Author: Amanda C

While standing in the booth at AETA watching the video for the Invictus pad, they flashed a pretty interesting graph. This one, to be exact:

Here’s the entire blurb from the Invictus website about their results (super complimentary of themselves, of course, but if you can set that aside the science is interesting):

We conducted the tests starting with 5 Joules of impact energy to determine the Peak Transmitted Force through the protective layers. (PTF is the pressure that can be felt through a material.) The impact energy was increased in 5J increments to a total of 40J. We show on the right side of the graph how we assign the impact energy in the tests to pressure that is felt under saddle. Pads, which reached maximum PTF at a given energy, were eliminated from further testing, because they could offer no further values. The tests were conducted under EN1621 tests standards.

In the range from 5J – 25J, the tested pads recorded from 123% to 329% more PTF (Peak Transmitted Force) than Invictus

In the range from 25 – 40J – the tested pads recorded up to 123% more PTF than Invictus

Our tests show that, while high quality memory foam pads like Ogilvy® and the Equi-Fit pad provide good protection at all energy ranges, both are considerably thicker and only conditionally breathable. This translates into diminished contact and a less than ideal heat/moisture balance. The Invictus pad showed the overall best protection values with the least displacement, convincingly delivering on all points, from superior all-round performance to ergonomic and sleek design.

Gel – both oil-based and regular – as well as the Thinline® material cannot come close to providing sufficient protection at the same thickness. Water based gel only performed to 20J before bottoming out. Oil-based gel did a little better, but also only showed low protection values and dropped out at 30J. Thinline tested a little better to 40J impact energy but it can’t come close to the standards of the Invictus D3O® XT Mesh with intelligent molecules.

This kind of information is far more interesting (and helpful) in my mind than things like The Truth Tack Review lady who likes to test impact protection by dropping a bowling ball on things. That irritates me. A lot.

Half pads are one of those items that people always seem to have strong opinions about and even stronger preferences for. Some people will argue for Thinline until they’re blue in the face, and the same for Ogilvy. Or the reverse – those who absolutely hate a certain pad with a fiery passion. If you’ve ever been to a horse message board, you’ve seen it.

I personally used Thinline for years and had no complaints, then decided to try Ogilvy. Henry the princess said that he preferred the Ogilvy (which should surprise exactly no one) so that’s what I’ve stuck with. I have no passionate feelings either way, personally.

Side note: wouldn’t it be nice if some tack shop set up a half pad trial program so you could demo several different ones? How do we make that happen? They do it for bits and stirrups so surely half pads wouldn’t be much different. I digress…

I have always wanted a comparative study between the different pads, so the Invictus one has got me pretty fascinated. Mostly because of two main things:

1. It makes the Invictus pad look pretty intriguing (of course) especially for those that don’t have a saddle with enough extra width to accommodate something thick like the Ogilvy.
2. Memory foam seems to offer way more impact protection than I might have thought. I mean… Henry’s positive reaction to the pad told me that he preferred it, but seeing numbers to back up my own personal observation is captivating. I want to see more. Also interesting that the Equifit didn’t perform all that differently considering how much thinner it is than the Ogilvy.

So, half pad users, what say you? What do you think of this study and it’s results?

If you want to buy yourself something nice for Valentine’s Day, now’s your chance. Luxe EQ almost never has sales, so this is a rare opportunity to shop their final clearance and Not-So-White selection, with prices up to 75% off. This is the only place you’ll find the list!

Here’s how it works:

• For questions or orders, email megan@luxe-eq.com or message Luxe EQ on facebook.
• If there’s something you want in the Not-So-White sale, you can post a photo of the item (stock photo is fine) on Instagram with the hashtag #notsowhitesale (make sure to @luxe-eq so they see it) and get free shipping!
• All items are on a first come, first served basis. Once they’re gone, they’re gone!
• All sales are final.
• Please read descriptions carefully – not all photos are of the exact colors available.
• Italian sizes are as follows 38IT=24 US, 40IT=26US, 42IT=28US, 44IT=30US

 

BREECHES

Mastermind Breech Navy/Orange sizes 32, 34(2) originally $280 sale $168

Esperado Ischgl breech black size 24, 26, 28, 30 originally $228, sale $99

Anna Scarpati teal bit breech Italian sizes 38, 40 originally $300 sale $160

Animo Naky breech black Italian size 42 originally $479 sale $200

Animo Nando Jean breech Italian sizes 38, 42 originally $360 sale $150

Animo Nonus breech grey Italian sizes 40, 44 originally $380 sale $99

Esperado Zermatt sizes 24, 26 originally $228 sale $99

Mastermind breech chocolate size 28 originally $280 sale $99

Animo Noodwill breech color Oil Italian size 38 originally $380 sale $175

Animo Ning breech brown Italian size 40 (2) originally $380 sale $175

Animo Nidia breech navy Italian size 42 originally $380 sale $175

SHOW COATS

Alessandro Albanese Techno black Italian size 38, 40 and navy size 42 originally $990 sale $450

