I have the thick wool 5 Star pad that I use with the Dixie Midnight. If I use it without, won’t the wool pad just soak up all that summer sweat and weigh like 20 lbs more?
Okay here’s a tip for everyone who questions wool.
Buy a pair of wool socks. They come in thin, medium and tough guy. Wear them. If your feet sweat, all the better (mine don’t), your feet won’t feel wet and your sock won’t get heavy. Now, try a cotton sock. Then try some polyester sock. They will get wet and soggy.
When you take wool and fluff it and stretch it and compact it, you create wool FELT. Light, breathable absorbable. There is a reason that the army issues wool blankets and wool socks. Even when wet, they continue to work. Woven wool works in a similar fashion. The weave allows air through it.
This is also why wool fleece on a western saddle is better than the polyester fluff…
so far as the SMX pads… I guess they keep changing them? One that I had, had bubble wrap inside it, essentially. It crackled.
Cotton sucks the heat out - but it absorbs all the water and becomes water-logged. Wool doesn’t do that.
P.S. I am sure that the Military now has some tekno fiber that works even better than wool - especially in the middle-east.
I went back and thought about getting an air ride pad, but they’re just too thick. To me, if the saddle fits, you can’t stick a 1" thick pad under there. I wouldn’t dream of doing that in my english saddle.
I have a real wool woven blanket and a thin tacky liner. I’m going to try that because I think even the new breed is too thick, though it is only 2 ply.
If I could find a 1/2" or 1/4" wool felt pad, I’d do it. I may order a felt liner pad and just use it as my only pad.
Thanks for all the advice and tips. The air rides must be great to get so many thumbs-ups, but I’m still not quite sold.
Yup. I have that Charmayne James one. It crackles and pops when you move it. It sounds just like plastic, cardboard and bubble wrap. I do like the way they look and fit but I’m sorry I just wouldn’t trust the pad for the long haul, but that’s just me.
country supply (I know, coal to some, a gem to others) has a great, thin, contour pad. Cheap enough to buy 2 and swap them throughout the week.
http://www.horse.com/Western-Tack/Saddle-Pads/Wool-Pad-with-Adjustable-Wither-Strap-WIA15.html
Gabz, I actually looked at that pad but they call it “thick” and it says it’s 3/4" so I passed. Is it thinner than that?
I’m thinking about getting some of these:
http://www.horse.com/Horse.com-Exclusives/Exclusives-Western/Pro-Craft-Dry-Ice-Felt-Saddle-Pad-1-4-WIP04.html
At $9.99, what do I have to lose? Says it’s only 1/4" which sounds reasonable to me.
It’s not as thick as 3/4" … more like 1/2" unless they’ve changed it.
I have used the felt pads like those without anything else. I prefer the ones that are thicker than 1/4" though. That’s VERY meager. 1/2" would be better. That’s what I call “hospital felt”… you can use the black shedding blocks to clean these of hair too. : ) and switch them front to back and over and under. LOL…
The other one, with the wither strap, is contoured - it will be a MUCH better fit than the purely squared ones. I did cut a slit in one of the white felt ones, so that it would not tighten on the withers, but that only made it bunch up … :no:
I bought a waffle-weave pad from Tractor Supply. I bought it for several reasons: it has space in the gullet for horses with prominent backbones, it has wither relief, and it allows air to flow through it so that it does not get heavy with sweat. Last year I used an average pad for a CTR, and the thing must have gained 20 or more pounds in weight from absorbing my horse’s sweat. I should’ve brought another pad so I could switch part way through the ride. Now I don’t have to worry about it.
Oh, it has pockets so I can change the foam pads inside if I want. How cool is that? It was $70. The only drawback is that it is for a square-skirted saddle, and I ride in a round-skirted saddle. That might not be a bad thing, since it extends far enough back to pad my horse from the saddle bags we’ll be carrying if we manage to get to a CTR this fall.
I have several western pads…but the Skito pads by the Carousel Tight people are my favorite. And they will make them custom for your saddle/horses fit.
A lot of endurance folks use these pads.
I love my loose weave real wool pads. They go in the washing machine and dryer just fine ( low temp) and they seem very easy on the horse’s back, no dry spots, and no slickery wet spots as wool soaks it up without feeling wet. For my western saddle, I use one wool pad on the back, a thin felt pad in between and a “pretty” wool blanket on top. For schooling english, I use a single wool blanket under the saddle. My dressage horse loves his wool blanket much more than the fancy cotton dressage saddle pads I’ve been collecting for years, and we are looking for a plain white one to use at shows…
[QUOTE=DairyQueen2049;3359891]
5 star WOOL pads are the best pads I’ve ever seen or used.
http://www.5starequineproducts.com/[/QUOTE]
The site said they have pads of different sizes. I think 1/2" was one of them. And they have all styles. Nothing beats wool.
Why are Western pads so THICK?
I love the 5 Star Pads - from what I’ve researched. And I’m glad they come in the 1/2" or 3/4"
I’m an English rider (eventing) and cannot understand why some western pads are SO thick??!!! If you have a well-fitting english saddle, you can ride with a baby pad underneath it! Something so thin, that when compressed, it’s probably 1/8" inch?
I’m also a stickler with breathability - so 100% wool (or at a minimum, natural fabric) is a must.
We just got a Belgian gelding for my S.O., and since he rides Western (but a major re-rider), we found an amazing saddle that truly fits his broad “table-top” back.
Now my problem is finding a pad long enough, that is also contoured, and breathable and THIN! The thicker the pad, the more it can make the saddle shift and roll - especially because he is so flat/round/no withered etc. I want the saddle to do it’s job and stay in place by fitting correctly, not the pad to be built up to make the saddle more comfortable.
Do Western Riders use real sheepskin pads? Like we have in the English world? I find those amazing, but don’t see them being used much in the Western realm…
this is a very useful thread 
Western bars are a different shape than English bars, and there’s not nearly as much padding–the bottom of an English saddle has all that flocking, a western saddle doesn’t. Think of the western pad like the flocking of your English saddle. A well fitted English saddle needs no pad–originally pads were just used to keep the saddles clean. That’s not the case with western saddles.
Just passing by here, but I thought I would chime in. I like the CushionAir pads under my western saddle. Helps to keep the pressure off of the spine, so the horse moves out very nicely under you. I place a this saddle blanket on top, and am set for the ride. Some folks don’t like using it solo because it feels slippery on top (under the saddle).
Wool felt pads and liners: used them for years, and they are great, but didn’t perform as well as the above pad did for my horse.
I bought a reproduction 1860 wool cavalry blanket from The Blockade Runner in Wartrace, TN and folded it “cavalry style.” Gives a six layer wool laminate that will wick moisture, provide adequate shock absorption, and the “laminate” feature allows excellent accomodation of the saddle to the back.
I use it not only with my seldome used Western saddle but also my English general purpose saddle.
For a grand total of under $60 you can’t go wrong. 
G.
OH WOW… I came across White Eagle saddle pad listing on Smith Brothers, when I was trying to find the draft horse size… so I checked at HorseTack Review
http://www.horsetackreview.com/results-reader-reviews/Western%20Saddle%20Fittings/Pads
Check out (way at the bottom) the reviews the White Eagle saddle pad got.
Here’s a link to the actual pad. THere are 3 versions: http://www.e-tackroom.com/catalog/?c=38
http://www.smithbrothers.com/product.asp?pn=X3-19026&c2p=ppv
