So I finally gave in and bought one of these super expensive Equestrian Stockholm pads…but only because it was on sale. Okay…and then I promptly bought another one at a horse show when I was depressed about having to scratch and did some “therapy.” I have resisted the brand (and PS of Sweden too…so far holding strong on that one) so far minus a some brushing boots given as a gift a while ago…but it was only a matter of time when half of the barn is riding around in these beauties. If I’m going to spend this much cash on a saddle pad it better have a stunningly beautiful floral print…or be custom. At least that’s where I was before this purchase. I mean…obviously these take good photos, but is the performance of the pad up to par for the price? Let’s see shall we!
So I fully expected these to be overpriced reasonable quality pads that look pretty…and they really are all of that…and a bit more. They are obviously gorgeous and the fabric and colors are stylish and beautiful. This pink pearl one above is just above and beyond beautiful and the Amazonite one looks amazing with Jax’s coloring. And so far the quality is excellent. No complaints there – I’ll update this in about 6 months and see if anything changes. Fabrics, sewing, and extra materials are exactly what I would expect from the price. Not one thread out of place.
I really enjoy pads that have that mesh/waffle backing/breathable type material (like my pricey Eskadron pad) and with lightweight fabric so they keep the horses less sweaty and dry faster. I didn’t expect these pads to have that…and I was pleasantly surprised they do. So check box one, two and three are positives.
Style – Stunning. So beautiful.
Performance – Great fabric. Lightweight. Dries fast. Doesn’t seem to overly attract stains.
Quality – Excellent.
Fit. How does this fit? Well unfortunately because these are rather stiff in the spine, and there isn’t a ton of contour in the wither area …the fit is a little awkward on Jax. Because he has such a high wither, the bottom point of the back of the pad is significantly lower than the front bottom of the pad which looks a little… goofy. On horses with less Throughbred-y withers these probably fit fine, but on Jax…a little silly as you can see. So a little minus there for me. Maybe it will get better when I use the crap out of it and take some of the structure out of it. I should note, none of my other pads fit like this on him…Eskadron, Dotbel, Cavallino Marino, HKM, Cavalli Puri, Le Mieux, Back on Track… Maybe because the point is squared off rather than being rounded off it looks weird? But I notice it looks like that on many horses on their advertising shots too…so maybe that’s what it’s supposed to look like? That’s a knock on this pad. To me…the fit is not great and not attractive.
Ease of Care/Keeping it clean. It’s a little more fiddly than many of my other pads. The lighter fabric doesn’t seem to hold on to dirt as bad as I thought it would, but the pads didn’t clean up as clean as other pads in my collection do in the same washing situation and dirt really seemed to cling to the top side fabric in the seaming, which is unfortunate. The mesh side washes completely clean. I do also wash these in a extra large garment bag to keep the metal emblem from scratching anything and to protect the pearls. Long term, I’m concerned about how well these will hold up and keep clean…especially for the price they are.
Value. Now…are they worth it? Well certainly they’re worth it if you can get a pad you want on sale on the website. The Amazonite one was a good price and I’d be happy paying it again (I think I paid $70). The second pad I did get a discount on at the show and it was fairly priced as it was and because of that, it was also a pretty good deal (Paid about $80). Do I want to go on their website and buy one full price (which is ~$100 depending on exchange rate)…not really. I mean, it’s not that they’re not good quality, and compared with other pads on the market the price isn’t’ terrible…but I do think they are more fairly priced in the $80 range IMO. I’d buy a lot more of them at that price.
Certainly if money isn’t an object for you, they are perfectly usable, very beautiful pads and if you can and want to, please buy all of them so we can live vicariously through your Instagram posts. Can I 100% recommend them? Of course not. They’re not perfect and for $100 a pad, they should be perfect…but then again prices on everything has gone up so much lately I’ll probably think $100 is a bargain a year from now.
Are they going to make you ride better? No. Are they going to make your horse more comfortable? Probably not. Are they going to make you and your horse look stylish? Yes! Are they going to make you look like you have too much money in your bank account? Yup…for sure. I’m not judging…promise!