I bought this pad 3 years ago…since that time, it’s spent most of it’s time in a closet because my horse went lame and I had nothing to ride. Now that I have my mare back, I pulled this pad out to put under the saddle. It had gotten a little crusty on the back (I put a baby pad underneath it), so I looked up the washing instructions, followed to a tee and when it came out of the wash, it was in pieces. A 300.00 pad in clumps. I contacted Thinline and they said…Nope, it’s over a year old…sorry, but we will give you 30 percent off of another one. I told them no thanks, I’m not spending over 200.00 for another one of their pads when this one fell apart in 1 wash. So I pulled out a Roma Sheepskin pad and washed it in the exact same way…pad came out just fine. WTH is the deal with Thinline’s sheepskin pads…Am I the only one who has had this problem?
What happened, did the hair fall off or did the leather skin part fall apart? Do you know if you have clothes moths in the house or barn? They can do a lot of damage fast!
I had one years ago that did the same thing. I would never waste my money on another one. I have a Mattes now.
Leather came off with the fur. Came off in many pieces. I had heard several others complain about the same thing…so I doubt it was house moths.
This exact thing happened to mine…
Ridiculous. I was getting ready to email them the photos when I saw this post. Apparently i’ll just buy something new from a different brand.
Ok that’s probably a bad batch of tanning. Back in the 1980s there was a fad of really cheap rabbit fur jackets probably made in China and I remember seeing them coming apart like that while they were still on the racks in the department stores.
About a decade ago a woman who ran a wool and knitting shop said we were facing a severe wool shortage because of the huge loss of sheep in the Australian bush fires that year.
It took a couple of years but wool clothing just started to evaporate even at places like Banana Republic that do wool suits and sweaters.
Similar problems with leather supply in Europe after mad cow.
So my guess is Thinline, who are ccertainly a premium brand, have been forced to source sketchy sheepskin and perhaps a whole generation of their pads are compromised.
Thanks for the warning. I am actually getting a shimmable sheepskin of another brand, but could easily have been thinline.
It’s pathetic. A friend of mine told me that she bought a pair of their reins and they fell part within the year. Done with Thinline.
I had a pair of the reins that fell apart within 6 months (luckily they replaced for no additional cost). BUT, I also have one of their basic pads that’s probably 10 years old and is holding up great!
Aw man, that’s probably why I got mine cheap on TOTD. Not cheap enough to justify it falling apart upon washing though 
It’s too new to wash, but I guess I will try hand washing when the time comes.
I experienced the same thing with Fleeceworks pads a few years ago. Before the sheepskin-safe washes were more common, the barn manager assumed Woolite would be sufficient to wash the fleece pads. Wrong-o! The sheepskin started coming off in clumps just like that. Regular detergents dry out and damage the skin/fleece bond even on a healthy-to-start sheepskin. I’ve even seen Mattes pads go tatty from this.
I had the best luck hosing the fleece thoroughly, letting them dry in the shade with great ventilation, then fluffing the fleece back up with a wire cat brush. Luckily, the barn had the ones where the fleece velcroed off the pad so the pad could be washed separately.
Just out of curiosity, did you wash it in a top loading or front loading washing machine? This may or may not be related to what happened to your pad, but I’ve had tons of pads damaged from being washed in top-loading machines. I’d only ever wash expensive pads in a front-load.
I had the same problem and never put it in the washer. I now use their shimmable pad but without the sheep skin. I got it in black so I don’t have to worry about stains.
I have a Thinline sheepskin pad that is around 7 years old. I’d heard of them falling apart shortly after I bought mine so I haven’t washed it in all of it’s 7 years. A couple times I used a damp rag on the cotton side but, nope, no water in 7 years. It’s not used daily but it’s starting to look pretty ugly. I love the shims and mostly use them without the pad, just tucking them in between the saddle and a regular cotton saddle pad. They don’t go sliding anywhere and I’m not worried about my dirty, ugly pad suddenly disintegrating.
Front load…that’s in their website directions.
I have three Fleeceworks sheepskin half pads I keep in rotation for hunting and always use them next to my horse’s back with a shaped pad over them. (The point is to have that fleece helping the heat and to prevent hot spots because we are riding for at least four hours) They get pretty sweaty but only one has had any problems with the fleece coming off and that one had been in my friend’s garage for a while. I use a top load washer and wash them on delicate with Lanacare, a detergent for wool that replenishes lanolin. I think maybe the skin/leather attached ro the fleece needs to be kept soft and hydrated. So far, sqo good, and they are all about five or six years old with lots of use durring hunt season.
