Here's a great cantle pack

[Tina Hicks <tina@autoairbagcovers.com>]

Since the spring season is just around the corner and a bunch of you will 
be shopping at the convention keep your eye out for the UniPack Cantle Bag 
made by SnugPax. It's the one with one large pouch in the middle, a 
zippered compartment on top of that, and one easyboot-looking bag on each 
side that has a drawstring top and a flap with velcro over that so nothing 
escapes. There are compression straps that cross on the top that you can 
put a jacket or whatever under if you need to. The real kicker though is it 
only attaches via straps to the billet/cinch area.

Seeing as how I *hate* cantle bags I was a bit skeptical when I put a 
friend's UniPak on Tony at Big South Fork last fall but I needed some more 
pack room besides what I had so on it went. It only took about half a day 
to see that this was a great pack. You could load it up, get to everything 
and it didn't move - _at all_!!

My complaint with most cantle bags is either they bounce or if you tie them 
down securely enough to be still you can't get to anything while you're 
riding - much less at a full blown trot as I am prone to doing :). Not so 
with this pack - load it up, put a jacket on top and you can still get to 
stuff easily. Those side pouches alone hold a ton of stuff!

This pack is billed as the Universal Pak - as in one fits all saddles. 
Yeah, right I thought. Well I had tried it on a DeSoto and a Sports Saddle 
and it had worked but those are both very easy saddles to secure things too 
so that didn't count I reasoned :). The real trick came this weekend when I 
put in on my Wintec All Purpose - no crupper ring for extra tying power, no 
real cantle to sit it up against like the DeSoto and SS, just the billet 
straps to secure it to. This would determine whether one of these packs 
would come to live with me.

I loaded it up, strapped it on, and took it for a spin around home through 
hill and dale. It passed with flying colors - no bounce or movement at all 
even on the back of the Wintec!

That did it for me - I finally ordered one of my own and my friend can have 
hers back:)

Tina
who can't stand packs that move and bounce going down the trail!

PS - check around before buying - I found quite a difference in prices 
between vendors for this pack.