How to Wash Saddle Pads – Get Those Saddle Pads Clean!

Do you need to clean your saddle pads, but don’t have access to a washing machine? Or maybe you’ve been banned from using the home washing machine for horse stuff. Whatever the reason, here is how to clean your saddle pads without using the washing machine.

As a kid, I was allowed to wash my saddle pads in the washing machine, BUT I had to then vacuum and scrub the inside of the washer after doing so.

Fast forward to adulthood and shortly after buying our house the washing machine died. So we bought a shiny new one and agreed that horse blankets and pads would not go in it. (I do still wash the smaller cleaner things like fly masks and rags with our other rags).

Related Post: 9 Things Every Horse Owner Should Do This Spring

If you just want to Throw your Pads in the Washing Machine, Here’s How to Do It:

1. Select a mild detergent (Some horses will have a reaction to certain soaps so test them out and use with caution)
   • Horseware Blanket Wash – yes, it can be used for saddle pads too
   • Seventh Generation Laundry Detergent – favorite scent is the lavender one!
   • Leather Therapy Saddle Pad Wash
2. Use cool or cold water.
3. Run a gentle or hand wash cycle on your washing machine.
4. Do an extra rinse cycle to ensure that all the detergent is washed out of the pads.
5. Either hang your saddle pads to dry, or run them on your dryer’s air dry setting.

I started bringing the blankets and pads to the laundromat – where they will wash your saddle pads for $30 for a garbage bag full. Just so you know, a garbage bag of saddle pads is less saddle pads than you think. I’ve done this a few times and it keeps my washer clean and I get to pick up clean saddle pads without doing any work.

But it works out to about $5 a pad to wash them, and when many saddle pads are only $20 to buy…you see how I was getting tired of paying that much to wash them!

Additionally, the smell of the detergent they use and a few detergent stains was making me annoyed with this semi expensive process. So, I decided to try washing them myself without the washing machine.

Here are the steps to wash your saddle pads without a washing machine:

1. Use a mild detergent (I like Seventh Generation since we’re also on septic) and fill a big bucket or tub with water, detergent and your saddle pads.
2. Let soak for 1-4 hours to loosen dirt and debris.
3. Hang saddle pads on a fence.
4. Scrub hair and dirt with this awesome brush (more on that below)
5. Use pressure washer to spray off the dirt and detergent from the pads.
6. Flip pads over and repeat.

Read on for real-time photos and in-depth directions for each step of this process.

*Hint* Bring your tub(s) to wherever you are going to want to take them out and hang them on a fence for washing in the next step. I didn’t do this, and ended up carrying heavy, soaking wet saddle pads across the arena and down to where my pressure washer was. Make it easier on yourself and put them nearby before you fill with water!

Here are the top three detergents to use for washing your saddle pads:

• Horseware Blanket Wash – yes, it can be used for saddle pads too
• Seventh Generation Laundry Detergent – favorite scent is the lavender one!
• Leather Therapy Saddle Pad Wash

Pour a mild laundry detergent into a bucket or tub and fill with water and saddle pads. I found something just like this large outdoor tub sitting in my barn, but anything you have laying around will work. You might need more than one bucket/tub if yours is too small to hold all your pads.

Muck buckets also work really well for this, but a new one would be a good idea so you don’t soak your pads in manure water.

Let the pads soak for 1-4 hours while you do other things.

When you come back to your tub o’ saddle pads, the water will be disgusting, brown, possibly a bit stinky. There will be hair, dirt and oil floating around in the water. Just look at mine!

Take the saddle pads out of the gross water, or pour some of it out of your tub so you can get them hung on a fence.

Hang the pads on your fence.

Gear up your pressure washer to get the dirt out of your saddle pads (if you don’t have one, here is one with good reviews). Pressure washers can be used for a ton of things around your house and barn so this won’t be the only time you will need one.

Start spraying your saddle pads from top to bottom to push the dirt off the pad. In the picture below, you can see where I have sprayed, and where I have not yet.

This is the addicting part.

I just purchased this cheap lint and hair removing brush which was fantastic for scrubbing the pads that had hair and dirt stuck to them. It can also remove hair from your fabric car seats, couch cushions and carpets!

Repeat the rinsing and scrubbing until you have cleaned your saddle pads!

Some stains probably aren’t ever going to come out of your pads but that is quite a before and after change in the pads!

Time VS Cost

This did take a few hours, so is the cost savings worth the time spent?

I think so because I spent as much time dropping off and picking up the pads from the laundromat as I did just washing them myself. And I didn’t have to deal with their stinky detergent.

I’ll be saving myself the money in the future and just washing these myself. I loved pressure washing the dirt off the pads too.

Where do you do your horse laundry?