Every summer my miss-sensitive gets more sensitive and saddle pads sometimes make rub marks. I’ve googled this, and all the advice is for rubs on the back behind the cantle or on the withers. My mare gets rubs in front, at the bottom edge of the pad, the curved corner in front of the girth.
My saddle doesn’t have wool so I can’t have it adjusted, but it does have a changeable tree.
She has always been in between tree sizes - saddle fitters always measure her as a large MW, but she is VERY angry in a MW. She is happy in a W tree, so that’s what I use, and the saddle pad issue occurs only in the summers. Usually, it’s just the occasional rub, I’d have to make sure to frequently wash the pads and NOT put in dryer so that they become “stiff” again for a few rides. The rubs typically happen when they’re all soft and flimsy. Well, this summer, it has gotten way worse. She’s rubbing like every ride, freshly washed pad or not, and the pad is starting to bunch up under the saddle during lateral work. UGH. I put the MW tree in again, and got angry mare. I tried a super thick half pad with the W tree, angry mare. I put shims in my Thinline half pad, makes no difference (but no angry).
I’m waiting on a new saddle to arrive (it has wool flocking yay); in the meantime I’d like to get a new pad or two at the suggestion of my coach. A “stiff spine” was suggested, it looks like that means either fleece/wool lined or something shimmable. Anyone have a particular preference to one or the other? I already have a shimmable half pad, so not sure if a shimmable square pad is somewhat redundant. Or a double back pad?
Any other suggestions for this particular issue? :sigh:
