By Sonja Eschenburg
With customers from all over the country, many who order pads online as opposed to buying them in person, it is the job of Best Ever employees to help these horse owners design and order a saddle pad that correctly fits their horse’s back. Obviously every horse is a little different and requires a little different needs, but with their guidance and 30 years of experience as horsemen, Best Ever employees are able to tell their customers what works best for them and the company.
Every horse is built different, but no matter their structure, it is important to always make sure your saddle and pad fit their backs correctly. Ryan White, one of the owners of Best Ever Saddle Pads, is here today to give a few need-to-know pointers when it comes to finding the right pad.
Ryan White, with Best Ever Saddle Pads is here today saddling up one of the family horses, Minerva. The White family first got Minerva was she was just two years old and she is now coming up on fifteen. A great all around horse, Minera can pretty much do it all – from barrel race, team rope, ranch work – you name it.
Minerva, with a little bit of age on her, has withers that want to stick up a little more. To prevent any unnecessary, they use one of their BHS saddle pads. With the fleece bottom and Kush in the middle, it too is still an all in one kind of pad. The top layer has nice support where the bars of the saddle sit to provide extra support. These pads are a little bit more stiff because there is an insert, but that helps to allow everything to correctly mold to the horse’s back. The insert also raises the pad in the front. Although it is important to make sure to not pull your cinch up too tight, It is easy to see with the cinch still pretty loose that everything lays very flush and smoothly on Minerva’s back.
After throwing on a correctly fitting saddle tighten the cinch just enough to see that this pad also doesn’t push down on the withers of the horse, allows plenty of space in between the gullet to run your hand, or at least three fingers, through, and is big enough to still have a extra inches of room both in front of and behind the saddle.