It’s no surprise we’re big fans of Ecogold around here. The Canadian textile company engineers some of the hardest working saddle pads on the market. From the Secure to Calmatech lines, Ecogold creates pads with high-quality materials designed to help keep your horse comfortable and performing at his best. The latest in their lineup of all-star performance saddle pads is the brand new Breeze collection.
The breeze pads, which come in jumper, cross-country, dressage styles and also as a separate half pad, are ultra-thin in comparison to the traditional Ecogold pads. Think of them as the standard Ecogold Secure pads just without the foam. The ventilated fabric speeds up evaporation. And it still has all the important non-slip features we’ve come to love about Ecogold.
I took the Breeze half pad and jump pad combo for a first spin around a cross-country course on an unusually warm and humid March day in Florida. My young Thoroughbred gelding sweat a lot – so I felt like we truly put the pad to the test. By the time we were cooling out and walking to the trailer, the pad was hardly wet at all. It still looked brand new – like it could go schooling all over again. It never slipped during the duration of my ride, and the thin Breeze half pad added just the right amount of impact protection without contributing to too much bulk under my saddle. To top it all off, I got plenty of compliments from strangers on the classy black pads with sharp teal trim.
Both the Breeze pads come in a variety of color combinations – making for a lovely matching set. The Breeze pad is my new go-to schooling pad for any horse, no matter the discipline or the workload.