Felted wool vs. wool fleece

[Kira Everhart-Valentin]

All,

 

I am currently in the process of the changing saddles and am evaluating my options on what kind of pad to use. I’ve typically used Skitos and Woolbacks in the past on my other saddles, but have begun considering a small, thin (3/8”) felted wool pad that is recommended to go with the particular saddle I’m looking at.

 

Having not used felted wool in any distance riding in the past, I wanted to see what your thoughts were in regards to that as compared to wool fleece. Particularly, I’m interested in:

 

1)      Durability

2)      Heat dissipation and wicking

3)      Slippage

4)      Rubbing/Friction

 

Thanks for any advice you can offer!

 

Kira

 

 

"Riding a horse is not a gentle hobby, to be picked up and laid down like a game of solitaire. It is a grand passion. It seizes a person whole and, once it has done so, he will have to accept that his life will be radically changed".                -Ralph Waldo Emerson-

 

[Lynn White]

I use a felted pad for my English saddle during the winter.  I do this mainly because of the winter hair.  In the summer I use a wookback.  I have found that it's much easier to get winter hair from a felt pad than a wood fleece pad.  You will need to make sure your girth still fits because the felt is much thinner than the fleece.  As long as the felt is a combination of wool and synthetic I don't think you should have a problem with slipping.  But I'd make sure the felt is at least 50% wool.  There is a company called "Five-Star" that makes excellent 100% wool felt pads, but they are spendy.

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[Ellen Rosenberg]

I use a felt pad under one of my saddles. I selected a very thin pad
(I think they are sold as "under-pads"...maybe 3-5/8" ) due to the way
my saddle fits. It is a great pad! I have had it about 3 years. It
is showing wear, but has been very good for my horse. I use it
primarily for trail rides. We have completed several LD's including a
pioneer (3 day). I have been very happy with it, as is my horse.
Ellen and "Feather"

On Apr 7, 8:32 pm, Kira Everhart-Valentin <kiransunn...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Elizabeth Walker]

The only thing I found with the felted under pads was that they didn't do well in a washing machine. :) Of course, at that time, I had a top-loader as well. Poor things didn't last more than a few washings.

I think most folks just hose them off or just brush them off - I just found that I couldn't get them clean that way.

[Elizabeth Walker]

I haven't had hot spots from the felted under pad, but I wasn't riding endurance, either. In addition, I don't think the felted pads do a great job of cushioning, and I agree that they are probably hotter.

I currently have the Christ pads for trail riding, and I like them a lot. My only issue with them right now is that my saddle is fitted for a thinner fleece, so it tends to roll. I'm keeping them, though, as I have a treeless coming soon, and I plan to use them with that.

Oh - one other thing about the Christ pads; at least the treeless pad style. They appear to have changed them slightly. The last one I got had a different stitching pattern. The fleece was thinner than my other two, and the pad would not stay put under the saddle - the fleece seemed slippery, actually. I haven't tried it again - could be it needed to be washed. Neither of my older ones do that. But, since the old ones are thicker, I might try the new one again and see if it works better now that it's been washed.

On Apr 10, 2011, at 8:11 AM, Karen Ellis wrote:

> On one of my horses, the felted wool pad, burned her back. There were no rubs but her back was hot and sore. With the sheepskin (Christ) pad, her back is perfect. I`m talking after 100 miles.
> The felt pad is a great pad and very expensive but she just can`t tolerate the felt. I wish I could switch it to fleece. Both pads have memory foam inserts.
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Elizabeth Walker
> Sent: Saturday, April 09, 2011 3:05 PM
> To: Ridecamp
> Subject: Re: [RC] Re: Felted wool vs. wool fleece