What Size Saddle Pad Do I Need?
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Size your saddle pad from your saddle, not your horse. Measure from the pommel button to the middle of the cantle, then choose a pad that extends about two inches past the saddle on every edge. If you fall between two sizes, size up a pad slightly too big is untidy, but a pad too small puts saddle edge directly on horse.
By the riders at Farris · Updated August 2026
Key takeaways
- Measure the saddle, pommel button to mid-cantle. Horse size is not the input.
- Target roughly two inches of pad showing beyond the saddle on each edge.
- English pad sizes run roughly XS 14–14.5", S 15–15.5", M 16–16.5", L 17.5"+.
- Between sizes, go up. Too small is a pressure problem; too big is a tidiness problem.
- Shape matters before size a correctly sized pad in the wrong cut still sits wrong.
Why you measure the saddle, not the horse
This trips up nearly everyone buying their first pad. It feels like a horse should have a pad size the way a horse has a rug size. It does not.
The pad's job is to sit between saddle and back, so its dimensions have to relate to the object sitting on top of it. A 16-hand warmblood and a 15-hand cob can ride in the same 17.5-inch saddle, and if they do, they take the same pad. Two horses of identical height with saddles two sizes apart take different pads.
Horse conformation affects shape wither clearance, contour, how much spine relief you need. It does not affect the length and width you order.
How to measure your saddle
- Find the pommel button. It is the small stud or nailhead on the side of the pommel, at the front of the saddle.
- Run a soft tape to the middle of the cantle. Follow the seat, not the outside of the flap. This is the standard English seat measurement and it is the number your saddle was sold as.
- Measure the skirt width. Turn the saddle over and measure across the widest part of the panel. This tells you whether a standard-width pad will cover it.
- Add two inches. Kavallerie's sizing guide gives the target as two inches longer than the saddle and two inches wider than the bottom of the skirts.
If you already know your saddle's seat size most riders do, because it is how saddles are sold you can skip straight to the chart.
English saddle pad size chart
| Pad size | Saddle seat size | Typical rider |
|---|---|---|
| Extra small | 14 – 14.5" | Child or small pony rider |
| Small | 15 – 15.5" | Junior or petite adult |
| Medium | 16 – 16.5" | Most adult riders |
| Large | 17.5" and above | Taller adult, or a larger seat on a big-framed horse |
Size ranges follow Kavallerie's sizing guide. Individual brands vary by an inch or so either way, so check the maker's own chart when one is published.
How to check the fit once it is on
Tack up as normal and look at the pad from three angles.
From the side. You want a consistent band of pad visible along the bottom edge of the saddle flap roughly the width of two fingers. If the flap overhangs the pad anywhere, the pad is too small for that saddle.
From the front. The pad should clear the withers without pressing on them, and you should be able to lift it into the gullet channel to make room. If the pad is pulled tight across the withers before you have even mounted, it will be tighter under a rider's weight.
From behind. An inch or so of pad past the cantle is right. Much more and it will flap and catch; much less and the back edge of the panel is riding on horse.
When you are between sizes
Size up, and the reason is not aesthetic.
A pad that is too small leaves part of the saddle panel bearing directly on the horse's back. That is a concentrated pressure point at exactly the place a pad exists to protect. A pad that is too large sits untidily, may bunch slightly at the back, and can look wrong in a show ring real problems, but cosmetic ones.
Given a choice between a tidiness problem and a pressure problem, take the tidiness problem.
Four sizing mistakes worth avoiding
Sizing from the horse's height. Covered above, but it is the most common error by a distance. The saddle is the input.
Assuming brands agree. A "medium" from one maker can be a full inch different from another's. Where a brand publishes its own chart, that chart beats any general guidance including this page.
Measuring the flap instead of the seat. The pommel-button-to-cantle measurement runs across the seat. Measuring along the outside of the flap gives a longer number and pushes you a size too big.
Buying to fill a gap. If a pad looks too small because the saddle looks perched, the problem may be saddle fit rather than pad size. A larger pad hides that; it does not fix it.
Ponies, cobs and wide-backed horses
Size still comes from the saddle but conformation changes which shape within that size works.
A wide, round-backed cob with low withers generally does better in a flatter, less contoured pad. A strongly contoured pad on a round back creates a bridge at the front, so the pad touches at the wither and behind but lifts in between.
A narrow, high-withered horse needs the opposite real wither clearance, and a pad that can be lifted well into the gullet without pulling tight across the spine.
Pony sizes follow the same logic with smaller numbers: measure the pony's saddle, add two inches, and expect to be in the extra small or small range for most 14- to 15-inch seats.
If you also use a half pad
Size the saddle pad normally, then size the half pad to sit within its outline. The half pad should be visibly smaller it follows the saddle panel, not the full pad.
The mistake to avoid is sizing up the saddle pad "to make room" for a half pad. That is not how the two stack; the half pad sits on top, so the saddle pad's dimensions do not change. Half pad vs saddle pad covers whether you need one at all.
What size does not solve
Correct size will not stop a pad slipping. Slipping is a friction and balance issue, and a bigger pad can actually slide more because there is more of it to catch on things. If your pad migrates backwards every ride, that is a separate problem with a separate fix.
Correct size also will not compensate for a saddle that does not fit. Nothing under the saddle does that.
Get the shape right first
Size is the second decision, not the first. A perfectly sized dressage pad under a jump saddle still leaves the flap sitting inside the pad's outline, and no amount of correct measurement fixes that. Settle the pad shape that fits your saddle before you order a size.
And once you have shape and size, how thick your pad should be is the decision that most often gets made backwards.
One thing worth deciding at the same time
If you ride out alone, carry a phone, or have ever ridden with one in a jacket pocket and thought better of it, decide now rather than later retrofitting is not possible. A pad with a phone pocket only helps if you buy it in the first place.
The Farris English saddle pad combines a zip pocket with an anti-slip underside and girth protection, which covers three of the decisions on this page in one purchase.
Back to the English saddle pad buying guide.
Sources
- The Complete Guide to Proper Saddle Pad Sizing  Kavallerie
- Choosing a Saddle Pad Dover Saddlery
