Trying to keep expensive saddle pads cleaner. Is it too much bulk/potential for rubs to stick a super-thin baby pad beneath, so I’d have three layers in total?
This is going to depend on how the saddle originally fits. My saddles are flocked to really fit,.so all I can use is a baby pad. If the horse loses top line I do add a mattes sheepskin half pad.
The saddle pad is meant to keep the expensive saddle clean 
and should be able to just go in the washing machine as needed.
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This. You’d be surprised how bulky things get when you add even the thinnest layer. Especially around the withers. It starts to get hard to pull the spine up into the channel, especially if the pads aren’t cut exactly the same.
Why not just wash the pads as needed?
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Thank you, voices of experience and insight! It’d be easier to launder lightweight baby pads. I’m a little bonkers about the cleanliness of my saddle pads — hand washing them first, in fact. Like, that level bonkers. Maybe I’ll switch to just baby and half-pad for summer heat and skip the fancypants saddle pads.
I feel like super fancy saddle pads are like super fancy underwear. Silk panties are very nice but are you going to hand wash them every day? Rhinestones and bling on saddle pads that can’t go in the washing machine, same thing.
I have Ogilvy dressage baby pads plus LeMieux jump pads that are a bit more substantial but they all go in the wash just fine and in summer I wash after one use if the sweat soaks right through.
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Excellent point about fancy underwear. Puts it into perspective. Mine aren’t SUPER-fancy. Just monogrammed and substantial and I don’t want them to get crudded up from not washing. I hit them with laundry spray the moment I un-tack. Soak in Oxy, rinse, soak in detergent, squish, rinse, etc., then into the washer.
Oh you are using white pads for every day?
That’s a challenge. Dark colors with black on the underside is much less work.
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I picked navy with nice piping. Black is harsh and boring, to me, although really practical for dirt and stain disguise.
Honestly I don’t love black fabric
around horses because it gets dusty and faded so easily. I have a chestnut Paint with built in bling so I like navy blue, dark green, and have some lighter blue too. They all coincidentally have black undersides some kind of wicking fabric that is a dirt magnet but washes off great. For a bay or black I’d also think about the maroon/red colors
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Regular pad + half pad, is more paddign than baby pad + half pad. If the horse carries more weight in the Summer, that may work, and then use more combined pad thickness for less weight in Winter
What is the half pad on top of a regular pad accomplishing? Is the saddle a size too wide?
Is the regular pad a normal fleec full thickness pad, or is it a no-fill middle with just fleece around the outside?
Those answers might help come up with a solution to help you with the cleanliness of the harder to clean regular and half pads
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Don’t fall into the trap a fellow boarder did, he thought that a saddle pinching/ hurting his poor horse meant more padding was needed. No, that doesn’t work; is like using thicker socks because your shoes are too tight.
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Thanks for asking. The regular pads are Wilkers, plus a big fat LeMieux that’s supposed to breathe but doesn’t, probably because I also use a Kavallerie (thick, silicone?) half-pad. The fitter said to continue to use the Kavallerie when I bought this saddle.
Ootch. Good tip. That’s important. I don’t want an extra layer under the saddle in the name of laundry bliss if it’s going to cause any discomfort at all to Miss Mare’s back.
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Just a heads up that the Kavallerie gel (gel adjacent? I have the same pad, don’t know exactly if it’s gel) pad may not be the best choice depending on your needs. Gel pads performed poorly in a study on half pad types/ materials: https://thehorse.com/1104553/study-half-pads-arent-always-helpful/
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Thank you! Will definitely read this and then talk to my coach and the fitter. I appreciate.
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Here is my routine:
- start with a clean horse. Put the effort you are currently putting into hand washing the pad before tossing it in the washer towards cleaning the horse instead. Better for your horse and your connection
- swap out pad depending on weather/work load/dirt level - usually about 2 pads per week
- use strip hair or other curry to remove most of the hair and dirt (takes maybe 5 mins/pad)
- machine wash. I throw pads in with my regular laundry
. But if you do 1-3 it isn’t an issue
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OP, if you’re set on using so many layers, you just have to ask the saddle fitter to flock and adjust your saddle to accomodate for that. Otherwise I agree with the others that you could have some discomfort/pinch points by adding layers.
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I’m not set on many layers. Just asking whether it would be an issue to add a baby pad to the mix. Thankfully, you and others advise against. I appreciate the guidance.
