Horses that prefer sheepskin on their back...

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zoon

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I've had a bit of a revelation this week. I have a very sensitive TB mare with thin skin. She has a wow saddle that she goes very nicely in. Normally ride with a nuumed half wool, anky pad or something of similar thickness. Saddle has been fitted with this.

It suddenly clicked today that all my great schooling sessions are with her in a nuumed. The not so great are in other pads. The terrible, such as today when i came off, are in a thin cotton pad! She has had back issues in the past relating to ovary pain, but now on regumate and back is lovely and soft, where it was rock solid and tense before.

Now I don't want to use a half pad as obviously she likes the sheepskin against her skin and can't really put a normal pad on top. Don't like the look of half pad alone. Rather than investing in large numbers of nuumed pads, has anyone used the eskadron sheepskin that goes under any pad? Will find a link....

Or any other ideas?
 
Yes and yes! My lad is also in a wow and I use the eskadron pad under all my saddlecloths. It's brilliant and has solved my issue of needing a thicker pad.
 
me too - have a kissing spine horse, I also have a wow and use an eskadron underlay under hkm pads and back on track saddlecloth - fits lovely and doesnt move.
 
I've had quite a few horses that were so much better with the sheepskin straight against them it simply could not be be denied. In fact I'm not a fan of using squares under sheepskin - if they need the sheepskin then what's the point and if they don't, there are cheaper and arguably better cushion pads. I'll confess than in every case I've just bought (or talked the owner into buying) two good quality sheepskin pads and really looked after them. For dressage I've gone with a very thin quilted pad over the sheepskin, so that's another option if it's only an appearance thing.
 
I always have the sheepskin half pad directly against the skin on my horse. I then have a numnah with the saddle loops cut off between that and the saddle. it has never moved.
 
Nuumed pads are actually only wool lined - cheaper and easier to care for! I love sheepskin, especially for remedial fits where I generally recommend its use, but it is thicker and needs the saddle balance to be checked - it's not the width of the tree that's the issue with using a thick pad, the tree should always fit parallel to the horse's ribcage, but the balance. The thicker pad will lift the front of the saddle fractionally. If you'd been using sheepskin I'd say the saddle MIGHT be a hair pommel low when you're using a thin cotton pad as well, which isn't the perfect fit for the horse.

In your case it does indeed seem to be the wool, but I'd say you're better off getting a half lined pad - using a wool or sheepskin pad under your others, especially the thicker pads, isn't ideal. If you want a smart system for competing, Mattes also make one with a half pad designed to be used underneath, and square pads to go on top.

If you do buy a sheepskin pad, and use with even a thin pad, you will likely be lifting the front of the saddle too far as the combination will be much thicker than the Nuumed half wool lined pad.
 
I have a cold backed horse with two slightly kissing spines and I have tried everything but have found that the LeMieux half pad sheepskin is the best.

I did have the numnah underneath to try and save on cleaning the sheepskin but he definitely settles better with just the sheepskin so I've just stocked up and that's all I'm using now :)
 
sbloom said:
Mattes also make one with a half pad designed to be used underneath, and square pads to go on top.
Click to expand...

Can you point me towards somewhere selling this? Or even better selling the lined correction pad. I know it exists but can only find the non lined one :o
 
jesstickle said:
Can you point me towards somewhere selling this? Or even better selling the lined correction pad. I know it exists but can only find the non lined one :o
Click to expand...

I stock a few of the latter, I know they're not commonly held by tack shops etc but you can order on the Mattes site, any pad design and then specify adding the correction system (four pocket suitable for most uses with English saddles).
 
TarrSteps said:
In fact I'm not a fan of using squares under sheepskin - if they need the sheepskin then what's the point and if they don't, there are cheaper and arguably better cushion pads.
Click to expand...
I'm with TarrSteps on this-why have sheepskin unless it's against the skin. I had one and got a rectangular piece of sheepskin with tapes at the front and used that with a thinnish numnah on top.
As an aside if when you wash sheepskin you use a bit of hair conditioner and then rinse it out it keeps it nice and soft :)
 
My mare is 100% better when ridden with sheepskin directly onto her back. Never did understand the point of using a sheepskin half pad over a numnah. I have also found that I NEVER have any problems with sweat rashes when using a sheepskin pad.
 
eskadron - not as thick as my mattes half pad - thats seriously thick !! - its an actual sheepskin - the skin on the back, shaped and stiched with tabs at front for saddlecloth loops to go through. fits lovely under my saddlecloth
 
As I previously said, there is no blanket rule, it is all about whether your particular saddle, it's tree head shape and its front to back balance, can take it. The thicker you go the more you will lift the front of the saddle relative to the back. This can be shown by imagining dropping a plumb line through your saddle pad - at the back the pad is nearer horizontal so the pad is as thick as it is naturally, at the front the pad will be more vertical, so the plumb line will pass diagonally through the pad, making it effectively thicker at this point.
 
A weird opposite thing, Peej bites if you put a sheepskin half pad on!!

Even before the saddle goes on, I think the sheepskin against his skin tickles him.

He is so sensitive.

What are the back on track numnahs that have been mentieodn?

V x
 
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