I bought the small human blanket thinking I’d throw it on the horse while tacking up. Never made it to the barn-I sleep on it and my hip seems a little happier. Have a saddle pad and loin blanket (quarter sheet basically). Got the saddle pad used and the loin blanket half price so it was worth a try at that price. I don’t know if they work miracles, but the mare seems to warm up faster and be less stiff, even here in Ontario with our cold snap we’ve been having. I’m glad I have them but not sure I’d pay full price for anything.
The wraps always work really well, but I’ve been hesitant to buy the saddle pad. I agree with the other poster that said it really needs to be on for quite a while for it to work. JMHO.
My 5 y/o OTTB chestnut mare that was soooooo sensitive you could not touch her back w/o her attempting to cow kick you (forget about riding…) made me a believer! I am am usually a very skeptical person…bought a BOT halfpad (I have mine sewn into a fly sheet so my princess can wear it all the time) and her back is soft like butter AND she lets you curry and touch her now! And she’s happy!
I have the summer weight sheet, love it I put my turnout sheet over it when it is cold , my mare is better with it.
I recently got my cast off my hand I bought the back on track gloves and slept in them. I am a total believer of how the products work.
I borrowed a barn mate’s BOT Western pad for Fella when she suggested it after I complained that my saddle is popping around too much and I’m getting sweat patterns that show the saddle having moved onto Fella’s spine. I figured it was because I’d lost so much weight and that was changing the way I rode and how the saddle sat on him. I was ready to look for a new-to-me saddle, but tried her BOT pad and wow -even, beautiful sweat marks. It could simply be that her pad is thinner than my Roma pad and that made the difference in stability of course.
Paula
I’d heard a lot of people rave about the BoT products and was kind of skeptical, but when I found one of the pads on sale I figured it was worth a try. My horse takes a long time to warm up, and even after 20-30 minutes of walking he was stiff and short-strided for the first few minutes at the trot. The first time in the BoT pad, he stretched down and really moved out immediately when he started trotting. I’ve been using the BoT pad since then.
I tried riding in a normal cotton pad again a few times, but I can feel that he’s much less willing to round up through his back and is more reluctant to move forward.
Love the pads, I combo them with ThinLines or use the combo pad itself. Love the sheets. My old mares warm up faster in them and I could notice a differece in my “stiffer” of the two when she wore the sheet. My hubby swears by the elbow brace which he uses on the elbow he broke as a child, helps with the arthritis. Also love the mattress cover–we quit waking up with sore backs.
Another vote for BoT! Love their products for both horse and human. The saddle pad really helps my sensitive and back sore TB hunter relax in the winter. He just won’t tolerate the heat in the heat! No BoT for him in the summer - makes him worse.
I used a back on track pad with a thin line half pad this winter on a horse that is usually slow to warm up and has a sore back so he often resists the canter. He went well and everyone thought it was because “he likes me” somehow. I think the pad helped him. It’s hard to know for sure. I know humans who like the products for themselves.
What do you guys think about using these in warmer weather? Still okay?
