Impact protection for the back of an older horse?

[devvie]

I covet one of these wool (felt) pads very much – top of my wish list. Lots of info about their properties on the site:

https://www.5starequineproducts.com/...sh-saddle-pads

Love to hear from anyone who has one! They’re not trendy but the quality looks to be excellent – don’t know why I don’t see more of these.

[QUOTE=IFG;8598430]
when the horse sweat, they would get drenched.[/QUOTE]

Because the wool wicks the sweat away from the horse’s body.

[IFG]

[QUOTE=devvie;8602065]

Because the wool wicks the sweat away from the horse’s body.[/QUOTE]

Yes, but as I recall, they took FOREVER to dry. That is why shearling became popular. It dries much more quickly.

[Whitfield_Farm_Hanov]

Check out the facebook page, The Truth Tack Review.
She tests many pads for their shock absorbing properties. Interesting which ones do good & which ones fail.

[frugalannie]

Rats. I don’t do Facebook, but am curious. Anyone willing to do a bottom line summary?

[mydogs]

[QUOTE=frugalannie;8602832]
Rats. I don’t do Facebook, but am curious. Anyone willing to do a bottom line summary?[/QUOTE]

I have ridden my horse in both the ProLite, Thinline Full Sheepskin, and Thinline Trifecta last week. Each ride had different results, but I am not sure if that is because of the half pads or due to other reasons.

When I rode in the ProLite (Wednesday), horse was ridden by a beginner on Monday and had off Tuesday off.
When I rode in the Thinline Full Sheepskin (Thursday), I had ridden the day before.
When I rode in the Thinline Trifecta (Saturday), horse was ridden by a beginner on Friday.

I am going to ride in the full sheepskin on Wednesday, Trifecta on Friday, and Prolite on Saturday. That should give me a better idea if the pad makes a difference. Horse has a stiff hindend, so when I ride two days in a row, she is typically looser on the 2nd ride, than if she had the day off or was ridden by the beginner the day before.

[vali]

I used to use the thinline and the sheepskin thinline pads, but my vet recommended Sedelogic pads and they are incredible. Much better shock absorption and pressure point relief. You can also order a similar pad (seems to be identical) under the Kingsley name from Europe, which is less expensive.

[meupatdoes]

Team prolite here.

[Doctracy]

My complaint with Thinline is they don’t have any either relief. Both my old horses need something with more wither relief.

[mydogs]

[QUOTE=Doctracy;8616492]
My complaint with Thinline is they don’t have any either relief. Both my old horses need something with more wither relief.[/QUOTE]

My new Thinline says it is a wither relief pad.

[mydogs]

In the last two weeks, I’ve ridden in the following pads

• Prolite
• Thinline w/ full sheepskin
• Thinline w/ sheepskin around the edges (none on the bottom)

For shock absorbing, I liked the Prolite better than Thinline.

For comfort (horse w/ a sore back that takes time to warm-up), I liked the Thinline w/ full sheepskin, then the prolite, then the Thinline w/ sheepskin around the edges.

My horse has a sore back probably from years of improper riding and a bad saddle fitting (before me) so she is super sensitive in the beginning of the ride while her back is cold. She goes in a Back On Track pad and when it is cold/cool outside, she wears her BoT sheet for at least 30 minutes for her back to warm up. I notice a significant difference in her attitude when I tack up when I use the BoT sheet versus when I don’t. Right now for her, I like the thinline w/ full sheepskin because it has the sheepskin for additional comfort.

But, with the Prolite I “felt” more of a connection with her back. I could feel when she was finally warmed up and loose in her back in my seat. With the Thinline full sheepskin, I have a harder time feeling that kind of connection with her back.

If she also did not have a beginner who rides her 2-3 times a week, I would have stuck with the Prolite since I have enough control to not bounce in the saddle. If I decide to be her only rider and when her back starts to improve, I will most likely start using the Prolite instead of full sheepskin Thinline.

[walkers]

There was research done on saddle pads reducing impact. I think you can find it on horse.com. The findings were that reindeer fur gave the most protection followed by sheepskin and gel and rubber(thin line) style products were scored badly compared to fur and sheepskin. There is a lot of fake sheepskin on the market,you have to find the real stuff,thick attached to skin as for reindeer,no idea…

[Derby_Lyn_Farms]

I use and love my Ogilvy pad! I use it on my sway back gelding and I even notice a difference in the way he rides.