So there will be a surprise birthday party for a good friend on the 17th of april. She recently bought a beautiful circle Y saddle with a round skirt. I have been looking all over for a nice ROUNDED saddle pad to go under the her saddle. Short backed horse. I found and ordered one, and it came in today. It looks too short on the sides. i believe the measurements are 32 X 28. That gives her 14 inches on each side. ( or just under 14 inches). Is this going to be big enough for her saddle? i believe she has a 16 inch seat. But i am no where near her and don’t know how i would check, even if i was close. I was curious if any of you know if 14 inches on each side will be a big enough pad? i don’t ride Western, and i searched online for days trying to decide what to buy for her.
I’ve ridden in my Crates round skirt (16") in a 30x30 square pad and it worked just fine. That’s an inch difference on each side and I can’t imagine it would make that much difference.
Good luck!
I think the size sounds correct. Some pass are designed for more showing than others.
14" drape should be enough, you really don’t want much outside the skirt on a shorter backed horse. Let her try it before you give up on it. Places that outfit Arabian show riders should have a good selection of round pads for the notoriously short backed Arabs if you need to return it. Schneider s comes to mind. Broken Horn too, don’t know if they have a website but I’ve ordered over the phone from them. One of the better Western stores out in Baldwin Park Ca with an in house saddlery also making headstalls and reins, they even engrave their own silver.
It should work fine, but if not, if you tell her where you got it, she can return it for a different size if it didn’t work.
i got in online, so i would be the one returning it.
Round skirted saddles for Arabians are so 1984. Very dated look. You wont find a pad for a round skirt at a mainstream Arabian outfitter.
yikes, that wasn’t helpful at all. Regardless of what you think of the style, the facts of the situation are that OP’s friend has a round skirt saddle and OP is being careful and thoughtful with her gift.
It’s probably fine.
I ride in my 14.5 barrel racing saddle with a 30x28 pad. I have plenty of room. (picture) Edited to add that 28 is the LENGTH on my saddle pad.
The tree on a 16 seat size might be slightly longer but it’s not going to be very much. You’ll be fine if 32 inches is the length.
Geez. What kind of attitude is that going to help with? If the saddle fits the horse and the rider is happy, who cares?
Wow, nice. Bump up a 3 months dead post to tell OP her friend just bought a hopelessly unfashionable saddle. Nice.
I hadn’t even noticed that the thread was old–what an odd bump.
OP, I hope your friend liked her pad and it worked out 
It’s an old thread? So me telling her that my pad is 28" wide and fits fine won’t be helpful any more. Darn. And apparently my saddle fitter doesn’t know round skirts are out of fashion, bc that’s what she told me I should look for. But I guess I’m not too worried about what’s in style in the show ring anyway. Sheesh.
OP, how did your friend like your gift? I thought it was thoughtful of you.
Well it is too small for the saddle. I had a feeling. I am so bummed out at how hard it has been to find a round skirt pad. I will try to sell it at the next tack swap. I sent her a Gift card to Stateline instead.
Whatever. It’s none of your business what saddle my friend has. If you cannot add helpful advice, step off.
Really? You should tell that to the thousands of barrel racers who are all running their horses in round skirted saddles. 
(ETA: I realize this is an old thread but I couldn’t refrain from commenting :lol:)
I have two round skirted trail saddles I adore; what’s fashionable in the Arabian circuit is almost as important to me as the Kardashians.
I have a 30" x 30" round skirt 5 star saddle pad under my 27.5" round skirt crates trail saddle. I had their square 32" x 30" for quite some time and while it was slightly too long, it was fine, I like the contoured round skirt better and it is customized so I feel sharp;)
My saddle may not make me one of the cool kids, but it fits my round shortbacked arabs and that makes ALL of us happy. I think tack that is well fitted and actually used properly is a good thing. You can’t put a square saddle on many of my horses without hitting their hips, or running into bridging.
I see quite a few round skirted saddles as the shortbacked horses are getting more popular… and they are a bit lighter!!!
