Any opinions on the western Thinline pads with the wool fleece? My horse has kissing spine and his saddle fits well, so I need a pad that isn’t too thick but will still keep him as comfy as possible. The felt version is too thick so I was checking this one out. I am not worried about the fleece getting matted as I will also be using a BOT liner.
Oh and he has fairly large withers so he needs something with a lot of wither clearance.
I’ve never tried one so I can’t give you any feedback on it.
I personally use 5 Star pads on my horses and you can get them as thin as 1/2", which is what I use on my one horse and use a 3/4" on the other.
I’ve had those. I tried to order one a while back and the rep just stopped emailing me one day…I just don’t LOVE the pads so was looking for different options to try.
Anyone?
I’ve got one of the older Thinline western versions on order - just a square pad with no wither cutout. They claim that you don’t need a wither-shaped pad with the regular TL because of the type of material it is and that it doesn’t cause pressure on the withers. We’ll see about that. I do use one with my dressage and jumping saddles, so thought what the heck. Mac’s western saddle also fits well and the wool felt pads I’ve tried just have too much bulk. And the wither cutouts don’t help and smoosh in all the wrong places.
I don’t have a western Thinline, but I do have an English and love it. I would imagine you should be able to pull the pad up into the saddle and wouldn’t have to worry about wither clearance?
Well the wool fleece ones LOOK like they have a really nice shape to the withers. I’m just always concerned about that because some pads I’ve had in the past are too stiff/not contoured enough and I couldn’t lift them into the gullet. Having a cutout is not important to me really.
[QUOTE=Rusty15;8151965]
Well the wool fleece ones LOOK like they have a really nice shape to the withers. I’m just always concerned about that because some pads I’ve had in the past are too stiff/not contoured enough and I couldn’t lift them into the gullet. Having a cutout is not important to me really.[/QUOTE]
That’s exactly my experience. My saddle fits my horse well and so the wool felt pads are generally too thick and the wither relief is probably fine for a QH with not much wither, but the closed part (in front of the wither hole) actually ends up in the wrong spot and does push down on the withers. The Thinline is flexible enough that I CAN pull it up into the gullet.
