GOOD MEDICINE Professional's Choice BearPaw Juniper Contoured Western Saddle Pad
GOOD MEDICINE / Professional's Choice Comfort-Fit SMx Air Ride Pad BearPaw. (first number is length front to rear). In my opinion, this is the best of the best... The top of the line pad in the Professional's Choice line. Picking the correct pad can be difficult...
To help, i've placed some articles and the results of a 1 year independent study showing several different pads... You'll be happy to see that the prof choice pad was the best as well as the most durable.
The Comfort Fit BearPaw Pattern in this listing is a joint effort between GOOD MEDICINE and Professional's choice, This pad uses the SMx H. (Heavy Duty) Air Ride Core inside the Saddle Pad with a hand woven New Zealand wool blanket top. This impressive heavy-duty SMx Air RideT core protects your horse's back from pressure. In addition, it has a 100% merino wool lining which helps wick away moisture and conforms to the horse's back for maximum comfort. Developed from the horse's back up, the Comfort-Fit SMx Air Ride Saddle Pad is contoured to follow the curve of the horse's spine. As a result, the pad locks in place on the horse's back, allowing full movement.The SMx Air Ride core absorbs shock and improves saddle fit for ultimate comfort of your horse. The Air Ride core is made of unique material found in the protective gear of professional human athletes for absorbing shock while allowing air flow to the skin, creating a natural cooling system that helps lower the horse's body temperature and slows the rate of fatigue. Custom designed New Zealand wool hand-woven blanket top is expertly contoured with leather reinforced spine and wither, containing 3/4 Air Ride shock absorbing core insert to help protect your horse from impact while providing comfort.
Custom designed New Zealand wool hand-woven blanket top is expertly contoured with leather reinforced spine and wither. The interior is an Air RideT 3/4 Heavy Duty shock absorbing insert for impact protection and comfort, while the high-quality fleece bottom protects and wicks away moisture. The BearPaw symbolizes Powerful Good Omen. The Cross symbolizes Directional Joining Steadfastness. BearPaw covers the horse and rider with courage and the confidence that comes from a trusted companion in battle.Size: 33" X 38" (first number is front to rear). Here's some articles on saddle pads you may be interested in. How Does The SMx Air RideT Core Material Work?
The patented SMx Air RideT core material allows air to circulate in every direction resulting in accelerated heat and moisture evaporation, making it highly breathable. As the horse sweats, the sweat coats the waterproof beads and the airflow actively accelerates evaporation, cooling and drying.
Your horse will feel less heat and cool off faster, increasing overall performance. The padding also has a unique shock absorbing ability. Excess energy from impact is deflected throughout the pad and away from the horse's back, lessening pressure. This prevents pressure points from forming and gives an even, comfortable ride. Scientific testing has proven it to be remarkably compression-resistant even under the most demanding use, making it exceptionally durable and long lasting.
By placing the SMx Air RideT technology into our saddle pads, the pads deliver a ride that is unsurpassed in smoothness for both horse and rider alike. The SMx Air Ride saddle pads relieve pressure from the most sensitive areas of a horse's back and distribute the weight of saddle and rider evenly over the entire pad. SMx Air Ride pads are not only shock absorbent and lightweight but also breathable thus epitomizing the Professional's Choice motto, The more comfortable the horse, the better the performance.
Professional's Choice is the only company of equine merchandise that continually invests a tremendous amount of research into our current products. If you see our name on a product, you can be assured that it contains the finest materials, has been tested over and over, and will work for you.We are constantly in search of new designs and technologies to apply to our products. Yes, we love our current products, but in our continued pursuit of excellence, "innovation" is a key component of the Professional's Choice philosophy. Kansas State University Study Puts Professional's Choice SMx Air RideT Pads On Top The results of KSU's year long study were finally published allowing Professional's Choice to promote what they knew all along - that the SMx Air RideT Saddle pad was the best on the market! Professional's Choice, well know for scientifically testing its products, had already put the SMx Air RideT Saddle Pad through an exhausting study and series of tests using the Force Sensing Array (FSA) system and in rigorous field trials before its release in January of 2004.
The results were even better than expected and showed positively that the SMx Air Ride Saddle Pad was beneficial for the horse. The new study by KSU evaluated six leading saddle pads from various makers over the course of a year for properties such as compression resistance, pressure distribution and wicking. It was conducted by Erica D. Wesley, MS with oversight by Dr.
Elizabeth McCullough, PhD Kansas State University Institute for Environmental Research. Again, the results were very favorable for Professional's Choice and the SMx Air Ride Saddle Pad, while some of the other makers suffered some disappointing results.The purpose of the study was to evaluate the performance of western equine saddle pads before and after extended use. The pads were tested new, then were used for several months and re-evaluated for the same properties after use. The FSA system containing 256 sensors was used to evaluate the pressure distribution under the pads and average level of peak pressures exerted during riding. Dead weight testing and heat and moisture evaporation tests were also used.
Saddle pads with high peak pressures can be potentially harmful to the horse and those with poor wicking capabilities can lead to overheating. The study came to the following conclusions about Professional's Choice pads: The SMx Air RideT displayed superior performance with the lowest peak pressures and standard deviation. Additionally, this pad exhibited superior wicking properties both before and after use. Finally, the Wrangler® SMx Air RideT, which showed the most improvement in pressure testing from before - to after use, and along with the SMx Air RideT, exhibited the best performance in peak pressure elimination and pressure distribution after use. Both the SMx Air RideT and the Wrangler® pads use the same core material. The SMx Air RideT maintained the highest wicking rate of all pads. Professional's Choice - Leading the industry for the first 30 years was just the beginning. Science Drives Professional's Choice Products. Professional's Choice does not just make claims. We take a scientific approach to our designs and engineered materials, examine the facts, and then listen to the consumers who are our ultimate judges. We are proud to have been the first equine company to have our equipments tested by the engineering departments of leading universities.The SMx Air RideT pad was tested with a computerized sensor pad equipped with 225 pressure sensors that mapped both static (still) and dynamic (moving) pressure distributions. After placement on the back of the horse underneath the SMx pad, tests showed the SMx Air RideT pad to be incredibly shock absorbent, as it evenly distributed weight from saddle and rider throughout the core.
These findings are what convinced me to use the prof choice pads on my own horses. In looking at the colored pressure charts below you want to see even distribution and low pressure (purple/blue color) which is what the prof choice pad provides.
The competitor's pads you'll see do not provide this same performance. What makes this impressive is it was a 1 year study conducted at a university.