treeless saddle pads

[MyBoyChe]

Does anyone know if you can just use an ordinary saddle pad under a treeless, specifically a barefoot western saddle with an ordinary western blanket. Would like to have a couple of spares but the "proper" ones are so pricey, wondering if an ordinary blanket would be ok for short hacks

 

[MotherOfChickens]

depends on the horse-I have an Atlanta I use with a polypad and a prolite wither pad. Pony has a back like a mule and dislikes big poofy pads anyway. spine clearance seems fine with this and the VPS-we mostly use it as a walking getting fit saddle as I find him very wide in it.

 

[Follysmum]

Would recommend Christ lamfelle pads

 

[The-Bookworm]

You could get a secondhand spare?
I just have the one pad.
Never not used a saddle without the pads because that's your spinal clearance etc.

 

[Fransurrey]

When riding with the Thorn, I alternated between using a prolite pad in between saddle cloth and saddle, or Christ Lamfelle. Both worked fine. I've recently bought an Easytrek GP and am using just the cloth under that, but it has good spinal clearance due to the panels.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Mmmm....... TBH I think you'd be ill-advised to NOT use the "correct" pad with the saddle, as the pad (or so I've been told) is WAY more important than the actual saddle if you're intending to ride treeless, simply because the pad is the thing that actually protects your horse's back.

Having said that, you may indeed find that you can get away with using a pad that isn't designed specifically for a Barefoot saddle; have a look on e-bay. You might find one of the other well-known brands like Torsion will fit and do the job equally well, and just might be a bit cheaper??

IME the well-known brands of treeless saddle pads tend to come up on e-bay rather infrequently - and if they do, you'll need to be prepared to be competitive against other bidders!

Good luck!

 

[MotherOfChickens]

Mmmm....... TBH I think you'd be ill-advised to NOT use the "correct" pad with the saddle, as the pad (or so I've been told) is WAY more important than the actual saddle if you're intending to ride treeless, simply because the pad is the thing that actually protects your horse's back.

Having said that, you may indeed find that you can get away with using a pad that isn't designed specifically for a Barefoot saddle; have a look on e-bay. You might find one of the other well-known brands like Torsion will fit and do the job equally well, and just might be a bit cheaper??

IME the well-known brands of treeless saddle pads tend to come up on e-bay rather infrequently - and if they do, you'll need to be prepared to be competitive against other bidders!

Good luck!

I keep hearing this and I just dont agree. I've had Torsion, Treefree, Ghost and Barefoot and my pony has objected to all the thick branded pads (he especially disliked the Barefoot Physio and the Ghost pads) but has been fine in the non-branded and even in normal pads with shimming. Particularly with those saddles with built in spine clearance on a pony with a strong back. The only thing I would be careful of is pressure points from stirrup bars with non-specialist pads so I tend to not do alot of rising trot.

The OP has a Barefoot western so most pads will be the wrong shape.

OP if yours is the Nevada then there are cheaper treeless western pads about. If its the Atlanta then its a bugger because not much is shaped for it. Western pads drive me mad because they are so damn big and I ride a pony. I got one made at Polypads to my spec for less than £60 and int he colours I wanted-really pleased with it.

 

[MyBoyChe]

Thank you all. MoC, it is the Nevada and he is a big strong highland, for 90% walking hacks lasting about 90 mins Im thinking that an ordinary western blanket pad would be fine. I get the thing about keeping it off the spine. The Nevada has a little clearance and for info, I weight 10 stone in old money and he is about 580kg in new money so not carrying a huge weight at any sort of speed. Im new to treeless, bought it because I hoped it would help my age related back pain (it does, its so comfy) I cant see the harm it would do given all the circumstances but am I missing something?

 

[MotherOfChickens]

Thank you all. MoC, it is the Nevada and he is a big strong highland, for 90% walking hacks lasting about 90 mins Im thinking that an ordinary western blanket pad would be fine. I get the thing about keeping it off the spine. The Nevada has a little clearance and for info, I weight 10 stone in old money and he is about 580kg in new money so not carrying a huge weight at any sort of speed. Im new to treeless, bought it because I hoped it would help my age related back pain (it does, its so comfy) I cant see the harm it would do given all the circumstances but am I missing something?

try it and see-you can always look for sweat marks/lack of them to indicate any pressure points especially at the stirrup bars. Otherwise think of it as a reinforced bareback pad and plenty of people ride in those.

 

[cobgoblin]

The trouble is that treeless saddles start to soften up and mould to the horse's back as they are used. I wouldn't dream of using one without a pad with good spinal channel... Not worth the risk.

 

[The-Bookworm]

Mine hates the saddles with the panels. So we are panel free but use the Barefoot physio.

I will be selling on the Barefoot knee roll fenders at somepoint. I just wanted to see how we got on. They look lovely but no good for a jumping position. Never mind.