How to soften a synthetic saddle

[DQ_Foxhunter]

I have a horse, that has been on pasture rest the past 6 months and it shows!
She is so out of shape with a big belly, and so she let me know in no uncertain terms that her old saddle no longer fits her!
I have a synthetic saddle with an adjustable gullet that she seems happy with and I plan on riding her in that until she gets back in shape.
My problem is that this saddle has been sitting in the barn for years unused, the flaps above the stirrup bars are flipping upward, needless to say it is pretty painful to my upper thigh.
Anyone have any tricks for molding and softening fake leather?
Thank you from my poor thighs!

[Melissa.Van_Doren]

Leave it out in the sun. The heat will soften the plastic.

[DQ_Foxhunter]

@Melissa.Van Doren

Leave it out in the sun. The heat will soften the plastic.

Thanks that helped a little, was hoping someone new a of a good product to soften the stiff plastic part.

[Melissa.Van_Doren]

@DQ Foxhunter

Thanks that helped a little, was hoping someone new a of a good product to soften the stiff plastic part.

The only ‘product’ you should use on a synthetic saddle is water.

[poltroon]

@DQ Foxhunter

Thanks that helped a little, was hoping someone new a of a good product to soften the stiff plastic part.

Yeah, there’s no product for plastics. Heat can be used to reshape the material, used carefully, but the truth is that these materials do become less flexible and more brittle with time.

If it’s painful for you, works for the horse, and you’re just buying a little time before you replace it, you might consider a seat saver of some sort that goes over the top of the saddle. There are some different ones out there that have different levels of coverage that might work for you.

https://www.ridingwarehouse.com/searchresults.html?search=products#search=products&searchtext=seat+saver&opt_page=1&opt_sort=relevance&opt_perpage=48

[Postandrails]

I agree with everyone else, lol. There is no product you can use to soften them.

It might also help to fold the flaps inwards and tape them down before leaving the saddle in the sun for a while, and also while storing the saddle, to “train” them not to stick up.

This might be obvious, but I guess worth asking - Are you using stirrup leathers which sit flat under the thigh (ie no buckle sitting underneath the flap)?

I love using a sheepskin seatsaver, but if you don’t want to buy one, I wonder if it would be possible to tape the flap down flat even while the saddle is in use. It might just hold long enough with your thigh against it and certainly wouldn’t be strong enough to stop the stirrup leather from coming off in an emergency. There is probably going to be too much movement for it to work, but might be worth a try?