Curious your opinions on half pads! I have a sheepskin trimmed thinline half pad with some shims in the front. I have seen and of course heard about the ogilvy half pads. I’m wondering if the ogilvy half pads are really THAT good?
Which do you prefer, and why?
Depends how much cushion you need. I have a custom saddle and an Ogilvy is too much padding. I just recently got an Invictus Necesse Pad and it’s amazing!
On horses that my saddle fit well, the Ogilvy pads were too thick. I prefer the Thinline pads because I feel like they offer more shock absorption/back protection, and they aren’t as thick as the Ogilvy’s.
I had a plain thinline for years, which for part of the time I used with a sheepskin halfpad. Then I tried the Ogilvy and my horse was noticeably happier with it. After a few years I got an ecogold, which my horse enjoyed even more. My saddle isn’t custom but it fits well. I don’t think one is better than the others, each horse is different, mine likes cushion and others don’t.
if you need to use shims for your current set up, the Ogilvy may not work as it is a very neutral pad. that being said, I ride in one with my semi-custom and it makes my mare quite happy!
Just my opinion, but I think it might depend on how heavy the rider is. The Ogilvy pads are way too bouncy for skinny me, but I love the Thinlines.
What kind of shims do you need? The Ogilvy is only 4 pockets, the Thinline is 6 pockets, giving an option for a bridging shim as well as wither or cantle bump up. Also the wither pocket on a 6 pocket shim pad is shorter than on a 4 pocket shim.
Since the shim pad is part of technical saddle fit on a hard to fit horse, you should discuss what you need with your saddle fitter.
Thanks all!
@Cocorona and @Scribbler I don’t know that I NEED shims. The current saddle fits relatively well. I use the thinline more as a precaution, as he doesn’t take jokes too well. I had him massaged with my prior saddle, and the horse masseuse said he was a bit sore in his wither, and to put some shims on the withers. So I just left the shims in when I got my new saddle! I didn’t even really think about it until just now!
@MJE I wondered if I may have the same reaction! But, it’s an awful lot to spend just to test out. Perhaps I can borrow one.
That’s an interesting thought @ToTheNines ! I’m not a skinny mini and I’m certainly not heavy. I feel like I need to try one! Or perhaps not, so that I don’t decide to buy one 
”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹
I think you need to chat to a qualified saddle fitter.
If your saddle fits correctly and is recently flocked, you do not need a foam pad and indeed should not use one because it will alter the saddle fit and make the saddle too tight.
Certainly you should not be using shims in a saddle that fits correctly.
Shims and foam pads are not extra cushioning but rather ways to tweak saddle fit on a horse that is hard to fit perhaps because of muscle atrophy.
Don’t take the advice of massage therapists on saddle fit. They can tell you the back hurts of course but they can’t look at your saddle and tell you how to alter it.
It sounds like by ’ can’t take s joke’ you mean he has a chronically sore back and gets pissy if you lose your balance and thump on hhm? That could well be a saddle fit problem, but not one you solve by changing brands of foam pad or adding shims that aren’t needed. Indeed the shims could be part of the problem. Especially if they make the gullet too tight or tip the saddle backwards.
Hi @Scribbler do you think something as thin as an ultra thinline affects the fit? I never put it in the category of a riser pad or foam pad, but I suppose it is a form of padding, so I am curious what your thoughts are on it.
I haven’t had any issues with ‘thumping’ on him and getting a bad reaction. He isn’t cold backed either. The massage therapist didn’t find any sore areas that may indicate poor saddle fit either (of course, taken with a grain of salt).
I just use the thinline as a precaution for a horse that tends to be sensitive and can be reactive. It is marketed as a way to protect your horse’s back, so that’s what I assumed I was doing. I thought the same could be said for an ogilvy pad…
Perhaps it’s a fundamental misconception that is propagated through the H/J world. I’ve always thought padding = protection! I guess I’m a sheep.
Well, my independent saddle fitter stuffs my new to me saddles to fit my horse based on detailed back tracings. A cm here or there could make a huge difference. I just ride with a cloth pad underneath, but of course we are not currently really doing any jumping. The flocking is new and soft.
There are several kinds of half pads. I’ve seen memory foam half pads where the pad simply disappears when you squish it. These might not affect saddle fit but on the other hand they are not going to give any cushioning either. They just squeeze away to nothing under pressure points.
Anything more substantial will affect saddle fit just as if your fitter added a cm of flocking all over the saddle. The more effective the saddle pad, the more it will change the fit. And putting in shims absolutely will affect the saddle fit just as if you added that much flocking to the saddle at that point.
As far as half pads being trendy in H/J, two thoughts.
They are being marketed as a Good Thing in general because the number of people who actually need half pads and shims after getting a saddle custom fitted is very very low. The people who need expensive shim pads are the low budget newbies in crap old saddles that they won’t pay to have reflocked 
and they aren’t going to shell out $250 for a shim pad. So if the companies want to market expensive shim pads, they need to market to the people who know and care about saddle fit, so they need to be marketed as a necessary extra.
