When Should Saddle Riser Pads be used?

What is a Saddle Riser Pad?

Saddle riser pads are used often to alleviate pressure from the saddle on your horses back. They can also act as a shock absorber to increase the comfort and support for the horse. Saddle riser pads and adjusta pads are a fantastic tool to have on the yard, but must be used with caution. 

The pads can be made from a range of materials such as gel, foam or wool. They come in a variety of options, such as full saddle pads with risers built in, half pads with shim systems, sheepskin half pads, gel pads plus many more. 

Riser pads should not be used without consulting your saddle fitter. Using different pads to how your saddle fitter fits your saddle can completely alter the fit and do more harm than good. Therefore, we recommend you always consult your saddle fitter before deciding to use a riser pad. 

Not sure who your local fitter is? Click here to find out!

When should you use saddle riser pad?

Under the guidance of your fitter a saddle riser pad such as the Cavaletti Adjusta Pad can be a great way of aiding the fit of your saddle and therefore improve your horses comfort whilst being ridden.

These types of pad are particularly useful if you have a horse that is coming back into work after a holiday or rehabbing from an injury. They will have probably lost some muscle and topline. A riser pad, especially ones like the Adjusta Pad can then be used for remedial purposes. As your horses rebuilds and regains their muscle and strength. As the muscle redevelops the pad is removed. 

They are also fantastic for young horses who are constantly changing shape, instead of buying a new saddle each time they change, use a pad with shim inserts to lift or fill as required!

Riser pads should not be used as a long term fix instead of getting your saddle fitted correctly to your horse.

Should it be used with a numnah/saddle cloth?

If you always ride your horse with some type of saddle cloth and your saddle has been fitted with you using one. Then it is absolutely fine to use a saddle cloth in conjunction with a riser pad.

Most risers are designed to be used between the saddle and the saddle cloth. Ones such as the sheepskin half pads can be used direct onto your horses back. A bonus of using them with a saddlecloth is that it is easy to keep your pad and saddle clean. Even though they are washable to saves the need of removing the shims (if it's a pad such as the Cavaletti Adjusta Pad or a prolite based one) before washing. Then having to remember which shims go where each time!

Find out here our Top 3 reasons to wash your your saddle pad regularly!

How to use a saddle riser pad

Some riser pads have pockets where shims can be inserted. These allow precise adjustments to be made to the fit of the saddle using the pad. The Cavaletti Adjusta Pad is a great, affordable pad which comes in both Full and Pony sizes so is ideal to have in your tack room. 

The adjusta pad has a total of 8 shim pockets. Two full length ones accessed by a velcro fastening on the spine of the pad. Then 3 pockets each side. So it can be used as either a standard all over riser pad with the two full length shims being used. Or if for example you horse has atrophy behind the shoulder you can add a shim each side in the front pocket. This will lift it up and off your horses shoulder and withers. Some horses conformation means that their saddle may bridge on one side. Or if they have lost muscle it may bridge on both sides. In this case popping a shim in the affected side (or both sides if needed) middle pocket will aid this. As well as increase the surface area your saddle makes contact on your horses back.

Some saddles such as European or French saddles are often used with riser or half pads to achieve the optimum fit for the horse. Typically this type of saddle is a foam panel saddle, therefore nothing can be added to alter the fit. Therefore a pad is required to do this. In some disciplines, such as showjumping, saddles are sometimes fitted slightly wider than the horse and used with a quality sheepskin half pad to provide extra comfort and achieve a good fit. However, this must only be done under the advice of your local qualified professional saddle fitter. 

Where to get a saddle riser pad from?

Here at the saddle bank we thoroughly looked into the variety of saddle riser pads on the market, we found our favourite and the most adaptable one was the Cavaletti Collection Adjusta Pad which you can buy online here.

If you are local to us and in our Saddle Fitting Area - why not have a fitting with our fabulous fitters and ask them the benefits of the adjusta pad? They'll be happy to show you the versatility of them!