Collect horse hair until you have 6 inch layer the size of the pad
you want. Take a HUGE crochet hook or bend a stiff wire and use it
to hook the hair - my memory is vague as to details here - once you
can get it started I think it would be fairly easy to keep hooking the
hair through the last loop. This should reduce the hair to about 1 inch.
Now place the pad in a cover and ride on it to finish the process.
Having said this ---
I have some very old felt blankets with I think might well be horsehair
and I would not use any of them directly on the horse - THey are too
scratchy. Think about it - your horse cannot wait to get rid of his
scratchy dead hair when he starts shedding and anyone who has gotten
this hair in their clothes while brushing can understand why.
Teresa
> Monika - funny you should ask about felting horsehair... I've been told by
> several old-timers that people used to make great saddle pads by gathering
> shed-out horsehair, putting it in a burlap sack, putting that under their
> saddle and riding and riding and riding. Eventually the horsehair felts
> into the "best" saddle pad. (I imagine that the burlap either integrates
> or disintegrates.) I'm told the pads did all the things pads are supposed
> to do - wick sweat from the horse's back, absorb shock, protect from
> pressure from the saddle.
>>
>