I have to remind myself of his wonderful traits as well. He emailed me and told me to have my friend use the bosal, which was residing in a rubbermaid container in the garage. I pulled THIS out of the container, which the horse hair switch thing all crinkled up :mad:. Probably a very expensive piece of tack…He said it wasn’t his fault the container shifted. I had to use my own personal hair straightener on it so I wouldn’t feel ghetto in public.
I have one of the very expensive ‘saddleright’ (sp?) custom pads…and found it did such a wonderful job on our gelding’s back that we have used it every. single. ride. with the exception of showing… We’ve owned it probably 7 years?
I never got the custom ‘baby’ pads to go with it—and this pad is made with a suede ‘top’ and a heavy wool/material undermatting.
I could never figure out how to clean it until, year before last I had an thought!
Why not lay it out on the driveway, and use a rug cleaning machine on it. NO detergent, just the ‘spray on the hot water, and extract it at the same time’ kind of cleaning machine used on carpets.
Voila. AMAZING what tons of filthy sweaty black water came out!!!
I was really very pleased with myself! The underside comes out looking almost brand new.
Take it to a car wash and use the high pressure sprayer to clean it. I wouldn’t use the soap option, just plain water.
OR if you have good water pressure at home you can use your hose with a spray attachment.
Then let it air dry.
Works like a charm!
We always use a pad liner. I have wool pads that are 10 years old and look new!
You can toss the liner or try and wash them but your saddle pads stay like new!
The 5 star wool pad cleaning instructions are pretty good. I always use a soft rubber curry on mine, then brush it with a harder bristled brush. It is dirty, hairy, smelly work but I always feel better once it is done. I don’t know how tough it would be with a pad that has never been cleaned after years of riding though, lol.
They take FOREVER to dry (which is funny because my wool socks and shirts I use when hiking dry in a heartbeat), so be sure you don’t plan on riding for a few days. That could just be a result of the 100% humidity we experience all year though…
P.S. The rug cleaner is a great idea!
I never use his tack, so waiting for it to dry is fine. It only got used for a friend to borrow on a trail ride yesterday.
The same lady that washes my turnout blankets does saddle pads too. Costs $15, but it came back clean, though still hairy even though I curried it with a shed flower ahead of time. Once the fur gets embedded into the wool, it becomes part of the blanket like some sort of hybrid horse-wool.
I have never pressured washed a saddle pad. I would be afraid of blasting a hole into the wool. Anyone?
and I did forget to mention the other very good tried and true method of washing pads at my farm… make the lesson kids do it. nyuck, nyuck…
