# Vaulting pad and Bareback pad



## Mireya (Jul 10, 2015)

Hi everyone. Can someone please explain to me the difference in a vaulting pad and a bareback pad. I love riding bareback on my mare but I have read a lot about weight distribution and I don't want to hurt my horse. She just turned 4 a few days back:grin: and I only ride for 20 minutes at a time.

So I was wondering if I should use a vaulting pad to ride her bareback. I read that they have better weight distribution. Is this true?

Thanks.


----------



## DraftyAiresMum (Jun 1, 2011)

Well, a bareback pad doesn't distribute weight at all, really. All it does is cushion the horse's back from your seat bones and keep your pants clean. A vaulting pad looks to be thicker (more like a saddle pad), so provides more cushion. However, from the ones I've seen, the vaulting pads look to be made to use with a surcingle, which might make regular riding awkward because of the positioning of the surcingle.

All in all, I think comparing the two is like comparing apples and oranges. They're two totally different things that are built for totally different purposes.


----------

