The Cushions
Project barebackpad part one! Building from the bottom up, so first the cushions for extra support and keep the pressure of the spine.
I used 3 different materials for the cushions and build it up in 5 layers to make it thicker and softer. It's a bit different than what I have used to make pads for treeless saddles in the past so I don't know for sure if I will like it but that's why they will be detachable. These are the layers I used in the order they will be stacked on top of the horse:

han I placed layer number 5 underneath number 1, removed the two inlays and sewed the sheepy parts together creating a pocket for the inlays. Than flipped it inside out, put the inserts back inside the pockets and closed it up tightly by sewing it by hand.
To attach the two cushions together I used a wide nylon strap to sew them together while leaving space in between for the spine. And to make it a bit neater I also stitched a strip of the sheep underneath the nylon band so the bottom of the cushions don't have the band exposed.

I've kept the nylon strap longer than the cushions on both sides as I am not completely sure yet how I am going to attach everything together. But this is what it looks like so far:

To be continued...

For the longest time I have had my eye on those supercomfy looking sheepskin barebackpads. But they are almost as expensive as a new saddle. And it may sound weird coming from someone that works with leather but I do not like the idea of real sheepskin when there are good fake options (at least good enough for me and what I want to use it for).

So I've been wanting to make my own comfy barebackpad for a while now and finally decided to just go for it and ofcourse try and keep it as cheep as possible and use as much recycled material as possible. But still have it end up looking nice and be comfortable for horse and rider.

Pictured above are the materials I am starting out with;

• An old, but still good, barebackpad. I don't like the colour, it's stained, the leather needs care and it's too big for Lodewijk
  
• Western girth, still good but will need some adjustments
• Faux sheepskin
• Foam that I pulled out of an old mattress
  
• (sewing machine, thread, big needles)
  

The Plan
At first I just wanted to make a seat with foam blocks, remove the leather strap, shorten the length of the pad, cover the whole thing in fake sheep and attach the leather strap on top of that. But ofcourse that would be too easy and I 'like' to make things difficult for myself.

New Plan
Keep the leather strap attached, still shorten the pad, make a removable seat so it can be washed, not full length but a bit shorter to make the seat slightly more narrow and make detachable cushions for underneath the pad.

Not sure where to start so I am going to just build the pad from the bottom up. Let's see where this will go....