First of all, has anyone used either one of these (or anything similar) and noticed a difference vs. a normal saddle pad?
Secondly, if so, has anyone here tried both of these and preferred one over the other?
Thanks!
Of the two I have experience, years of experience, with the BOT/ThinLine Contender II GP saddle pad.
The horses’ backs don’t get as tense under me. The BOT part really helps there.
The horses backs are spared a lot of the effects from my bad balance and incoordination. I can usually control my body, but occasionally I lose it and slam down in the saddle. This is where the ThinLine parts of this pad and the ThinLine shimming inserts really help (plus the fact it is a six pocket saddle pad.)
Over the years I gave two of these to my riding teacher. She has them reserved for HER horse and a horse that often goes out on the trails with her.
I am only interested in 6 pocket shimmable pads usually. I ride lesson horses at a pretty big barn (this barn has more than 5 or 6 regular lesson horses) and with this pad I can make my saddle more acceptable to the horse if my saddle does not fit the horse well. The only other far-infrared radiation pad I’ve used is the Fenwick saddle pad, on the one horse I’ve ridden in many years that did not need me to shim the pad.
With the Fenwick pads I use the Western “liquid titanium” pad. A lot of the lesson horses I ride are stiff behind the cantle of the saddle (loin area) and this pad covers the horses’ loins. I miss having the ThinLine on it and the ability to shim it, but the lesson horse I ride moves more smoothly under me when he wears the Fenwick Western pad than he did under the BOT/ThinLine Contender II shimmable pad. He has a rather flat back that never seems to need shimming. PLUS the Fenwick “liquid titanium” saddle pad is so MUCH EASIER to keep clean than the BOT one, the shedding hair does not take over the whole underside of the pad and I can spend a lot less time brushing the hair and dirt off of it after my rides.
I am a convert to the far infrared radiation horse gear. It makes the horses more comfortable and rideable, even in their late 20s with arthritis. I have Fenwick and BOT stuff on the horses’ heads, neck (winter), croup and fore cannon bones and pasterns.
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I like my BOT pads. They hold up and clean up well. They work for my horses but they are thick and heavy. I tried the baby pad one for summer and I like it.
Smartpak was having their sale and their ceramic version was pretty discounted so I picked one up. I’ve used it on both horses a few times. It’s lighter, seems more breathable. I’m about to wash it tonight after my rides so I’ll let you know how it washes up but I have no complaints so far.
I like ceramic sheets/pads. I have seen benefits with them. I prefer the quality of the BOT to the smartpak one but really not a bad pad especially for the sale price. I also picked up a smartpak ceramic sheet so we shall see how that works to my BOT ones. My newer guy didn’t fit into my old horses one so I thought Id give the smartpak one a chance.
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I don’t really like my BOT dressage pad. It is a bit too thick and stiff. But I really like the BOT Mathilda pad that I use for jumping. It is much thinner and horse seems to go well in it. I got another brand of ceramic dressage pad recently but haven’t tried it out yet.
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