H/J has gone over in a big way to foam saddles these days. Foam saddles can be custom fit to a horse when you buy them new, but they cannot be altered after that except at great expense and trouble. It is much cheaper and easier to have a wool saddle reflocked or just tweaked on-site by a good saddle fitter. Therefore it is much more likely that any given foam saddle is a less good fit for the horse it’s on, but also true that foam is a bit more “forgiving” in terms of fit, and the fit can be less precise. I think that foam half pads may make a lot of sense if people are dealing with imprecise fit in foam saddles. That could be a source of their popularity.
But honestly, if the horse does not have a sore back that shows poor saddle fit, is showing no reaction like being cold backed, and if “reactive” just means forward off the leg and a bit spooky, then I don’t know why the solution would be altering saddle fit.
If you want to use an extra layer of padding under a saddle, of course you can buy or have adjusted a saddle so that it accommodates that padding without making the saddle too tight.
I am actually seeing my very good saddle fitter today, as I’ve ordered a Total Saddle Fit 6 pocket shim pad not for my own horse, but for the schoolmaster I am riding that is suffering a bit of Old Lady Back and needs bridging shims. I will see what I learn and make sure I am on track with these comments here, and definitely report back to rescind them if I am way off base!
Anyhow, up to now my experience with shims has been my Hillbilly Shim System, which involves those Dr. Scholl flat foam insoles, a sheepskin pad, and a lot of duct tape. I was using this to stabilize my dressage saddle when the flocking started to compress and the pommel was rocking (now reflocked) and I’ve been using a different configuration to fix bridging on the Grand Old Lady while waiting for the new pad to arrive. Both times these arrangements really did fix a problem, so if shims fix problem in saddle fit, then they can also cause a problem if they are used on a saddle that actually does fit.
I have also used a sheepskin pad when my saddles seemed a touch wide in the withers, before my horse grew a bit more muscle.
I used to use an ogilvy religiously, until I realized there is absolutely zero science behind the concept, and any perceived benefits are gone after ten minutes anyways when it flattens into a hard pancake.
If your saddle fits pretty well without a halfpad, go for the thinline. If you need more padding look into other options like an Ecogold.
Like most people I can’t afford at $6k custom saddle. Instead I went out and bought a used Devoucoux that fits my horse pretty well. I use a thinline ultra to counteract the places where the saddle doesn’t fit perfectly.
I’m a heavy rider so I figured an Ogilvy would help keep my mare’s back comfy with my extra weight. It was WAYYY too thick and really altered the fit of the saddle to the point where I sold it before I even rode in it.
Thank you @greywithchrome and @dani0303 !
I also have a used Devoucoux that fits pretty well :). I am thinking I’ll stick with my thinline and check out the shims. Maybe I don’t need them afterall. But maybe I do.
I appreciate all the feedback!
Yesterday I got the Total Saddle Fit sheepskin 6 pocket shim pad for the Old Lady and set it up. The pad alters the fit of the saddle considerably. It fills in the bridging under the rider’s seat, and it lifts the back of the saddle so that my crotch is not brushing the pommel of the saddle when I post. In other words, it changes the fit of the saddle considerably. Still need the saddle fitter back to double check, though!
As far as putting a pad of uniform thickness under a saddle, I don’t get it. If the saddle fits in the withers and bridges in the middle, for instance, a uniform pad will make the withers too tight and not fix the brdiging because the whole saddle is being lifted the same amount.
If you know your saddle has a fitting fault, then you need to adjust that place through thoughtful shimming.
Typically these faults can be:
bridging in the middle of the saddle
wither gullet too loose, needs to be filled in (can’t do anything about a narrow gullet)
saddle tilts backwards, needs a bump up under the cantle (if this is not caused by the wither gullet being too narrow and sitting high, but rather by the horse’s back conformation).
If you aren’t able to get the saddle reflocked (because it’s a foam saddle, or a borrowed or lesson horse/ saddle) then you need shims.
But if it’s a fitting fault, you don’t need to raise the whole saddle half an inch or whatever. You need to shim the places where the saddle doesn’t fit and leave the places alone where the saddle does fit.
I suppose if the whole saddle is just a bit loose on the horse, you can use a sheepskin pad to lift the whole thing, which I’ve done. But it doesn’t address specific known fitting flaws.
Just wanted to add that I am finding shimming the Old Lady very very irritating . My horse has saddles that fit me and are stuffed to fit her, nice soft flocking, put on a baby pad and go. With the Old Lady, I’m not in a position to buy a second hand saddle and have it reflocked for her and I’m constantly aware that the shimming is a second rate solution to saddle fit here.
As an alternative I really like my Acavallo pad. I had an Ogilvy and found it pretty useless. Acavallo does a much better job at absorbing shock.
Ogilvy has two pad thickness. I use the gummy which is thinner and denser that the regular pad.
Although for awhile they seemed quite in vogue, in my opinion, the Ogilvy pads are just too thick. I used one on my mare for about a month and it made her incredibly back sore. As soon as I stopped using it, she got better. I sold it.
I have never used an Oglivy, but scrolling thru facebook I see A LOT of them for sale (not a good thing cause it seems like everyone is trying to get one off their hands), and Thinlines are a non-negotiable thing when one of my girls are ridden and have been since my mom took our spookproof mare (she went to the zoo once) started stopping and being nasty at a show and they stuck a Thinline on her and she won the next class she was in.
Thanks for all the opinions, everyone! I think I’ll stick with my thinline
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