Anti-Slip saddle pads

As a saddle fitter,I would never recommend a non-slip pad under a saddle, if the saddle fits you do not need them..The saddle has to move a little when the horse moves, especially if you are jumping, when you land the saddle needs to go forward, with a non-slip pad it grips and takes the hair with it, a bit like giving a chinese burn!!!
I had one client who's horse bucked her off every time she used one!!
 
I figured saddle fitters would hate this that's why I didn't even consult mine :o

I didn't think of the chinese burn thing though.

Minnie is just so round! The saddle doesn't move forward or backward but it does still have lateral slip - unless I tighten it super tight.
I feel bad for making it so tight.

On my horses with more wither/back shape the saddles stay even with less tight girths.
 
I appreciate what poohsmate has said and I did consult my saddle fitter as I have an uber round horse, but he is extremely thick skinned and not at all sensitive so appears to have no issue with it. I was a bit of a cheap skate though and bought some of the shelf liner and sewed it in to both sides of my existing numnahs and saddle cloths.
 
For real? lol
I thought the stuff reminded me of shelf liner!

Hm. Not sure what to do now...
My saddle has nice wool serge panels so it doesn't slip on the pad. The thing movers over as one (saddle on top of pad).
And never forwards and back -just sideways.
 
KarinUS said:
here I go reviving another ancient thread...
Minnie's saddle just got adjusted and is now in it's final stage.
She's so roley poley flat and round that it still has some lateral movement unless I girth her up until her eyeballs pop out.
So I just ordered this pad:
http://www.smartpakequine.com/succe...age-noslip-saddle-pad-9834p.aspx?cm_vc=Search
It has the no-slip on top as well as underneath.
I can't tell but it does look a little bit like cupboard liner, doesn't it?
Is it comfortable for the horse?
We'll see how it does...
Click to expand...

The main thing with with roly poly ponies/ and saddles is that you need to lower the centre of gravity, so that you sit as near to the horse as possible.
Most movement from side to side is the ponies fat layers moving with the saddle and not the saddle itself.
So using the thinnest numnah you can find helps. As soon as you start putting thicker pads/numnahs under a saddle you will sit higher and get much more lateral roll.
One reason that saddles slip forward is that they are not sitting level on the horses back, if it is level and you are in the middle of the seat the chances of it moving forward are minimal.
Another common reason can be that it will be to wide which cause a see saw affect, then the rider tends to sit on the back of the saddle lifting the front which then makes the saddle act like a ski and slide over the shoulder.
This tends to happen if you had the saddle fitted to a wide pony and it loses weight, which does happen quite quickly at first.
They only have to lose a cm either side of the withers to go down a fit.
 
I'm with poohsmate on this though I will also add that on the wide horses many saddles are too narrow or upright, or curved in, through the bars (even some saddles aimed at wide horses) or can be too curvy from front to back, with a corresponding lack of panel contact, which means less grip, and lateral instability as well as the slight rock from front to back.

Moving forwards is also SO common on wide horses - the cantle is often too low even if the tree is the right width, and many saddles will need a deeper rear gusset, or the head of the tree is too narrow giving too much clearance and the same issue as well as lateral instability. That weight on the cantle means contact and grip is lost at the front and the weight on the cantle drives it forwards.

I do find though that with the right fitting saddle a thicker pad is possible, such as sheepskin, as long as the pommel isn't lifted too much (the thicker the pad the more the front of the saddle is lifted, proportionately). Occasionally it will make a saddle laterally unstable, but then the saddles I fit are very flat in the tree and close contact in the panel to begin with, so are seldom made to perch with a thicker pad.

My average fit width is XW-XXW and I've yet to need an anti slip pad.
 
sorry I may have described that wrong. When I mean roley poley I mean round as in round in shape not necessarily fat. I am pretty sure there's no fat layers moving. It's the saddle moving sideways like during mounting or other times of displaced rider weight.
Here's an illustration ;):
shapes.jpg


Of course I agree that there are two things contributing: shape of the objects plus weight displacement of the rider.
If rider weight can be centered in the center then well fitting blue thing on top of round thing will not move.
If rider weight is displaced due to mounting, rider losing balance in movement, etc. however the blue shape will be more likely to move around a round object than a well fitting blue shape moving around a triangular object.
 
No, honestly, I have some very novice riders - they tend to buy wider sensible types! Stability on a wide shape IS hard, but it can and should be achieved with saddle fit, the right girth and choice of girth straps, with shimming for any major physical asymmetry.

Is it the saddle Kitt advised on long distance? She may have ideas on how to stabilise it.
 
I use the prolite one on our round Welshie and it keeps the saddle in place. Tried a limpet one and it was useless.
 
sbloom said:
No, honestly, I have some very novice riders - they tend to buy wider sensible types! Stability on a wide shape IS hard, but it can and should be achieved with saddle fit, the right girth and choice of girth straps, with shimming for any major physical asymmetry.

