Lining part of fenders with fleece

[Mathilde1981]

I have customer who has purchased a used saddle from me. But because the horse seems to have very sensitive skin, she wants me to put some wool fleece on the inside of the fenders.

I have never had a request like this. I was thinking of only lining the part of the fender that sits between the riders leg en the horse. In a sort of L shape and trimming down the fleece so it will not add to much bulk. And not taking it up all the way to the skirts for the same reason.

So I would glue the fleece and then partly stitch over the existing stitching of the lining.

My main concern is that the riders leg will no longer lay flush against the horse and she will not be happy with the alteration.

So if anyone has advice/ideas I would love to hear them. Or should I just tell her that it's nog a good plan?

Thanks for reading

Mathilde 

[Smartee]

Could you use a wool felt or something not as thick but with wicking properties?

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

First I would take a good look at the current fender/stirrup leather assembly.  Something is not right if it is soring a horse.  Is the buckle rubbing the horse? Are the fenders lined, and the lining has dried out to the point where the edges are curling and rubbing/soring?  Lining fenders on a saddle that will be used hard is always a bad idea IMO.

The part of the fenders that contact a horse is one of the first parts to rot out on a saddle, because of the constant exposure to horse sweat.  I strongly advise against putting fleece, or any other type of felt/cloth/absorbent material there.  In short order, it will become encrusted with dried sweat and dirt and will cause more of a problem than you solved.  For the same reason I will not sew fleece on a breast collar.  Personally, I would want to see the saddle on the horse, and rider in the saddle to evaluate the situation.

 

[Josh Ashman]

I'm no expert, but Big Sioux most certainly is! Plus 1 to everything she said.

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

2 hours ago, Josh Ashman said:

I'm no expert, but Big Sioux most certainly is! Plus 1 to everything she said.

Thank you for the kind words Josh, but i sure don't consider myself an expert.  Experienced maybe, but if I attain expert status before I'm too old to do this work, I'll have accomplished something!

[Mathilde1981]

6 hours ago, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

First I would take a good look at the current fender/stirrup leather assembly.  Something is not right if it is soring a horse.  Is the buckle rubbing the horse? Are the fenders lined, and the lining has dried out to the point where the edges are curling and rubbing/soring?  Lining fenders on a saddle that will be used hard is always a bad idea IMO.

The part of the fenders that contact a horse is one of the first parts to rot out on a saddle, because of the constant exposure to horse sweat.  I strongly advise against putting fleece, or any other type of felt/cloth/absorbent material there.  In short order, it will become encrusted with dried sweat and dirt and will cause more of a problem than you solved.  For the same reason I will not sew fleece on a breast collar.  Personally, I would want to see the saddle on the horse, and rider in the saddle to evaluate the situation.

 

Thank you very much for your reply. The problem is that this horse seems to have extreme sensitive skin and reacted to lined and unlined fenders. It is not the buckles rubbing but pure contact with the leather of the fender. I have been around horses all my life and have never seen anything like it. It's almost like an allergic reaction to the leather itself. When she rides in a English saddle there are no issues.

It's an Arabian gelding and trained for pleasure and horsemanship so he is never worked hard.

My gut feeling was not to go with the fleece. You have underlined very nicely why.

The saddle that I fitted and sold was a very nice older Champion Turf saddle. Saddle has low millage and fenders are clean and smooth. Every used saddle that leaves my store has been cleaned, looked over and repaired if necessary.

I think I will talk here out of it. Hopefully she will listen.

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

Could it be a conditioner that was used on the leather that the horse is reacting to?  Stranger things have happened.  I'd be curious to actually see the affected area.

[oltoot]

In my many years of making repairing and using of tack, sheepskin linings are a catch place for foreign objects, sweat caking, and an unavoidable addition of bulk, Only  the skirt linings have a good place, (+ bar paddings on pack saddles), note that the sheepskin is separated from skin by something so that must be part of the evaluation process. must be an allergy/ sensitivity kind of issue. Look at the horse side of the sweat leathers for dark, slick spots and they could lead you to pressure and/or irritation points then maybe a redesign of the sweat leathers could be indicated?

[MikeRock]

I wonder if you could use the plastic like on horse collar pads?  That sure helps heal sores.  And it helps prevent them in the first place.

[oltoot]

Note the collar pads or a saddle pad stay still next to the horse and isolate the horse's skin from movement, pressure, etc. The addition of fleece lining to a moving part is just that-an addition