One thing I’ve found that goes a long way to keeping saddle pads clean (in addition, of course, to making sure the horse is spic and span prior to ride :winkgrin: ) is to hose off the saddle pad after - especially if the horse was sweating. It will get a lot of the dirt off if you just hang it on a fence and hose it down.
The sweat drying, along with the dirt, tends to “seal” in the dirt better from what I’ve found.
I will cycle through a few pads a month. Leave one in a bucket to soak with some horse shampoo while I ride, then hose down and hang out to dry. This way I almost never need to bring home to wash. The end result isn’t show/clinic clean, but it prolongs the time between when I need to wash them and also keeps dirt from accumulating to the point the pads get crusty, which is a weird pet peeve of mine.
For getting those show pads like new again, wash only one or two at a time. Put them in ASAP (ideally while still wet), normal detergent, and 1/2 cup of bleach diluted in water. Most washer machines now have a bleach bin, but you can also just chuck it into the wash as it is going.
That works well for me. What also works is getting a pad that is a dark color so it hides all the dirt… :lol: