white hairs, saddle pad ques

[Amanda Perez <amandaperez@ureach.com>]

  I recently noticed that my otherwise blood-bay horse has a 
sparse smattering of white hairs on this back, right where my 
thighs rest while riding.  I dutifully searched the ridecamp 
archives for all 'white hair' posts, and what I read leads me 
to believe this is probably due to heat rather than pressure, 
given that the white hairs are thinly dispersed over a fairly 
broad area.  I have been using two pads together: a very thin 
quited cotton pad next to the horse (being cotton, it is easily 
washed), and a heavier synthetic fleece pad next to the saddle 
(which I used to provide additional padding).  I am beginning 
to think I am over-padding, which is causing excessive heat 
under the saddle.  As far as I can tell, my saddle fits OK - no 
obvious pressure-points that I can see from sweat-stains on the 
horse or on the pad.

  Any recommendations for a saddle pad that helps reduce heat 
and sweating (and which cost under $100)?   In the meantime, 
I'm going to stop using the fleece pad and jsut use the cotton 
one.

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