come a long way in this last year.  All of our hacking out is mainly roadwork and slow, so he is not exactly overworked and is never in a lather when we get home.  My big problem with him is that when I am saddling up (English or Western - (I school in an English saddle and hack out in a Western - safer that way!) he stands still for me to put the saddle on, but when it comes to girthing him up, he tries to avoid me at all costs, moving away and into me until I have managed to grab the girth and get it into the first hole, after which he stands reasonably still.  The Western saddle was custom made for him, he has had his back checked and recently treated using both chiropracter and laser therapy.  I have checked his back for tender spots and there is nothing.  Do you think he is having me on?  What can I do to get him out of this dreadful irritating behaviour.  I always make sure the skin is not being pinched, lunge him before I get on to make sure he is comfortable and that the saddle is seated properly.  I would appreciate any advice you could give me.
Many thanks.

Answer
Verena,

I suspect that your problem is not his back as much as his muscles.  I've worked on a lot of horses who are "girthy" and it has always boiled down to tight, sore muscles in the shoulders and chest. I'll keep this in layman's terms for you by not using the anatomical names of the muscle groups involved.  You didn't say whether he had expressed this problem the entire time you've owned him or this has started since you've owned him.  The reason I say this is that it may be a learned reaction to an old problem.  He may not be terribly sore any longer if this is a long standing problem but the reaction is still there.  Sort of like you knowing that something will hurt even if it no longer does.  Could have originated from something as simple as a bad girth or could be more complex.  I don't know what your variety of equine services is in your area but I would suggest a massage therapist.  The therapist could determine what the underlying problem is and get it resolved.  After that it might just take some patient re-training to convince him it no longer hurts.  In any event, when you go to tighten a girth please don't do it all at once.  I've seen people put a saddle on and snatch the girth up to max tightness in one pull.  OUCH!  Far better to do it in stages.  I put the saddle on and tighten the girth enough the saddle won't slide around.  Then I go get the breastplate, put it on and tighten the girth a little more.  I stretch both front legs, one at a time, and tighten the girth a little again.  A final tightness check is done right before I mount up.  Remember, you need to be able to slide your fingers under the girth.  Don't make it too tight!  The best girths have elastics on both sides where they fasten to the saddle to provide some "give" as the horse is working.  This goes for both Western and English style girths.  You have to hunt around to find girths made this way; the cheap ones aren't.   This is especially true of Western-style girths.  

Get your horse checked out and let me know what the results are.  If I can give you any more advice let me know.