How do these work in comparison to other half pads? Are they worth the money?
They don’t. No one uses them anymore. They are to bulky.
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They are definitely out of style. I feel like the average rider’s understanding of saddle fitting has come a long way. A lot of folks who used to throw them on everything now think about how much narrower a 1” thick felt pad makes a saddle. There are also a few more choices in materials out there than there were 20 years ago (memory foam, thin line, etc).
However! They are very high quality, wear like iron, and wool has lots of good properties. I still happily use one when I need to make my saddle “fit” a narrower horse.
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They’re very thick and solid - they don’t confirm nicely to the back. I’ve seen them used successfully in a lesson barn where tack fits, but maybe not perfectly, and they wanted to give the horses some protection from beginners learning to post. They also help when you need to ride a horse in a saddle that is too wide.
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In addition to what everyone else says, I remember reading in a book, the Painfree Back and Saddle Fitting Handbook (I might have the title slightly wrong but I’m too lazy to go look for the book), that the keyhole cutout over the wither area causes pressure points. I have no idea if that is correct or not.
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Interesting. I’m not sure how it could, as there’s usually no saddle touching the cutout part. Maybe if the pad got pulled down tight against the top of the withers? I always make sure to pull the cutout pad up into the gullet a bit to prevent that.
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I’m just repeating what the book said. It wasn’t referring to the Beval pad in particular but just mentioned pads in general that have the keyhole opening.
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those keyhole openings increase the pressure around the edges of the keyhole,which is a smaller area for the same pressure. so you have to be sure that the pad doesn’t slip down, because it is a bit like lying on a pool noodle. Not too bad at first, but gets painful after a while.
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That makes sense although I can spend hours on a noodle in the pool! :lol:
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