Alessandro Albanese Easy Care coat black S, M and navy S was $620 now $300

Tailored Sportsman soft shell coat Navy 4, 6L Black 4, 6, 8 originally $350 sale $150

Esperado Parade coats sale $99

• Black/lt blue XS, M

• Black/cream S, L

• Navy/white XS

• Navy/burg XS

Equiline Marta grey with light grey piping (photo shows navy, actual coat is charcoal grey) Italian size 44, 46 originally $525 sale $99

BUTTON DOWN SHIRTS (all $50 except where noted)

George Roth plaids

• Navy/red plaid XS – 2

• Blue/navy plaid XS – 2

• Pink plaid XXS, S, M, L

• Black/white check XS, M

• Navy/yellow XS – 2

• Pink/olive XXS

• Gold/navy XS, M

• Rails multi stripe XS

• Solid turq XXS $20

Bella Dahl split back

• Plum S

• Med blue S

Bella Dahl two pocket button front

• Raspberry S

• Caribbean blue XS-2

• Royal blue L

• Floral silk short sleeve S

Bella Dahl shirt dress

• Denim XS

• Plaid S

Animo Lamela zip sweatshirt Navy Italian size 42 $99

NOT-SO-WHITE SALE

*These items may have some dirt or dust from traveling around with the mobile trailer – just need to be washed*

Equiline Lissome show shirt white Italian size 46 originally $240, sale $50

Equiline Fae show shirt color avorio (off white) Italian size 46 Originally $240, sale $50

Esperado Boston show shirt with purple crystals  XS, S, M sale $45

Esperado Chicago show shirt stretch cotton with studded detail size L sale $45

Animo Nonus breech white Italian size 44 originally $380, sale $125

Anna Scarpati Tokyo show shirt Italian originally $140, sale $60

• Blue w/ white Italian sizes 40, 42, 44

• White w/ blue Italian size 42

Le Fash show shirt white herringbone size L originally $200, sale $75

Alessandro Albanese show shirt cotton size L originally $195, sale $50

Alessandro Albanese Deauville size S originally $195, $60

Winston Sydney show shirt grey French size 36T originally $200, sale $99

Tailored Sportsman Ice Fil shirt white/navy size S originally $65, sale $20

Ece Equestrian show shirt long sleeve with pearl buttons originally $160, sale $60

• White/brown and orange collar M

• White/mint collar L

• White/turquoise collar L

Ece Equestrian Speed long sleeve show shirt white with black/white inside collar size L originally $200, sale $60

Kastel sunshirt purple color block size adult M originally $75, sale $25

Esperado New York white breech with grip knee size 24, 26 originally $230, sale $99

Animo Nterra USA breech (pictured is Nterra CA, the Nterra USA has US flag on the pockets) Italian size 44 originally $350, sale $99

Alessandro Albanese Athens breech white Italian size 42 originally $250, sale $189

Mastermind Mindy breech size 28L originally $280, sale $99

On Saturday I loaded Henry up and made the 4 hour round-trip trek to have a lesson with my former jumper trainer. I rode with him when he was based in Austin but now he’s in the Houston area (which has worked out really well for him, even if I’m pouty about it). I’ve lessoned with him on Henry before but it was about a year and a half ago.

The conversation when I first got on went something like this:

Mark: “Aren’t you getting ready to move up to Training?”

Me: “Hopefully in the fall, I’ve got to work on some things with myself first.”

Mark: “Oh yeah? What’s going on?”

Me: “I can’t ride.”

I went on to elaborate about the million and one things I can’t seem to do right on a consistent basis until finally he told me to just go canter the vertical back and forth to warm up. I didn’t mess that up, so we proceeded to courses. And honestly? It wasn’t bad. I still have those same habits that I can’t seem to ever stop doing (why do I soften my hands and shoulders when I see the long distance? Why do I hold onto my inside rein out of the turns?) and I still need a little help getting the right canter, but otherwise it was kind of decent. I think he even said “good” at one point. Much less of a shitshow than I usually feel like these days.

After we were done I tossed Henry in a stall, unhooked my trailer, and made the short drive further towards Houston to the Great Southwest Equestrian Center to check out the Luxe EQ mobile trailer. I’m pretty familiar with most of what she carries but some of it I haven’t seen in person yet… it’s been about a year since I’ve been in there.

