Attaching a number to a saddle pad: UPDATE post 47

[Lord_Helpus]

I cannot believe in the year of our Lord 2015AD when we can land a space ship on a 1 mile long asteroid which is billions of miles away, that there is not an easy way to put your number on your jumper saddle pad. :mad:

I tried regular pins. I tried bandage pins. I tried a heavy duty stapler. And you have never seen a stupider looking job in your life.

There must be a way I have not been told about. But, if so, why do people enjoy watching me make a fool of myself?

Western people have saddle pads with clear pockets in them, but I was told that such pads are not acceptable in jumper land. Hunter riders wear numbers around their waist. Again, it is just not done in in the striped rails ring.

Can someone put me out of my misery and explain how the cool people do it?

And do not get me started on the whole Koppertox thing. (Fortunately I have better stuff now – but it was not in time for my medicine cabinet (the one with the green shelf).)

[refresh]

I don’t have any advice but I liked your opening sentence : )

Todd Minikus seems to religiously wear his number on his back, yet it’s true: the rest of jumper land isn’t into it. A lot of people get those store-bought interchangeable numbers that attach to a breastplate. As a former HS photographer who had to find & photo each persons number, along with the in-gate workers and judges who also have to document your number, they DO NOT like those tiny attachable numbers. I can’t tell you how many times I overheard in-gate and judges radio-ing about how annoying the small numbers are because they can’t score/time your round… because they don’t know who you are. If you’re able to do it with the help of the collective COTH wisdom, saddle pad or back is much better.

[jvanrens]

LH, why not just be the starter of a new trend in jumper land and get a saddle pad with a number holder on it. Some people just need to untwist their knickers. Damn they are a great thing. Either that or some of the fancy number pins that they use to put numbers on western saddle pads. A bit of bling would hardly be noticed I’m sure.

[Manni01]

Thats how they do it in Germany…
http://www.williams-eventing.de/en/articles/1791-startnummern-mit-klett

[PNWjumper]

The tiny attached numbers are the best way to go (purely from a rider/owner’s perspective)! 99% of the time I use the little number holders and attach them to my horses’ bridles like here.

But during FEI weeks that’s not a choice since you have to use the colored numbers you’re given. I have seen a few tie them around their waists, though the vast majority pin them to saddle pads.

So my disclaimer is that I am definitely not “one of the cool people,” but I also don’t typically have problems with my getting my numbers on, nor problems getting them to stay in place.

I stay one level below diaper pins and just use the heavier gauge safety pins (I was going to link to what I use, but realize that I have no idea how big they are measurement-wise). I have two ways of pinning. The first is to stick the pin straight through the number and pad and have it come out of just the pad to the left and right of the number. 2 pins, perpendicular to the sides. Haven’t had any problems using that method, though it doesn’t seem as sturdy as my other way.

The other way is to have the pins run parallel to the sides of the numbers. I go in through the number and then pad and then come back out of the number and pad. Still only use 2 pins.

I also usually angle the number so that it’s at the corner of the pad. I started doing that to keep the safety pin closest to my leg a little further out of the way, but I’m not sure it actually makes a difference.

Other than that I’ve got nuthin’!

I also find it strange that with all of the advances we have in technology there’s not a better way to affix numbers! I have tried the magnetic clips that are supposed to keep a number on, but the ones I tried definitely didn’t work on something as thick as a saddle pad!

[Night_Flight]

I wrote a post a while back with my way of doing it: http://showringready.blogspot.ca/2010/05/numbers-worn-on-saddle.html

I like this way because it keeps the number steady and having the pins on the underside means that a swinging leg is less likely to cause the pins to open up. It’s really not difficult once you’ve practiced a couple of times to get the hang of how far apart to space the holes and how much fabric to grab.

I do know someone who made their own jumper number pad with a clear pouch, but aesthetically it left something to be desired and the sun tended to reflect off of the pouch quite strongly.

[PNWjumper]

Night Flight - so are your pins hooked over the saddle pad but under the number? Who would get stabbed if a safety pin opened up? I’ve always done my pins on top strictly because I would far rather me get speared than the horse. But I’m wondering if your way is a good middle ground.

[Night_Flight]

The pins are between the number and the pad, so unless your pad is extremely thin no one gets poked if one ever opens up.

[Equibrit]

http://www.toklat.com/Products/ProductSearch/number%20pocket

[URL=“http://www.horsehealth.co.uk/equipment/accessories/competition-accessories/equidisk”]http://www.horsehealth.co.uk/equipment/accessories/competition-
accessories/equidisk

It would not be difficult to make a little strap with a popper for the disk thingy, to put on a pad, if you don’t want to put it on a leather strap.

[Lord_Helpus]

Equibrit, I know about those — they are for Western Pleasure hunter under saddle classes and are not cool for jumpers.

1. The pads are not square
2. The pockets reflect light
3. The jumper people must have something against Toklat, since the name is written on every number.

