saddle pad advice please!

Orchardbeck

Orchardbeck

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I am getting a little frustrated with my saddle fitter, and wonder if I can glean some more advice from you guys.

My horse is aging and has lost some topline, particularly behind her withers. I have tried loads of saddles on her, and although she is slightly dipped backed, she seems to prefer a flatter tree, so we're using a gfs fieldhouse working hunter on her, that has latex panels at the moment.

My fitter adjusted a prolite wither pad for me to use to lift the saddle out from behind them, but said that i'd have to be careful the back of the saddle didn't start to dig in to her loin.

She said I would have to use a lot of padding as the wither pad was also contributing to the bridging effect in the middle.

What is the best pad to use here? I have a lemieux pro sorb with memory foam inserts, a plain prolite wither pad, a plain nuumed half pad, a wintec foam pad (not a front or rear riser, just the standard one) plus various thin numnahs and sheepskin numnahs, but i'm unsure of what combination to use.

The lemieux pad doesn't seem to lift the saddle above the wither dip, even though it seems really thick, and i'm not sure my mare really likes it.

She seems ok with the wither pad on top of the nuumed thick wool numnah, but i'm not sure if that's enough padding at the back to stop the panel pressing in to her loin, especially as the saddle is only 16" and has a flat seat.

I did have a prolite tri pad but it was too big for my saddle so didn't fit properly.

Any advice anyone?
 
Hmmm, mine is 20 and just dropping away a tiny bit. Her saddle is very flat too. She just has a normal prolite half pad under it, and if she changes shape, its a sway back pad, so I can put a shim (came with 3 thicknesses) into the central pouch to remove the bridging effect until the saddler comes.

Saddler agrees this is the best course of action, because she has always been a horse that changes shape quickly!
 
Thanks crazymare, I have that pad, but it is absolutely huge on my mare and makes the saddle slip for some reason. If I could find a smaller equivilent I guess that would solve the problem!
 
Aerborn make a small size combi-riser which comes with shims. I had a similar problem with all pads coming up too big. I've been pleased with mine.

ETA - It only has front and rear pockets though, not a central, so if you still need to deal with bridging with a little pad, it might not work.
 
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Flame- thanks for that, i've just spotted the aerborn korrector pad and I think that might be the best one for us, esp as they do a pony size. I might be able to stitch the pockets in a way that would allow a centre shim.
 
Gosh yours must be tiny!! Mines 13.1h with a 17" saddle - its not the neatest, but it is comfy and she likes it.

Would be interested to see the Aerborn one if you can link to it?
 
Have a look at Balance International. Their saddles are all designed so that they can be used in a remedial manner - the padding system can be adapted depending on the horse. My older mare has had a Balance saddle for the past 14 years or so, and she has just decided that she prefers a different model to her original one because her back also just starting to drop a little (she has had a lot of time off this year and just got a Cushings diagnosis last week). She now likes the Horizon and the Felix.
 
Crazymare - I had a 17" on her at the start of the year having gone up from a 16.5 on saddler's advice, turned out it was too much for her. Would really prefer a 16.5", but found this one and really like it, thing is, and saddler agrees, nothing is going to fit her at the moment until we fill out what has been lost, and this one suits her back shape better.

I haven't a link sorry but I ordered it from Rideaway, but may have got the last one in stock...

Soloequestrian, I looked at Balance saddles and thought the concept was great, and exactly what we needed, but sooo expensive for my 22yo arthritic mare... A lottery win may sort me out!
 
Orchardbeck said:
Soloequestrian, I looked at Balance saddles and thought the concept was great, and exactly what we needed, but sooo expensive for my 22yo arthritic mare... A lottery win may sort me out!
Click to expand...

There are a lot of good second hand ones out there, and if you have a test ride the person who does it will be able to advise on the fit of your current saddle too.
 
Mattes correction pads, every time. I use four pocket but I think you can get six pocket if you think you need to shim for bridging. If you can post pics perhaps we can see the issue?
 
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