Rub your face in fleece

I had a saddle fitter come out two weekends ago to reflock my saddle because it was slipping back all the time. She said it needed to also get off my horse's shoulders (esp his left which sits further back then his bulging but forward right shoulder). She ended up adding a TON of wool throughout. And she said I should use a half pad as well. In the future - like during non-show season, I should probably send it out to have the tree widened a smidge but it would be almost perfect for now.

I definitely feel higher above my horse, but wow, does he move more freely. Bad mom. We fitted using
my show pad so I ordered in new ones for schooling use. I show without a rolled rear, it makes it look very tidy on a dark horse with dark tack, especially since it's already a half pad and it's all I use. I would use a full shaped pad, but haven't found one to fit my rather square flaps - everything is too long.

Fleecworks FXK halfpad for shows

So, I decided to use rolled rear for schooling, as it probably keeps the pad in place better instead of shifting out from under the panels. Since my show one *just* fits the rear of my saddle and it's a regular size, I ordered large and regular with the rolls. My saddle is a Black Country Ricochet 17.5".

Here's pics of the pads:

Fleecworks FXK - Large size

Fleeceworks FXK - Regular size

So while I had a little bit more room from front to back with the large, it wasn't enough to justify the excess on the sides and in front of the pommel. You can't really see in the photo, but it's all kinds of mashed up in there - just too much material. So I went with the regular:

My new Fleeceworks pad with rear roll
Shown w/ black Lettia coolmax babypad w/ wither relief

I love Fleeceworks pads. They are sooooo soft. At the local tack store the classic ones (no FXK) have fleece more like the texture of Thinline and Mattes (both of which I've owned). But the FXK ones and the shaped pad I used to own are so stuffed animal, rub your face all over it, soft. And that's why I picked it. Plus the pile isn't obnoxiously thick. NetEquestrian.com has the best prices, which is where I got mine.

Best part of the day was that I rode bareback just before this, w/t/c and then tacked up to try the pad size and Sam moved exactly the same way as bareback... freely :D  It was a pretty cool comparison - totally unplanned.

More about baby pads in my next post :)