I think I will take it upon myself to come up with a way that does not involve stabbing yourself (the ‘royal’ “you”) with diaper pins. Then I shall patent it and sell my new thingys on Etsy for $50 each.

[Duckz]

What if you got a bunch of these and stuck them to your number. And then get a strip of…opposite?..velcro stuff and sew it on your saddle pad. Then stick the little velcro circles on the back of your number and slap it on your modified saddle pad.

Disclaimer: I didn’t even know wearing the number on your back was not cool in jumper land. Just throwing out an idea :lol:

[Calvincrowe]

I wear an eventer vest in the jumper ring, so tying a number on my “turtle shell” is awkward at the best of times, so I use PNWJumper’s method with the pins. I use standard safety pins (kind of cloth diaper sized) and angled works to keep the pin away from my occasionally wildly flying right leg (I’m just weird that way). But…I’ve learned to bring along clear packing tape to reinforce the pinning area as once you rip your number, there aren’t replacements.

But…what side does everyone pin their number on? I go on the left side. Is that normal??

[PNWjumper]

CC - I go on left side unless I’m using a pad with a monogram on the left, and then I pin it to the right side.

[ladyj79]

At FEI shows here in Europe, we don’t have to use whatever number placard they give us, and yes, most people do use the little changeable number dealy…like so http://www.dressage-ext.com/ProductDetail.asp?KEY=1499
I don’t attach to the bridle, I don’t attach to the breastplate, I attach to the “bite” of the stirrup leather, over the keeper. To me, it looks neater, has no possibility to interfere with the horse as bridle or breastplate location might, and requires no pinning

Never had a problem in Jumper land with the inability to see the numbers, since there’s a pretty well-adhered to start list. I know hunter land is another story.

[crthunder]

Visiting from dressage land where the norm is to put numbers on the bridle but my horse hates it!

I have my pads that are for the show ring and I sew small loop in the corner for the number to “hang” from using the metal hanger. Then I use medium safety pins on each side similar to how Night Flight shows in her blog. But just to make sure they don’t open I take a tiny bit of duct tape and tape the end closed.

Now I don’t switch the number off the whole show. For out of stall excursions and non show ring rides I use an old number flipped around with new number written with sharpie on it (giant address labels are great for making a clean slate)

Becky

[kdow]

@crthunder;8190693

Visiting from dressage land where the norm is to put numbers on the bridle but my horse hates it!

I have my pads that are for the show ring and I sew small loop in the corner for the number to “hang” from using the metal hanger. Then I use medium safety pins on each side similar to how Night Flight shows in her blog. But just to make sure they don’t open I take a tiny bit of duct tape and tape the end closed.

Hm. Instead of safety pins, what about sewing little snap-closed loops to the saddle pad (like, you’d sew one end down, and then the other would have one side of the snap on the pad and the other on the end of the strip to form the loop, so to close the loop you just fit the snap together? You could use something like grosgrain ribbon for this so you would only have to finish the ends so they wouldn’t fray) and then using a hole punch to put holes in the number(s)? So to fasten a number on you’d just poke the strip through the hole and snap it shut.

If you get good metal snaps I think they’d be sturdy enough as long as you sewed them on well (my trick is to sew them on, then put a dab of Fray Check or clear nail polish over the thread where it loops around between the holes of the snap - that kind of glues the threads together and makes them much sturdier - even if one breaks or the end comes loose, the whole lot keeps everything nice and stable) and you’d be able to use whatever numbers you wanted to with no clear plastic glare, and the pad should wash just fine however you’d normally wash it.

The only hiccup would be needing to have special pads that had the loops sewn on, but you’d have a special pad anyway if you bought one of the ones with the clear pocket. I don’t think the loops would be super obvious or ugly from a distance as long as you went with a color of fabric or ribbon that matched the saddle pad, certainly no more so than duct taped safety pins, and snaps are much less likely to jab anyone.

[Lord_Helpus]

[QUOTE=Manni01;8190438]
Thats how they do it in Germany…
http://www.williams-eventing.de/en/articles/1791-startnummern-mit-klett[/QUOTE]

I can’t tell if the circle is permanently attached to the saddle pad, or if the numbers are attached to the circle which is them attached to a saddle pad.

[Night_Flight]

[QUOTE=Calvincrowe;8190670]
But…what side does everyone pin their number on? I go on the left side. Is that normal??[/QUOTE]

The in-gate person usually appreciates it if you pin the number on the side that they will see when you’re standing at the in-gate, especially if the class isn’t a posted order of go.

[ManhattanOnTheRocks]

What about something like this - http://horse-supplies.sstack.com/horses/Show%20Number%20Magnets. Or just buy really strong magnets from a science store. No pins needed!

[Lord_Helpus]

In my exhaustive research last night, I have discoved a number of options.

The first one I am going to try out is semi-permanent fabric spray adhesive. Not sure it is strong enough. I know that they make permanent fabric spray adhesive that does not fully cure for 12 hours, so that may be the better option. But I will try the temporary stuff first. Now I just have to find some old numbers that I have not thrown away.

I will report back.