I just got a bunch of christmas money and have decided to spend it on my horses back, literally and metaphorically. I am looking for a saddle pad that will work well for a horse with high withers as well as a quality half pad. I’m hoping to spend around $100 for both of those. I would just like some opinions on some quality brands. Thanks guys, Merry Christmas!
Any pad, full or half, with a shaped top should work for your horse. Jack’s and Mattes are two excellent brands, though you might have a harder time finding a Mattes half pad (even just a quilt) in your price range.
Disclaimer: I will assume that you actually need a half pad, but if you haven’t evaluated your saddle fit and considered the consequences of adding a half pad, please do. There are many horses/saddles that really do benefit from a half pad, but for everyone of those I see, I see 3-4 horses whose owners just shoved a half pad under their saddles for looks or “on the assumption that more padding is better.”
Anyway, the regular saddle pad part is easy. PRI pads wear like iron and are a steal at $35-ish each. I suggest you treat yourself to three of those instead of one pricey pad. 
VTO Saddlery is having a 20% off sale on orders over $100, and Equus Now also sells PRI pads. For a step up, Seamsright pads are $65-$85 (ish) and are the gold standard.
http://www.vtosaddlery.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=VTO&Product_Code=PSQCAP&Category_Code=
http://www.equusnow.com/products/pri-all-purpose-cotton-quilted-saddle-pads.html
http://www.seamsright.com/
For the half pad, it’s tough to find a) real sheepskin and b) quality, durable, thick, well-sewn quilting on top in the sub-$100 price range. The ungodly steal in this department, IMO, is the Engel sheepskin half pad for $60-$70. I’ve had many friends order it on my advice, and their jaws hit the floor when they open the mail package. http://www.yoursheepskinstore.com/sheepskin-horse-tack
http://www.engelsheepskin.com/index.html
If you prefer availability over bang for the buck, the ECP, Mattes Gold (<–not real sheepskin), and Ovation sheepskin half pads can often be found on sale for $90-ish. All of these are respectable products, but I don’t think any of them are as nice as Engel sheepskin half pads. (Of course, the real Mattes lineup made of real sheepskin, which retails around $190, is nicer than Engel half pads. It’s 3x the price, so that’s not a big surprise.)
Edit to add: I think real sheepskin is overrated for most users. Unless you’re putting the sheepskin directly on the horse, which allows you to capture the wicking and air-circulation properties of sheepskin, you might as well be using merino fleece instead. It’s certainly a helluva lot easier to launder! The Matrix Coolback Half Pad gets my nod in the washable-faux-fleece half pad department. But I also know the “fashion trend” is to have real sheepskin. PS, if you go with real sheepskin, don’t forget the special detergent. I prefer PePeDe because I think it works better than MELP and is more price friendly, but MELP is fine if it floats your boat.
The saddle pad is relatively easy. Just look for something like this that has a shaped top (often referred to as “wither relief”). I really like the Fleeceworks plain square pads…though I’m boring and tend towards show pads that are plain white. And I’m planning to order a few of these from SP the next time I order pads.
But the half pad totally depends on your saddle and how it fits your horse.
All of my horses have sharkfin withers, but I use my Mattes and Fleeceworks pads on saddles that need a little extra padding (+shims if necessary), I have SaddleRight pads when they need a little less fluff, I have a couple of Thinline pads if I want a very slight difference (one with shims), and sometimes I mix and match. They all get used on different horses depending on the saddle fit.
ETA: Just saw jn4jenny’s post and I’m now off to research everything she posted 
