Freeform and choice of pad

My Toklat, Supracore and dressage pads would not work for this saddle. Only the Equipedic or HAF pads do, the later of which I've only tried twice. Two things about the Equipedic and HAF pads that are different from other pads (this coming from a person who did 2 seasons in a dressage saddle with nothing but a thin cotton dressage pad). The FreeForm - which is the only saddle after trying out 5 others that works for my boy once he started to fill out - is treeless (although it does have firm injection molding as the base of the structure) and therefore needs to have 'help' (this is my opinion but shouldn't be construed as fact) to stay above the withers. I have a very high withered horse so I'm only talking about my needs. In any event, the Equipedic is marvelous for distance riding and the HAF pad the two times I've been out riding in it, has worked very well. Since I've only ridden the HAF pad in moderate to cool temperatures, I can't say much about whether it has heat build up issues or not, except to say that Tally didn't sweat where the pad goes on this last training ride but did have some sweat from his shoulders, neck and between his legs. On another note, I've had some difficulty with the stirrup leathers chafing me so I'm going to be using my half chaps until I can either get leather covers or have my daughter make me a saddle seat that completely covers the leathers. This could be just me but thought I'd mention it. Otherwise, I'm the biggest fan (maybe) of the FreeForm saddle. I say this because it cost me $10,000 for 5 saddles including the custom built one that still didn't work, a couple of rides I couldn't do after trailering a significant distance (Twenty Mule team last year - 6.5 hours to get there) and too much anguish that my horse had a slightly sore back because of poor saddle fit. Anyway, the FreeForm fits all our horses (check the archives, I've said a bunch about this point) and works pretty darn well for me. Not for heavyweights though, as it doesn't work for my daughter (yet - but Chris Martin at www.freeformusa.com is working on it). Good luck! Sandy and Tally (who's lovely picture from Tevis is on Chris' website) p.s. I'm just a regular endurance rider, I don't sell nothing except good wishes!!