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Silicone breeches and Saddle “Wear”

Silicone seats on breeches / riding tights. Do they wear the leather on your saddle more than suede seats?

I can’t answer your question as I only have one pair of silicone breeches that I wore only once for the one and only Dressage show I attended last August. I hope to wear them again this year --but we’ll see how Hugh Jackman does --we are both older now.

The problem I had with silicone and my saddle was mine (remember brand new) made a little squeak, squeak, as I posted the trot. Now Hugh Jackman is incredibly well trained (I am only now learning to ride him) --to make sure he IMMEDIATELY cantered when my old-lady-legs gave him what I hoped was the appropriate cue --I made a little kissing sound. Of course this is not allowed when showing, but practicing at home, I did so.

In the warm up ring, after I got on Hugh for the first time in my sparkly white breeches --I walked, then trotted --THEN Hugh picked up is lovely round canter —ooops --he mistook my squeaky breeches for a canter cue. We discussed as best we could before our classes --not sure if the issue was resolved but he performed a splendid test (60%)! and the judge made no mention of my noisy breeches --the judge did mention many, many other things --hands, legs, posture, etc, etc --but he had only complements for Hugh Jackman --clearly schooled upper level and sadly being ridden by an old bat who had only 4 dressage lessons in her life --and sparkly new breeches!

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I’ve been riding almost exclusively in Piper Knits, which are one of the stickier silicones, for five years in a Black Country Vinici and don’t see anything that looks like excessive wear (bought it brand new in 2015 and started out riding in ultrasuede full seats before switching to silicone). I’ve also been riding in a Patrick for almost two years and see no discernible wear.

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I also ride almost exclusively in silicone full seats in my CWD, and have not noticed any excess wear. Maybe if I were riding 4-5 horses a day in the same saddle, but I only ride one. I also think that most silicone is only super sticky for the first wear or two, and then after that most become significantly less sticky.

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That’s very funny and also very informative. My horse is very sensitive to verbal cues so I appreciate the heads up!

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Thank you for sharing!

Appreciate your response! I wonder if washing before wearing would reduce some of the brand new ultra stickiness?

what about a tiny bit of baby powder on a makeup brush? Brush it over the silicone stickies then dab off with a towel? That should eliminate the worst of it without getting your breeches all powdery

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Another show snafu - before I got a shorter jacket, I showed my mare in silicone full seats and my Pikeur Diana coat - the tails got stuck to the silicone when I posting and started pulling the coat down between my rear and the saddle. I made a mental note not to show in that coat again until all the trot work is done sitting!

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Goodness! Another good heads up! No long tops with silicone!

I bet it would. I always wash mine inside out and hang to dry. They are still sufficiently sticky to be worth it to me over other types of full seats, but not so sticky that I feel like I can’t get out of my truck with leather seats :joy:

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My saddle has shown wear from wearing silicone. When I asked my saddle fitter about it she said that silicone does wear the leather more and she’s been seeing more seats that need replaced because of it.

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My sister is a saddle fitter. She is seeing additional wear on saddles due to silicone breaches.

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Just sit on the floor, or a barn-bench. The barn dust does a great job of reducing the stickiness. :slight_smile:

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I was afraid of that. I’m in need of new breeches/tights with a phone pocket and most of what I’m seeing in my size is silicone. I have a brand new saddle and I’m pretty much terrified of messing it up

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I’d heard a similar report from a fitter. Which is why I started this thread.

I haven’t really noticed a whole lot of wear with my saddles but I also wipe/clean my saddle after each ride and frankly, I don’t ride for long periods of time at all. Usually 15-30 minutes at a time, 45 if I’m feeling ambitious.

Kerrits has some full seats that aren’t silicone! They’re like some sort of synthetic suede and I really like the feel of them since there’s no squeaking.

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I did see a Kerrits Flex 3.0 or some such that comes in my size, has a phone pocket and isn’t silicone. I may stick with those just to be safe

Let us know how you like them! I don’t think those are the exact ones I have but I have had my eye on them

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I was told to at least wipe my saddle down and condition it (at least on the seat) after every ride to help.

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