LeMieux saddle pads

[atr]

I have 3 of these. I like the way they fit. BUT they drive me up the wall with that plastic girth guard (I assume) squeaking against my boots. It’s got to be that bit of the pad really as I don’t have this problem with any other pad (so not my saddle, girth, etc.)

I’m careful not to polish the insides of my boots. With my old boots I resorted to coating them with talc to stop the noise, but I’m reluctant to do that with my new boots!

Does anyone else have this problem or am I unique? I’m about to dissect one of them to see if I can find a way to get it to stop.

[CanteringCarrot]

I’ve not had this problem, and I have many LeMieux pads with this feature. I was just about to recommend talc, but I see that you’ve already done that. I wonder if a thick leather conditioner (like a leather balm) on the plastic would help?

[lazaret]

no need, could just use the much less expensive vaseline, but I would actually suggest a silicone for this. Show sheen might work fine.

That said I have probably 20 of the lemieux pads and I don’t have this issue, so I can’t say for certain.

[CanteringCarrot]

I thought about Vaseline for a sec, but I already have plenty of leather balm on hand, so I mentioned it because the OP might too and be ok using just that. I guess the “no need” would be personal preference and/or opinion, really.

[atr]

It is weird that it just happens to me. Actually not just me. per se, because it’s anyone on my horse in my saddle.

[CanteringCarrot]

I wonder if it’s something about the horse’s shape or the flap of your saddle. The flap on my saddle covers most of that guard. I could see it potentially causing an issue depending on where your flap ends and also depending on the roundness of the horse’s barrel.

If you wanted to experiment, you could just get a seam ripper, or whatever else might work, and just remove that piece, but I imagine you’d have to cut around the billet keeper part. Or you could come up with a felt cover, or something like that for that area. I don’t know that it’s worth doing, tbh. I’d experiment with some topical solutions first.

[atr]

So I leather balmed the underside of my flaps and all over the girth guard and straps before I rode today and it was blissfully quiet. The pad is now in the washing machine so I will have to do it again next time I use it, but it worked.

Thank you!!

[Jealoushe]

Are you sure it’s not the inside of the flap on your saddle?

eta: seems you found a solution already!