meh- whatever. That Long Riders site is long on ‘equine explorer lore’ and short on showing the actual letters received from 3M. I’d rather just read the actual letter exchange, which I couldn’t find. Only the overlong overly dramatic LRG letter.
I’m happy with mine, whatever it is. I’m using a horse pad as a dog bed. Better tell Noodle it’s not her bed.
It is a massive overreaction on their part that it’s being used “off label”, but it does confirm it’s a 3M doormat. My point was that you pay a lot more for the “Dixie Midnight” name than if you just order the same thing from a hardware store.
(And what kind of idiot uses gear on a long ride that they haven’t tried out before? And keeps using it after it rubs the hair off to the point that it causes galls?)
sure, agreed. I bought mine directly from Karl eons ago- he’s funny as hell and we had a great convo on the phone, I guess that’s the price I’ll pay LOL
I would like to lay my hands on it, again the LRG selectively quoted the 3M letter, which waters down their argument and makes it unclear. But it’s Very Exciting to Read. if you read it all. which I didn’t 
I have two Dixie Midnight pads that are 13 years old and still soft. The knock offs are NOT.
I guess you get what you pay for. I wish I would have bought a 3m mat :lol:, but that was before Al Gore invented the internet!
What is expensive anyway? I think 100 for a pad is nothing, when the restaurants are now charging 12 for a crap glass of wine! What the???
I noticed while shopping around this spring that Skito is using the 3M Nomad material in their Dryback pad. I find that interesting and it makes me wonder what Karl was using to make his pad back when he first started, if not now!
Karl is at least as blustery and dramatic as that LRG letter so that’s an even match if you ask me! :lol:
I don’t mind saying that $130 for a pad to go under my saddle pad is expensive for me. And that’s just for one horse-we have at least six horses under saddle on every pack trip.
I have a DM pad. I held off for a long time because it was expensive, and because I heard it was just a 3M doormat, and I had previously had a knockoff which was horrible. There are no words for how unpleasant that thing was.
Then I came across an actual DM sitting in a shared tackroom, and I picked it up and messed with it a bit (bad me), and it was much much nicer. It was actually soft feeling, and didn’t make me cringe to think of it on my horse’s back.
Doormat? Maybe. I haven’t seen a doormat made of this stuff, I have seen some that are more like the knockoff material (doesn’t mean the other doesn’t exist of course). So maybe the stuff at the hardware store is the same, but maybe it’s not. I’d get my hands on the hardware store stuff and play with it first, then get my hands on someone’s DM pad and mess with it too, see if they’re the same and if you could bring yourself to put either one on your horse’s back.
The DM sure does keep the Skito pad nice and clean, though. It also helps reduce the head buildup under the pad (the one thing I don’t like about Skitos is that it can get real hot under that foam. My horse is actually comfier with the DM).
I have two DM knockoffs, both from some cheapo place… One is much softer than the other. My softer one still doesn’t feel as soft as my friend’s DM, but its pretty soft, doesn’t bother the horse, and keeps my thick wool 5 Star pad nice and dry.
I’ve had two DM for 10-12 years. They work great. I also have two of the pads from Country Supply that are 7-8 years old, and other than the color difference, I can’t tell the difference.
I love the way the sweat runs out and my blankets stay dry. I’ve never had any sores or rubs and I’ve used them on 8-9 different horses. Both ridden & packing, for extended multiday pack trips.
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