The Revolutionary Anti-Slip Limpet Saddle Pad was developed in 1992 by horsewoman, Aline Holmes, and thoroughly tested in racing, showing and long-distance events by horsemen and women. 

"I wasn’t really a product developer," says Aline, "I breed horses." Aline’s yard in the horse country Devonshire in South Western England, has produced top-level showing stock for over twenty years.

The first trials with the Limpet pad were at her own yard, where she found that within twenty minutes of riding a horse with the Limpet pad, both the horse and rider noticed the big difference.

"Once the pad formed the bond, it not only eliminated slipping but also the heat friction caused by other pads, so the horse’s back softened, the shoulders opened and we got six more inches of stride."

The first horse to use the pad in competition was Aline’s own Anglo-Arabian show hack, Racing Colours, who had won the Horse of the Year show the previous year without the benefit of the pad. The Limpet pad only seemed to increase Racing Colours performance and the following year, she repeated as winner of the Horse of the Year show.

After her own successful trials, Aline decided to try the Limpet Pad out on other disciplines, like racing, where trainers told Aline that in a close race, the six extra inches per stride could mean the difference between winning and losing.

Soon the Limpet Pad was being used by several of the United Kingdom’s leading trainers like Lester Piggott, the most successful jockey in the history of England, who is now a trainer and Sir Mark Prescott, this year’s leading trainer of English flat racing.

After Limpet’s considerable success in England, Aline has come to the United States and introduced her pad to American riders.

"We don’t have too many Western riders in England," she explains, but one Western rider who does recommends the Limpet Saddle Pad is legend, John Lyons. "Members of the U.S. Olympic eventing team are also using Limpet pads," explains Aline.

Aline has seen very few differences between the UK and the U.S. market, but adds, "I don’t think I’ll call horses, gee gees anymore. In England, they would know exactly what you mean but here they sort of look at you with blank stares. But other than that, I think that horses are pretty much the same the world over, and Limpet pad can benefit them all."