Professional's Choice Neoprene Horse Cinch

The cinch is the strap that holds a saddle to a horse. For backcountry pack use — multiple days, variable weather, a horse that sweats under load — neoprene is the practical choice over mohair or cotton. It distributes pressure evenly across the strand bundle, doesn’t absorb and hold sweat, dries quickly at camp, and doesn’t degrade from repeated wetting and drying.

Professional’s Choice is the reference name in performance horse equipment. Their neoprene cinch is built for daily working use, not occasional arena use. The stainless roller buckle doesn’t corrode; the neoprene center ring keeps the cinch positioned correctly under the horse’s belly rather than migrating forward or back under load.

For a pack outfit, you need at least two cinches per pack animal — a front cinch for the pack saddle and a rear cinch to prevent the saddle from tipping forward on downhill terrain. Inspect cinches after every multi-day trip; a worn or cracked cinch on a loaded pack animal is a field problem you don’t want. The horseback camping guide covers the full tack checklist for a pack trip.