Santa is bringing our 14 year old daughter a Bates Caprilli close contact saddle for Christmas, and I am shopping for a fleece saddle pad that will be a good fit for the cut of her saddle ( a full size pad - not half pad) - one that she can use for both schooling and also in the show ring. Looking for one that comes in at $125 or less, that can be ordered online, and which washes up easily without holding onto stains…
Anyone have any recommendations? Her saddle size is 18 in.
Thanks!
Are you planning to for her to school and show in the single shaped fleece pad? Most people don’t. Show pads are notoriously hard to get sparkling white, so they are used only in the show ring (when the horse and gear are all super clean). Getting sweat stains and boot stains out is hard enough without the everyday horse dirt!
Get some fun pads for schooling that can be rotated out and washed (2 is plenty, but you can make do with 1). Then take your saddle to the tack store and try a bunch of show pads under it until you find one that fits - generally you want about 1" of white showing around all edges of the saddle, when the pad is pulled up into the gullet. Or, get 2 fleece pads and have one for schooling and one for showing.
I think Wilkers still does custom pads made to measure, but I’ve not gone that way myself.
Has the trainer okayed this saddle for your horse yet? I think I remember you saying you weren’t working with a fitter at this time. They may say you need a half pad to fit, in which case you’ll need to get that first before worrying about a show pad.
Yes, her trainer has okayed the saddle for her horse (she had to switch out the gullet when she fitted it, which is something I didn’t know how to do; the saddle came with adjustable gullets).
She used one of the saddle pads she already owns when she fitted the saddle - and we did get a girth measured properly, so I’ve now ordered the right size girth from Dover Saddlery, so that’s taken care of. And she got the new stirrup leathers and stirrups (the specific ones she recommended that I order) all properly in place on the saddle as well.
And I have ordered a monogrammed baby pad for schooling.
Our trainer started by adding a half pad when she began fitting the saddle, but ended up removing it (she had another teenager at the barn ride our daughter’s horse under the new saddle with and without the half pad in the ring at our barn, and ultimately decided that the half pad wasn’t necessary)
So it sounds like I need to get one fleece pad for schooling and a nicer one for the show ring.
So first, I’d use whatever your trainer likes! But it sounds to me like you’d get a shaped fleece show pad and have your monogrammed pad for schooling. No need for another fleece one. Or is trainer saying to use the shaped fleece over the baby pad?
I would double check with your trainer. To me it sounds like you’re planning to stack the “schooling” fleece pad on top of your monogrammed pad - essentially riding on two layers not so different from a baby pad + half pad. However, your trainer has said you don’t need the half pad and are fine riding on only one layer. Not the end of the world to end up with two show pads you don’t use daily, but that’s still money saved for something else.
Double check with trainer, but yes one shaped fleece pad makes sense if you plan to show!
Just putting some pics and suggestions!
Most people ride in something like this at home, plus a half pad if needed:
For show pads, you run the gamut. This SuperQuilt is the classic show pad you find at tack shops, I like the high profile one. Likely you’d need the Close Contact:
Prices just go up from there. I like EcoGold for grip:
You can get full sheepskin and everything in between, but those two above have served me well.
Here’s the Wilker’s, they still do made to measure I think. You have to choose CWD and then input measurements and photos I think, but I haven’t done it myself.
ETA: are you perhaps using “schooling” for anything at a show but not in the ring? If so, that may be why I’m a bit confused. To me, schooling is anything not actively showing - including at home. Perhaps the idea is a baby pad to go under the show pad while warming up (“schooling”) at a show? And you’d use whatever square pad at home?
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