Cob Jockey

I came away from schooling with some interesting gear observations that I wanted to share.  More comparisons to other types of boots and half pads than review, since I have reviewed both of these things before: Supracor, Majyk Equipe XC Boots

First, boots.  I have lamented my boot woes here before, how he goes in plain three strap neoprene WoofWear fronts because I still haven't found an XC front that is small enough for him in height.

On the hinds, he was wearing his Majyk Equipe XC boots.  Which I love.  A lot.

(I haven't given up on my campaign to get ME to make a small XC front, although I understand why they don't.  Especially after the performance of their boots today, I would pay them a whole lot of money to custom make me a set.)

This was a particularly great boot test, because one of the first things we did on our 2.5 hour XC school was the water complex, and also, the ground was pretty muddy in spots.  This is what the boots looked like when we got back to the trailer:



And this is what he looked like under the boots:

Fronts: soaking wet

Hinds: I realize the tail got in the way, but they're almost totally dry.

I didn't get a picture of this, but the inside of the Majyk Equipe boots were bone dry, and the inside of the WoofWears were still soaking wet after all that time.  My horse had soaking wet neopene against his skin for two straight hours, and it was hot under those boots too.  If ever there was an argument against using something soft, squishy and not breathable on my horse, that is it.

And on the same subject, I put his Supracor half pad on under my saddle to give him some extra shock absorption, no cover, as well as my Lettia CoolMax pad.  Guess what else was bone dry?


His back.  The other horses with various other types of popular half pads definitely had some sweat marks, but aside from his girth, Connor looked like he'd been standing around for the past couple of hours and not schooling cross-country.

All in all, I'm happy with the performance of the gear I've consciously chosen (Supracor and Majyk Equipe) and unhappy with the gear I am stuck with due to a lack of alternatives (Woof Wear).

The floor of the trailer after an XC school.  Are we eventers or what?

You may have noticed this fairly unattractive brown pad showing up in recent photos:

The first time my trainer saw it, she was like, "...WHAT is THAT?" I am so the black sheep sometimes!

It's a Supracor pad loaned to me by Dr. Marks.  The standard Supracor half pad is stuck inside that brown cover, thanks to a corroded zipper.  It looks like this:


Two years ago, I mentioned to her that his back was growing a tree size every 6 months.  She recommended a Supracor half pad, saying "It's the best pad out there, the only one I'd use on my 100 milers.  Not only is it great at heat dissipation, it's the only half pad you can lay down on the ground, step on, and not feel the ground underneath.  No half pad will fix a poorly fitting saddle, but it's the only one that can positively affect the fit of a not-quite-right saddle.'

She loaned the brown one to me recently, and I've been really happy with it.  The honeycomb flexes when my weight hits the saddle, but springs back up instantly when my weight comes up, and I can really feel the pad absorbing the concussion.  It feels like there are springs inside of it, like a firm mattress.  At the front of the pad, the honeycomb is a little stiffer to account for the increased pressure at the front of every saddle.

Just to grab it and hold it, it's a crazy feeling, it sort of crinkles under your hand, but not all the way down - there's always some resistance to prevent you from hitting the "bottom" of the pad, which is why it's so good at absorbing concussion.

Connor seems to like it - the sweat marks are still indicating good things, there's been no "funny business" on the other side of XC jumps, and he's been happy to work over his back.  I switched back and forth to really make it a fair trial between wearing it and not wearing it, and if my trainer saw me without it she'd request that I put it back on - even when it was the ugly brown one.

Sorry to use this picture again, JenJ, but it's the only one I have so far of him wearing the Supracor pad.  I told my trainer "Look, I got one of my own in a socially acceptable cover!" and she laughed.

New, the pad itself goes for $208-214 at Dover, and the cover goes for $114-175, but since they've fallen out of vogue (as half pads seem to do, is there any piece of tack that is more subject to trends than half pads?) I managed to get this one for $90 off of English Tack Trader.  They hold their value well and are hard to find used (which is why it took me two years of active searching to get one), so if you want one and see one, snap it up immediately!

Any other Supracor fans out there?