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[RC] saddle pad tests - Dream WeaverOkay to be honest, I gave up trying to be scientific like on these tests. I don't know what distance I rode, how long or anything. I just know that after several rides on three different horses with a FW and a HW rider that the results were......drum roll please :) Not very exciting. the two pads I tested most of the time had the same heat measurements, and sometimes the woolback pad was 2 degrees lower. That may or may not have been because of the temperature gauge I was using. Could not tell any difference by feel, or by horses recoveries on the HRM. I got temp readings from 102 to 108 on average. I can get the readings higher when I gallop the horses with their tack on for a half an hour loose in a group than I get when I ride them, even on an endurance ride. Ultimately, I decided that I like the pad I've been using for all these years the best and will keep with it. I like it because: less expensive (note the word 'expensive' still there tho) ;) reversible so I can use both sides between washes the foam inserts are not as thick (there is such a thing as 'too much') temperature readings were the same or better than the other pad I tested there was no rubbing of hair off the horse around the trim (there is no trim) fits my saddle perfectly. I actually had a HW rider fall off of my horse this weekend with the other pad because it compressed so much after the inserts warmed up and also due to the weight of the rider (he lost his balance going up a hill, oooooops). Imagine a human belly pretzel on a horse. Yep. That was lovely. And the sounds emoting from said human were similar to those you'd hear from a dog caught in a hot wire fence. Luckily the horse was only interested in staying upright in the mud and stood quietly while I helped wrestle one boot out of a stirrup (that was way above my head while I was on a horse), releasing same yapping human. Oh well. Next time he'll ride my horse with the regular pad he's been using so that we won't have to keep adjusting the cinch. YMMV, use whatever works for you and your horse. I am always willing to try something that might be better but then always feel really dumb when I try something that I think will be better and make an improvement over something I am using that already works, and it doesn't (or worse, it causes a problem that I didn't have before). I've never had a problem of any kind with the pad I use now, but that doesn't mean that there isn't something better. Somebody else could do several rides of 10 to 15 or 50 miles each with different weight riders on different horses and get entirely different results. Right now my horses have winter coats, and I don't know if that has any effect or not either. Guess we'll see in the summer if I remember to plug them into the temperature gauge. Karen =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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