I just saw this in a magazine. Made by Cashel and called a Swayback Cushion Pad. I’m wondering if it would fill in the dip behind the withers better than my current pad.
A sway back pad would have extra padding farther back than the hollows right at/behind the withers.
You want a front riser pad, or just a set of shims, for that area. I MUCH prefer standalone shims because you can vary the thickness, layer than, and put them in just the right spot.
I recently purchased a Skito pad that fills in the hollows behind the shoulders and the low part of the back. It has taken some trial and error to get it to work for different saddles/pads, but it was a good purchase!
ETA the Skito pad is a shim - you use it over a pad.
Keep in mind a Skito pad is pretty thick on its own, so if the saddle otherwise fits, besides the wither hollows, then the pad will make it not fit.
I have a pad that I can put shims in the pockets, I was just wondering if this type of pad would be better. I wonder about the line from 3 shims to 1, if it creates a pressure line. Hopefully I can get gussets added to that dip area soon. I’m making do with pads until the saddle fitter comes back through.
I have a swaybacked horse, and a swayback pad. I do not use the swayback pad on the horse. It doesn’t fill in the right areas. I use a riser pad on the horse. The swayback pad is thicker in the middle, and thinner on each end (this is the cashel one). For my swaybacked horse, it doesn’t make sense.
[QUOTE=JB;8125830]
Keep in mind a Skito pad is pretty thick on its own, so if the saddle otherwise fits, besides the wither hollows, then the pad will make it not fit.[/QUOTE]
Exactly, hence the trial and error!
I own the cashel swayback pad. I was impressed with the overall quality of the product in the way it was made and the solidness of the cushioning, and it has seen a lot of time on the back of my horse. Just not under a saddle. 
You’re describing “dip behind the withers” which doesn’t sound quite like what this is meant to solve. It’s meant to solve a situation where the whole length of the spine is making more of a “u” shape than it should. This will happen in some horses with bad conformation, some older broodmares who have had a life of bearing heavy babies, or in my case an older gelding who went from light work to being retired due to problems on the legs (ringbone, arthritis, etc.), so he lost a lot of muscle tone (and had a hay belly to boot, which is gone now).
So as others say here, shims offer you much more flexbility in what you’re trying to do. This pad is all a single unit, take it or leave it. I put it on underneath my horse’s saddle which at one time fit him like a glove but now “bridges” at front and back with his back dropping down underneath it. I got some serious ear pinning and not wanting to move forward. Been there, done that, horse is trying to tell me something. I tried twice more with just moving things around, all same result. Pad gone, happier horse, but at the end of a ride he would have a sore spot where the saddle was connecting to his spine area in the back. (When I say “ride,” we’re talking 15 minutes in an indoor arena … let’s say he’s 98% retired.)
So now I use the cashel pad on top of my bareback pad, and it’s been a perfect solution for us. The extra padding gives my hips a little more relief from my xw horse instead of doing the splits on him.
