How thick should they be? I use a tacky pad with a navajo blanket. It seems thick enough for me but I have been questioned by a fellow horse person. I used two navajos with a tacky pad just to see.....and the saddle seems to want to slip a little when mounting.

Another question....What do you do when your saddle doesn't fit as well when your horse puts on some weight.....dry spots now?

1) Depends on the saddle and the horse. No such thing as one size fits all.

2) Try something different.

where in MI are you?  a friend is having a saddle fitting clinic next month that you might really enjoy & get it figured all out.  Here is the info:

I am trying to get a Saddle Fitting Clinic here in MI this fall, November to be exact. Not sure on the date yet, still working on it, but seeing if I have any interest in it.

Would be a one day clinic. Could do two days if I have enough interest. Can do 8 horses per day. Cost would be $125 for you and your horse or $50 to audit the clinic.

Clinic would start with introduction and importance of saddling fitting and such. Also would include a thing on massage. You would get a full massage on your horse, saddle fitting with up to three saddles for your horse.

This lady has been doing this for over 20 years, and she is super nice. Her name is Meleta Brown. Here is her website so you can check it out... http://www.thefreedomsaddle.com/

Please get back with me as soon as you can if you are interested in attending this. It is very informative and is a great learning tool to add to your education in the horse industry. Any and all disciplines are welcome. Please pass this on!!!!

Email me at: cqfarms@yahoo.com

I've been riding in a bob marshal treeless endurance model for 6 years.  However, its only been in the last two that I've really picked up on the riding. I used to ride once or twice a month for a few hours. Now it's week long events 5 or 6 hours a day at all gaits.   That saddle is NOT doing my horses's back any favors.  Its comfy for me, sure.  I bought the skito pad with laminated foam, extra firm, thicker than standard, with felt bottom.  This is the above and beyond the RECOMMENDED PAD by BMSS and Skito.  My horse has white spots  where my pelvic bones sit, and where the pommel and cantle hit.  I only weigh 120. I am a good rider, but don't have a very cushy tush.  I ride on my pockets, not with my tailbones jabbing into the horse.  Still she has white spots.  It does NOT distribute your weight.  Perhaps for running barrels or riding for a few hours a week it would be okay.  Maybe my horse is abnormal.  All I know is that for 6 hour/day rides the bob marshall saddle does not work in my case....despite a $250 pad.  Pads can help, but won't fix a poorly functioning saddle.  As soon as I find something else, I'm selling it. along with the $250 dollar pad.   As far as regarding the original poster, the less pad the better.  The high quality pads like equipedic aren't that thick, but are made of materials that absorb shock better than say fleece or felt, where you might need more thickness to obtain the same level of shock absorbtion.  I wouldn't want more than 1-1.5 inches of pad total.  If you have a perfect fitting saddle you can get away with less.

To comment on arab trees...your problem may be that there is more room in the shoulder area, but the bars are more curved for the arab back.  That would be why it's popping up.  Try a back cinch.  Check for bridging.  Sometimes too the rigging is placed far forward on a saddle, which when you tighten it down will cause it to pop up even if the saddle fits everywhere else.  My friend has a cordura saddle that does that.  A back cinch helps.

I've been through saddle fitting hell with my haflinger/belgian. I've bought every treeless saddle on the market. Hilason, Barefoot, Bob Marshall, Torsion....  I'm looking at a big wide billy cook roper today that will hopefully fit.  I keep a cardboard cutout of her wither tracing in my truck so I can MAYBE someday find a saddle that will work!

She does them all over the country - & I think is going to do another one in the same place (Crista will set it up) next spring since the participation was so great & she's had so many more that want to come to one now.  You can contact Meleta directly & find out where she is having other clinics.  She's moving to WY so won't be as available before long to your area.  (she lives in IN now)

also meant to say, it's too bad you didn't know enough ahead of time on this one - a gal from WI hauled horses to MI for it & maybe you could have hitched a ride!