In which order should I put my saddle pads on??

[EqRider112]

So I recently found a combination to fit my new 4 year old OTTB. I have a Pessoa Gen-X medium tree (until my bank account allows an upgrade:yes:), an ECP cotton correction half pad with the front shims in for a wither lift to fill in space since my mare measures medium-narrow (until her topline builds), and an untrimmed thinline half pad for shock absorption. With now having three pads to place under my saddle (using a cotton all purpose pad), which order would be the best to place them under my saddle??

In short, which order would maximize the benefits/purpose of each pad?? Or does it not matter?? I was thinking the AP pad, ECP, ThinLine??

[achcosuva]

I would do AP next to horse (easily washed, keeps others clean), then thinline (shock absorber for horse), then ECP next to saddle (since wither pads are to fill out saddle flocking). If some other order helps to maintain wither and spine clearance, then I would do that instead.

[Costa06]

If you need to stick with both half pads, I’d agree with above, I think putting the thin line in the middle would minimize slippage. Would it be possible for you to get a shimmable shock-absorbing pad? Then you’d just have the AP pad and one half pad. Either a thin-line shimmable pad or a Pro-lite? I personally really like to Pro-lite, they’re only about $130, great shock absorption and really easy to shim to help out a saddle that’s not quite right!

[jn4jenny]

You’ve got the right order, IMO. BUT…I had to ride in a similar rig-up, once, on a sale horse. And I soon realized that realistically, I didn’t need the AP pad at all. I could just use the shimmable half pad directly on the horse + the Thinline pad laid on top of that. I did pull them up into the pommel so that the Thinline pad wouldn’t put undue pressure on the withers.

Yeah, the half pad got dirty faster, and I had to clean off the sweat flap of my saddle. Didn’t bother me, personally. Sweat flaps are called sweat flaps because they tend to be made of a thicker leather that’s more resistant to sweat. My saddle was none the worse for wear; if anything, the sweat helped the sweat flap break in better. And I got a slightly more close-contact ride on the horse.

If it’s a bulk issue and/or you want to keep the half pad clean, then you could swap out the AP pad for a thin baby pad.