I’m very familiar with most of her stuff (Animo, Le Fash, Samshield, Tucci, TS, RJ, etc) but she’s had a line called Winston for a while, always speaks really highly of it, but I wasn’t very familiar with it. She had me try on a shirt (love) and a jacket (LOOOOVE). I’m not totally sure what happened after that, it’s a bit of a blur, but it involved an order form and these:

The jackets are so nice. And fit so well. And are so classic. And you can customize them. And they can do navy with yellow piping and navy buttons. So, ya know… that happened. But it won’t be here til May so it doesn’t count.

I picked up Betty the trailer from the painter the evening before I left for AETA, so this is the first I’ve actually had time to sit down and put her pictures together from start to finish. Now that the transition from Black Betty to Betty White is complete, it’s time to recap the process.

I bought the trailer from a blog reader/friend for next to nothing. It definitely needed work but had good bones. The layout was exactly what I wanted (I ❤ a 2 horse straight load with a ramp), it had a good floor, was structurally sound, and the lights worked. Ya know… the basics. However, she did need a lot of minor things and aesthetic help.

I started by having the roof fixed. There was a lot of corrosion on the sides where the roof met the body (some googling revealed that apparently there was defective roof sealant with several model years of this trailer, so I’m assuming that’s what happened to make it corrode so much faster than any other part of the trailer) and I was given two options: put on a new roof, or patch the sides of the existing one. A new roof was more than twice as expensive, and the corrosion was only on the sides, so patching was the better option for me. The metal guy patched both sides of the roof, some spots along the front, and sealed up the open vent holes in the top. He also fixed and re-ran some sketchy looking wiring, replaced some of the floor in the very front part of the trailer, replaced the wood on the walls, added two new lights, and put plexiglass back into the front windows (it had none).

After that I ordered some new bits and pieces from Horse Trailer Accessory Store, including some reflective tape, a new coupler pin, new pads for the walls and chest bars, etc. I also got new rubber mats to put on the walls over top of the wood, and got 4 brand new fancy wheels put on.

The last major thing was the paint job – I didn’t want to haul Henry around in a black trailer in the Texas heat – so Betty went from black to white.

Now that she’s “done” and totally road worthy, I found a few more little things I want to do (like mount the spare tire to the outside, put new mats on the floor/ramp, and get new butt bars), but those can happen over time. Pretty damn excited to have a basically “finished” and road worthy trailer! Total investment? About $2000. The freedom? Priceless.

 

And finally: clothes. Although to be honest, there wasn’t really an overwhelming amount of interesting stuff. I did fall completely in love with one brand and see a few interesting things from others though, so that’s mostly what I took pictures of. Lovers of burgundy and/or hunter green, you’re going to have a good year.

We’ll start with the cheaper stuff and work our way up, just because it’s more fun that way. First up, the standard and very low budget Horseware coat now comes in burgundy and hunter green. I know lots of you out there are going to be pretty excited about that.

RJ Classics also added some hunter green and burgundy to their line.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen or felt RJ breeches. I wasn’t much of a fan when they were the cottony fabric, but now it’s more of a tech fabric and feels a lot nicer. I’ve heard mixed things on the fit though, so we’ll have to wait and see what they’re really like.

They had lots of cute shirts too. They’re definitely a little bit sheer in the white part and the fabric on the sides isn’t as luxurious as higher end brands of similar styles, but for a low budget option they have a sharp look to them. I actually like their cuff/collar fabric patterns a lot more than most of the TS or Essex ones.

Colorblocking seems to be the new thing among sunshirt brands, but I have to say that I think EIS has done it best. Their new navy and white shirt is super sharp.

Asmar has a new merlot color that is probably going to prove super dangerous to me. The sweaters look AMAZING in this color, and they even had a merino 1/4 zip.

Samshield lovers, take note: they have jackets and vests coming out!

They only had the jacket, but it’s a nice lightweight softshell with removeable hood, and the hood is decorated to look like the top of a Samshield. Kind of a cool item from them, and the basic gray color makes it easy to wear with anything.

But my absolute favorite apparel that I saw? The entire Cavalleria Toscana A/W 2016 collection. I’ve seen this brand pop up here and there over the past few years (I’ve put a couple of their items in blog posts before, even) but this is the first time I’ve a) seen it in person b) seen such an awesome collection from them. There was a lot of burgundy and navy with some gray and taupe and hunter green thrown in. They are high end pieces, and they look it. The attention to detail is second to none. There wasn’t much in there that I didn’t like.

This show shirt was one of my top 3 favorite items of the entire show. They’ve really mastered the art of being different while still being simple, elegant, and classy.

Pretty excited that Luxe EQ will soon have CT in stock! She picked out some awesome pieces for the shop, from shirts to sweaters to jackets to breeches to show coats. I’m dying to try the breeches and see how they fit. CT might be my new favorite high end brand. Super impressed!