5 Star Pad update:

Its now been a couple of months since the pad arrived, so we now have 19 rides on it. Not long rides a couple of hours and some hill work thrown in.
So far all is going exceedingly well! Initially the pad had no form, and when fitted to the horse, and saddled up, tended to roll when getting onboard. A bit disconcerting! But 5 Star did say that.
It was a bad time for a new pad, all horses were casting, and (shedding) with that amount of hair the pad needed constant cleaning. Which neatly brings me to that point, 5 Star supply a sponge pad for use in gently rubbing away the hair, using circular motions. This was not always effective. So I reverted to my own time homoured method, the wet hand! Worked a treat.

Back to the horse, now I am not in favour of bathing horses, nor am I the most fastidious of groomers, however, the saddle area, cinch area are always free from dirt etc.
Yesterday was my 19th ride, the pad has settled into the shape of my horse, and does not roll or move imn any way and hasnt since the 6th ride. There is certainly less cinching, I have a dry horses back when the pad is removed, there is no uneven pressure points and I have a happy horse. She is certainly moving more freely on turns and has improved her walk. longer strides, more fluid.

I did find a slight problem with myself during this, and that was, sighting the pad, on the horses back, I know should be easy as I do it all the time. But heres the thing, I find that now with the 32 inch length, I have 3 inches of pad infront and behind the saddle all the time. There is no slippage!  No rocking, and no ruffled hair on the horses back at all.

The Pad has taken on the shape of the horses back, and my saddle although fitted good before, and I dont know how to discribe this, is sitting just excellently, But it sat well before? Not sure what I`m saying here, but I feel a lot more "balanced?"
Anyway, there we are, money well spent, and I dont have a lot to waste! So here is the latest photo, of the pad, sorry about the dirt!  It brushes off!! As you can see everything touches in the right places!