Yep, me again. Google has been extremely unhelpful lately. So here goes my millionth post. I just got done riding my older Arab gelding. He's been having some issues lately and has been out of work. He's better now and I went to take him for a walk today. He seemed very bothered by the bugs, but we were almost out of the woods so I didn't pay it much attention, but he continued getting worse until he suddenly was very unsafe. I ride him in a bareback pad and Western saddle pad for extra padding. I took both off to inspect and he was quickly happier. I was in the middle of a field and didn't have much else choice but to put them back on, he was quickly unhappy again. Kicking biting at and itching at the saddle pads near his flank. He did some of this behavior this spring when he contracted rain rot, but that is for sure gone. He was just very distressed. I lunged him a bit so I could watch without being unsafe and he did work through his meltdown, but was upset and soom as I started leading him again. I wonder if it could have been tingly or like lins and needles, maybe from sweat. But I'm not sure what to do about that, it's summer. Curious is anyone else has experienced this.

Have you washed the pads recently? Perhaps they are simply very dirty.

100% wash the pad and wash it well, if it still doesn't work try a different pad to see if the pad is the problem or not, I'm guessing the pad has something in or on it that's bothering him

Maybe a skin issue/allergic reaction? I'd bring this up to a vet next time they're around.

Seconding giving the saddle pads a good wash. No soap in case he's sensitive/allergic to that, just hose them out and let them dry and maybe run a curry over them to get any hardened horse hairs out of them. It's also possible that a bug somehow got stuck beneath the pads?

My second thought would be to watch him for skin sensitivity. Is he sensitive to the brush, being petted, or even a sweat scraper when you hose him off? It might be a magnesium deficiency. My OTTB gets super sensitive when he's off magnesium, to the point that he used to go better in a wool saddle pad than a cotton one.

He gets Vermont blend mineral as well as a magnesium supplement, so I don't suspect a magnesium deficiency. He is always very sensitive, gentle brushes etc. After this I put my English saddle and pad on and he did good. I then used my western saddle and a thinner pad, equally good. Today I rode in just the bareback pad nothing extra, anad he. Was good. So I think it was just sweat and being itchy.

Could be saddle pads washing as well as chiggers and other little bugs. I know seed ticks are horrible this time of year and you can barely see them.