Hello all! I have followed many threads on the COTH forums but only now registered for an account. I have a bit of a dilemma; for quite some time I have been searching for the right treeless saddle pad. After pouring over tons of reviews from this forum and a few others, it seemed the (Black Forest) Grandeur Suspension pads were the unanimous win. I finally set aside enough cheese to purchase one for my roly poly SSH pony mare.
The Black Forest website clearly states that these pads are from GRANDEUR, Made in Germany, the real deal. I shelled out $270 for a suspension plus pad and anxiously awaited all week for it to arrive today. I thought it looked a little different than the ones on the site, and the more I got to looking at it I realized it had a big ‘Made in China’ tag on the spine. I called BFS and inquired about these pads being from Grandeur, and the gentleman said “Oh no, not at all…” And proceeded to tell me that was not the case, like I was silly for not knowing, and explained to me how they “improved” the material and put ‘real’ sheepskin on it–pretty sure it’s synthetic–not just fleece (Seemed like he was almost putting Grandeur down) etc., and how I would pay at least $265-270 for a true Grandeur pad…which is EXACTLY what I paid for the Made in China ‘Black Diamond’ pad!!! :mad:
So now I am sure their costs for this thing are wayyy below justifiable for the price I paid. I don’t want to sound snobby, but I just thought I was getting something else…it definitely isn’t what was advertised on their site. Vic Bond made me feel like an idiot. I have been dying to have one of these pads to go with my Barefoot Physio Ride-On bareback pad and I don’t know where else to get one of these. Everyone raves about the Black Forest pads, but it seems they have outsourced their product fairly recently. I looked at Action Rider Tack (where my Batefoot BB pad came from) and their only BF suspension plus pads are bright red and probably the Made in China kind, too. I’m a little at a loss as to how to proceed. I don’t want to try it on my mare and decide I don’t like it and not be able to return it. I also double checked their site, which has claims everywhere on the saddle pads page about Grandeur and Made in Germany and this and that. Should I return it? What would you do?
EDIT**: Upon further inspection, I realized what poor quality these new BF Chinese made pads are. I noticed that the stitching is shoddy and incomplete on the underside. The stitching on the piping around the foam seat area and around the piping on the edges of the saddle pad, as well as on the spine are incredibly inconsistent and uneven on each side as well. The distances between the spine and foam seat area on either side are wayyy uneven. The more I look at it, the more I see how poorly made this pad is–like straight lines and measurements went out the window. It even FEELS cheap. This is NOT what I paid for, nor is it anything near what was advertised on the Black Forest site (i.e., German made Grandeur brand pads!!). I feel very mislead and frankly, like I got lied to and scammed. BFS had very good reviews on different forums–including COTH–over previous years on the real Grandeur pads. I’m not sure why they changed, other than for monetary benefit. This is very, very poor craftsmanship for the price being charged (Vic stated that I would pay $265-270 for a true Grandeur, which is funny and rather questionable considering that’s just what I paid for the Chinese knock-off) and I hope that one day soon they will return to the real, quality Grandeur pads.
Until then, I will be returning this pad (and losing $40+ in shipping fees). Be forewarned!!! Black Forest Saddle pads are now made in China and in NO way shape or form are they anywhere comparable to Grandeur pads. Based on the look and feel of my Barefoot pad, they don’t even use real sheepswool/skin, either.
