Why We Designed the TrailMax™ Pack-A-Saddle™

After many years and many, many miles on the trail, I have seen all kinds of saddle panniers. Seeing them go down the trail, watching people work with them and as well as repairing them and trying to modify them led me to design saddle panniers that would truly be a complete packing system.

Traditional Saddle Panniers
I believe the idea behind traditional saddle panniers is good. They are perfect for rolling up behind the saddle if you want to ride in and walk a load out. Saddle panniers are a great, inexpensive way to pack gear into camp and still have a riding horse or mule available to ride from camp. And they are terrific for using that extra horse that is just burning hay. But traditional saddle panniers, if they can be called traditional, were not designed as a complete packing system because they couldn’t accommodate a top pack properly. So we designed a saddle pannier system, the TrailMax® Pack-A-Saddle, to address all of the problems we had encountered in the shop and on the trail.

What’s in the TrailMax™ Pack-A-Saddle™ System?
The TrailMax™ Pack-A-Saddle™ System includes:

• one pannier hanger
• two panniers
• two PolyPac hard plastic pannier inserts
• one H-Style top pack
• one felt padded pannier cinch
• one set of conversion straps for using the system on a sawbuck or Decker pack saddle

Advantages of the TrailMax™ Pack-A-Saddle™
The Pack-A-Saddle™ has four distinct advantages over traditional saddle panniers:

1. The panniers are not sewn together on the pannier hanger. Instead they buckle on with three roller buckles. This allows them to be packed on the ground. They can also be easily and individually weighed to ensure a balanced load and loaded independently onto the animal. To load traditional saddle panniers, you must either pack the panniers on the animal or load the panniers on the ground and then have two people to lift the loaded panniers onto the animal.
2. The Pack-A-Saddle™ System comes with a pair of PolyPac pannier inserts. These durable, hard plastic boxes fit inside the panniers and offer many benefits:
1. They give the panniers shape, which prevents the panniers from hanging low or awkwardly with heavy or odd-shaped loads.
2. They help distribute the weight of the load across the animal’s ribs.
3. They provide extra protection for the pannier contents.
4. They give the load structure and they provide a platform for the top pack or any items loaded on top, ensuring that they ride well.
5. They are durable and easy to clean.
6. They are useful when you get to camp as stools for sitting or standing on!
3. The Pack-A-Saddle™ System includes an H-Style Top Pack. The top pack is especially useful for carrying your bulky, duffel type items such as sleeping bags, lightweight tents and clothing. The top pack is designed with two zippers for access to the contents from either side. The pannier hanger is equipped with two compression straps which cinch the top pack down over the saddle. Lastly, there are two attachment straps on the top pack to cinch it down to each pannier, providing you with a completely secure load.
4. The Pack-A-Saddle™ System is versatile. Maybe you don’t have a pack saddle now…that’s why you want saddle panniers in the first place. But then you find you really like packing in or you need to bring in bigger loads. So you invest in a pack saddle. With the Pack-A-Saddle™, there is no need to purchase additional panniers for your pack saddle. Buckle the four conversion straps to your Pack-A-Saddle™ panniers and you have four hanger straps for using the panniers on a sawbuck or Decker pack saddle. And the top pack will work with either one. You can still use the felt padded pannier cinch or you can cinch the panniers down to the pack cinch rings.

Extras on the TrailMax™ Pack-A-Saddle™
In addition to these four special features, we included a couple extras with the TrailMax™ Pack-A-Saddle™ System. The felt padded pannier cinch connects the two panniers and ties the whole load together, securing it like a lash cinch and lash rope with a diamond hitch. The cinch also provides the extra stability needed to use a top pack. Additionally, the panniers are designed with pockets on the back of each one for carrying water bottles, cameras, snacks, maps or anything else you might want quick access to on the trail. 

Helpful tips when using Saddle Panniers
Regardless of which style of saddle panniers you choose, we recommend that you use a larger saddle pad under your riding saddle to protect your animal from the panniers. Pack pads are generally 32” x 44”. The pad you choose doesn’t necessarily need to be this big or as thick as many pack pads are, but your animal will be more comfortable if there is a pad between him and the panniers all the way around.

One word of caution when using any pack system: there are many factors to take into account besides just the size and weight of your pack load, such as the condition of your pack animal(s), the distance to be traveled, the temperature and the terrain, to name a few. For a more complete list, please see Russ On…How Much Weight Can My Horse Carry? The limitations of any of these factors need to be considered when planning your pack trip. If you are unsure how much weight to pack, always err on the side of safety, for you and your horse.