Southwestern Equine OrthoRide Made in USA Premium All Wool Build up, Saddle Pad Western, Classic Contour Saddle Pad, Ortho Pad Horse Saddle Pad, Saddle Blanket, 30x30 & 31x32

I bought this saddle pad to use with a new Hilason flex tree saddle (rubber tree) that tends to kinda squish downward a little when you sit in it (a common flex tree problem), causing the underside of the horn fork to touch/rub my appendix gelding's tall withers. When this pad first arrived, I initially thought that it wasn't going to be enough of a rise to lift the saddle off his withers, but alas, it was perfectly sufficient for that purpose. As you can see in the photo, it lifts the front of the saddle up just enough to make it comfortable with a little extra space left over.Having said that, there are 2 big drawbacks to this pad that I really, really don't like, but I will live with for now until I find an even better pad:1. The pad area where my leg is supposed to rest against the horses side is so thick that when I'm sitting in the saddle, there is a while inch of air between my calf and the horses side. Ugh. This does not allow for any degree of precision with leg cues and decreases stability of the rider. And, there's absolutely no reason why there should be any thickness in a pad in the leg area. There's a tiny cutout for where the girth goes, but not for where the leg goes. It just feels like the people who made the pad don't actually ride in it, or they'd notice this right away and fix it.2. I hope that the company making these pads will consider making them with a higher incline to the wither area. The pad rests directly on the withers, binding them. A pad is not supposed to cause binding or weight ON the withers. Even if the company could make a "wither relief / high wither" option for their pads, I would have much rather purchased that. The product photos appear to have a slight rise at the withers, but the pad really doesn't. It is quite common with English pads, to give extra room in the wither area so the pad isn't binding the withers. So, why is it that it's so darn difficult to find a Western pad that offers the same amount of room to free up the withers? We don't ALL have mutton withered horses.I will also be adding a breast collar and rear cinch in the near future to my saddle for this horse. The full-side photo was taken after a 45 minute ride and the saddle slid backwards 1+ inch. I may also need to add a rear riser so both front and back are risen, in order to keep the saddle from sliding back so drastically.I don't have these problems with my English saddle or English pads (which have high wither relief AND close contact in the leg area). But, for the time being the western pad does fix my most pressing problem of the saddle rubbing the withers. This pad is a close enough fix for temporary use, but I'll continue searching for the perfect pad, in the meantime. I might be better off with one of those skito style pads that have the whole saddle raised up 1 inch, instead of just a front rise like this pad. One thing is for sure, I won't stop until I get a perfect fit, and I haven't yet achieved that.

I bought this pad since my young horse keeps getting sore from the saddle and she has picked up some white hairs on her withers. My vet advised me to soak a new pad and let it settle in to her body so it fits her shape. This pad has resolved all her issues. I am so very pleased with the shape and contours of the pad.

This is the 2nd of these I’ve purchased. It fits my high withered thoroughbred perfectly! Plus it looks quite nice and is durable

This is a very pretty and well built saddle pad. I'm very pleased with my order.

This saddle fits my horse that has high withers very well. Seems super cushioned and comfortable for him. We want him as comfortable as possible while my husband ropes off of him so this works very well!

I bought this pad for my wife's birthday, she loves it and it fits her horse perfectly.

I used this saddle pad at a show (Barrel Race) for the 1st time and I absolutely love it. This is one of the best Orthopedic / Gel inserts pads I have used in a long time. I will definitely order another one in the future!

We recently bought a mare with high withers this saddle pad has done wonders for the fit of the saddle and comfort of the horse. The saddle pad is very well built