Is it the saddle Kitt advised on long distance? She may have ideas on how to stabilise it.
Click to expand...

Do you include mounting in your opinion that we shouldn't need anything else other than a good saddle fit? :unsure: Once I'm in the saddle, I have no problems with stability, but mounting is the one thing that I struggle with because of the roundness that Karin has described and I can't see how gravity could be defied unless I have someone holding the other stirrup, or I am able to step over my horse from an uber high block and not put my foot in the stirrups until I'm sitting on the horse.
 
A fellow livery had a non slip pad - and actually did her horse a fair bit of damage in the process - I am sure Poohsmate will testify.

If it slips, it doesn't fit I would say, and if it moves, it would be down to rider balance, if it is fitted correctly in the first place.

This I know because my saddle doesn't move when I am sitting correctly. It did move on very exciting cubbing day because we cantered a lot, up hill and down dale and I seem to sit or lean to my right more - I also collapse more on my right, and that particular day showed it up a lot.

As for mounting, I would get a higher mounting block and leap on quick - I think taking time over mounting causes more problems that it resolves. But that is just my opinion.
 
sjp1 said:
If it slips, it doesn't fit I would say, and if it moves, it would be down to rider balance, if it is fitted correctly in the first place.
Click to expand...

For me it really differs from horse to horse. I have three and on the TB I could probably hang off the side with a net catching butterflies and the saddle still wouldn't move. Oh and of course it's down to balance. That's what I tried to explain in the graphic on top. If I stayed in the middle the saddle wouldn't move. But Minnie is as limber as a cat. The physio said she was the most flexible horse at the big barn (140 stalls).
Is she spooks I lose balance, the saddle slips sideways and it makes it even harder to recover.
If I was totally perfect I wouldn't need the extra help, but I think I do (need the help).

Minnie is just really starting to get pissed about having the girth so tight. I hate upsetting her.
She likes her thinline pad so I decided to modify that rather than go with the no-slip pad.
Sewing on shelf-liner though is for more experienced seamstresses - I just couldn't get it to lay flat and it drove me insane.
So I ended up using the puffy paint you see on the bottoms of no-slip socks and painted little puffy pimples on the inside of the pad.
May not do much but it's got to be better than the slippery cotton blend fabric of the pad.
Here's the puffy pimple pad:
pimplepad.jpg


I also ordered an endurance girth (treeless saddle supplier sell that endurance girth here to stabilize treeless saddles) so I figured if it's comfy enough for endurance rides and stable enough for treeless it might be worth a try.
 
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Mounting IS different, yes, an I always recommend finding a block/fence/whatever (put the horse in a hole out hacking :D) to mount from, PLUS take your right hand over and hold the top of the right stirrup leather to balance your weight in the left stirrup.

If you use a non slip pad just to help you mount, and the saddle develops an issue that would otherwise cause it to move, how will you know there's an issue? With good saddle fitting, movement indicates a problem, you need to know if there's movement. And I still disagree that the best way to solve it is a sticky pad.

Your graphic does show the problem Karin but it's a solvable problem - getting the right tree shape plus maximum panel contact and the right girth etc does make a saddle fit, else I'd be turning to non slip pads a lot in my job! I fit more XXW horses in a year than most saddle fitters see in a lifetime :)
 
sbloom said:
Your graphic does show the problem Karin but it's a solvable problem - getting the right tree shape plus maximum panel contact and the right girth etc does make a saddle fit, else I'd be turning to non slip pads a lot in my job! I fit more XXW horses in a year than most saddle fitters see in a lifetime :)
Click to expand...
But I have a perfectly fitting tree, newly reflocked saddle.
I've already gone through 3 different girths and have spared no expense there. I AM hoping that the new girth on order will make a difference.
But after that I'll be sort of out of options...

All I know is that she is getting pretty unhappy about having her girth so tight her eyes about to pop out. :(

What are your thoughts on stabilizing girths then? Any recommendations?
 
attaching pad to saddle

with my round pony surprisingly I never have had any slipping issues, but with my new qh with high withers and a very long back I was having trouble keeping the wool blanket on her. It would slip backwards under the saddle. I saw a link online for attaching your pad (obviously you wouldn't want to do this to a 100 dollar pad) to your saddle. I have a soft nice fitting endurance pad that was slipping but otherwise fits her saddle and her perfectly so I got the pad in the right positions under the saddle, up in the gullet etc. and cut a couple small slits in the pad and then attached the pad to the front rings on the saddle. It works great. I just did it about a week ago and the slipping is gone now.
 
I don't have any front to back slippage. And the pad stays under the saddle fine. If it moves sideways it moves together: saddle and pad (put of course it's an English saddle so the billets go through the keepers
 
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