There are a lot of hotly-debated points in the horse world: warmblood vs. Thoroughbred. English vs. western. Bumper pull vs. gooseneck. Mares vs. geldings. But in the saddle world, “foam panels vs. wool panels” can generate just as much discussion as more familiar debates. There are some pros and cons to both materials, and it’s worth investigating the upsides and downsides of each.
A LITTLE HISTORY (FROM THIS FITTER’S VIEWPOINT)
Some of the old saddles I’ve worked on have had an interesting variety of materials in the panels. I’ve seen felt, animal hair and wool of all qualities, including remnants from the garment and upholstery industries. I’ve seen bits of clothing, yarn, socks, nylon and foam, and combinations of all the above. The better quality saddles being manufactured these days are usually either foam or flocked, with some employing an interesting “hybrid” panel.
WOOL: THE PROS AND CONS
Wool is my personal material of choice – in most cases. Good quality wool is soft, it can be adjusted to accommodate an individual horse’s fitting needs, it breathes and helps keep a horse’s back cool, and it will conform to an individual horse’s shape. The downside is that it requires regular maintenance and adjusting. And even with regular attention, it will eventually compact, felt up and become “dead” – lose its resilience and cushion – and will have to be completely replaced at some point. The work and maintenance wool panels require means that you need to find someone with the tools and knowledge to work on it. Since it will conform to one particular horse’s shape, it’s often not the best choice if the saddle will be used on multiple horses (and in this instance, I often recommend foam panels over wool). Finally, wool panels must be thicker than foam (if you have an equal mass of foam and wool, foam will have greater cushioning power), so you get a different feel.
FOAM: THE PROS AND CONS
This first part is for those of you who remember (as I do) the introduction of foam in saddles – you youngsters may skip directly to the second paragraph if you’d prefer to avoid this trip down Memory Lane. Modern foam is a huge improvement over the stuff used “back in the day”. It no longer degrades into that nasty, hard, sandy stuff that used to ooze out of the tiniest hole and adhere almost permanently to anything it touched. (Remember when it would leak out of the kneepads of your saddle and become an integral part of the suede knee patches on your breeches? Anyone?)
Foam, as I said a little earlier, offers greater cushion with less bulk than wool – therefore, foam panels are thinner and offer a closer-to-the-horse feel for the rider.
Foam panels can often be a help in fitting the really broad, round horses, since they reduce the amount of bulk between the saddle and the horse and won’t make the saddles “perch” up on the horse’s back. Modern foams are also extremely resilient, and hold up well to concussive stress like jumping without changing shape or needing to be adjusted as wool does. This unchanging fit is a plus if the saddle is to be used on more than one horse. On the other hand, you can’t adjust foam the way you can wool; if a saddle with foam panels requires fitting adjustment, you’re limited to shims and correction pads.
THE SYNTHETICS
Some saddle companies use a synthetic “wool” rather than the real stuff. They feel this provides a more consistent quality of flock than real wool, that synthetics are more resilient and don’t require as much attention as real wool. It’s been my experience that this flocking material breaks in more slowly than real wool, and the really good synthetic flock can be a useful alternative to real wool. However, I’ve also found that its quality can vary greatly – some is quite soft and behaves quite a bit like the real stuff, while some is hard and tends to form lumps and knots very easily.
THE HYBRIDS
Some saddles use a combination of materials in the panels. Some line the bottom of the panel – the area that will contact the horse’s back – with a thin sheet of foam, and the rest of the panel is flocked with wool. This keeps the contact surface smooth and uniform even if a fitter leaves a bit of a divot or lump in the wool when doing an adjustment. Some have a similar lining of felt (usually thicker than the foam lining), and some panels consist of wool stuffed into a felt “casing”, sort of like a pillow – what we refer to as “Swiss” panels. These encased panels make major fit adjustments almost impossible due to the lack of space available for wool, so from a fitter’s standpoint, they offer only a little more in the realm of adjustability than foam panels.
CARE AND FITTING
Remember that it’s important to have the fit of your saddle checked on a regular basis, and – in the case of flocked panels – adjusted as necessary. I usually recommend the fit be checked at least once a year – more if you ride a lot or if your horse is progressing quickly in training. Even if your saddle has foam panels or Swiss panels, it’s important to be sure your saddle is still fitting your horse. An ill-fitting saddle will not only affect your horse’s ability to perform well, it can cause your horse a lot of pain to boot. That will do more than just make you feel like the meanest person on earth; it can result in vet and/or chiropractor bills, or worse – in dangerous behavior that could put you at risk. So please have your saddle fit checked regularly. Better safe than sorry!