What's the Science? The technology behind the Invictus Half Pad

Video to Text transcription: 

Hi there!  This is just another Malvern Moment. It’s a little bit of a revisit. A couple years ago I did a video for all of you on the invictus half pad and I thought we would revisit it today because there’s been questions coming up again.  One of the most sought after things in our store when people come in is half pads.  They come in and just say I need a half pad and that’s great, but there are lots and lots and lots of half pads.  And each one really has a different purpose.  I think until you have the clarity of how each one functions you really don’t know know what’s best.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to solve that a little bit today. What I really want to talk about today is a specific one – the Invictus Half Pad. Unlike some of the others it is not a particularly sexy pad, it is very simple looking.  It has a tremendous function.  It is a shock absorber.  The Invictus Pad is predicated on the fact that “my saddle fits great, thank you very much.  All I want to do is absorb shock. Don’t you dare change the fit of my saddle.  I paid a fortune to a saddle fitter.  I got a custom saddle.  It fits.  Don’t change it.”  …. And that’s great.  Do you still need a half pad?  In my opinion, absolutely.  We as humans are imperfect and we cause the need to take a joke from our horses in terms of what we do to their back sometimes, you know, we’re landing too hard after a fence; we’re sitting a little too long when we’re trying to get our seat connect for dressage.  There’s a lot of we do that despite the face that we have a good saddle we still need to help them out a little bit. So that’s what this is for.

The Invictus Pad is based on tremendous technology. It’s based on the D30 technology. D30, which I can show you…. D 3-0 is a material that is very high tech.  It’s used a lot in the military.  It’s used in the military for instance in the protection flack jackets that the soldiers wear in the field.  On the outside of those vests is some sort of a Kevlar material to protect from anything penetrating it.  On the inside in the D-3-0. What is D-3-0?  D-3-0 is a material of this half pad, also, which is a shock absorber and that is it's function.  It absorbs at the highest level.

2:13 || I’m going to give you a little demonstration here.  So, this is what D-3-0 looks like in it’s just sort of base state.  I’m going to pull at it and it’s almost like taffy, right?  So, it is very flexible and very buoyant and so when there is no shock on the horse’s back, you’re just hacking along and everything’s lovely, it’s just going to give.  It’s going to give with the horse.  It’s going to go with his motion and it’s going to go with your motion and it’s going to make your back feel better as well, by the way, because the shock’s going to come from up underneath.  So, that’s great.  Now, let’s say, there is some sort of an assault, in terms of, you’re landing too hard as I described or you’re sitting too hard.  What happens is these molecules that are open initially and working with you – as soon as there is an assault to them, those molecules close.  When they close, I’m hoping  you can see this.  I’m not so sure… I’m going to put it up really close.  I’m going to hit this as hard as I can and trust me, this is a real hammer.  When you hit this material very hard which would be boom, “I sat too hard”.  If you can see this or not… I cannot make a dent in this.  So what has happened now is all of those molecules have locked up.  So now when your horse needs that protection, he has 100% protection.  It’s 100% shock absorption.  That’s the beauty of this pad.  That’s the function of this pad. 

3:30 || I’m going to give you one more demonstration, if I can get the camera to follow me a little here.  So when you use a foam sort of pad.  This is just a very typical foam [black circle].  This is the D-3-0 [orange circle].  So when you have the typical foam, I have this little ball bearing.  I’m going to drop it on the foam … and what happens?  It bounces.  Boom.  It bounces.  Is that a good thing?  No.  It’s not absorbing any shock.  That shock has now been put the that pad and is coming right back at you.  So, no shock has been absorbed.  Now, I’m going to drop that same ball bearing on this which is D-3-0.  Boom.  Stops.  Why?  It absorbed all the shock.  Nothing’s coming back out.  So, it’s a tremendous protection for your horse’s back and that is the function of the Invictus Pad.  I personally love the pad.  It disappears underneath your saddle.  It doesn’t change the fit of your saddle.  It has a function.  If you need something to change the fit of your [saddle] – another’s day discussion, another video.  We’ve got plenty of videos we can do but I wanted you to learn about this because it’s sort of special. 

4:32 || The other special thing I will tell you is that Invictus Pads never ever ever go on sale.  We have a really hard time keeping them in and especially now with supply chain issues… but for next weekend – Memorial Day Weekend  [2022] we are going to be having a Memorial Day Sale in the store on many things, but Invictus is included.  So, if you’re thinking about maybe trying this, that would be a great time to try it.  They are going to be 20% off next weekend.  Look for us, follow us on Facebook and Instagram and you’ll see the announcement and we’re also going to do an email blasé so you’ll be hearing about it.  So think about that as we approach next weekend.  Think about what your needs are and if you have any questions, always call us at Malvern Saddlery.  Thank you so very much.