Every experienced rider has sat on a horse that felt just a little off — not lame, not sore, but tilted. The saddle creeps. The horse drifts one direction. The right shoulder carries differently than the left. You swap saddles. You call the fitter. And the fitter says the same thing she always says: your horse is asymmetrical and your current setup isn’t compensating for it. She’s right. And shimming is usually the first practical place to start.
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Before we get into the how, one thing worth saying plainly: a shimmable pad is not a substitute for a well-fitted saddle. It is a tool for fine-tuning a saddle that fits reasonably well on a horse whose back is changing, uneven, or rebuilding after time off. If your saddle is structurally wrong for the horse, shimming will not save it. Get the saddle fitting first, then read this.
Still here? Good. Let’s talk about what shimming actually does, what gear makes it practical, and where to place what.
Why Asymmetry Happens (And Why It’s Not a Flaw to Panic Over)
Horses are not symmetrical. No horse is. Right-handed or left-handed (yes, horses have a dominant side), compensating off an old injury, built with one shoulder more developed than the other, coming back from a lay-up — all of these create a horse that carries unevenly under saddle.
What this means in practical terms: your saddle sits level when you set it on the horse’s back on the ground, and then the moment you put weight on it, it cocks or slides to one side. The contact is uneven. You feel it. The horse feels it more.
The problem isn’t the saddle and it isn’t the horse. It’s that the saddle was fitted to a static, neutral shape, and your horse is neither static nor neutral. What you need is the ability to add a little height on the lower side, or a little fill in the area that’s dropped — and to do that without committing to a permanent structural change you’ll regret in three months when the horse’s musculature shifts again.
That’s the entire purpose of a shimmable pad.
The Ogilvy Shimmable Half Pad: What It Does and Who It’s For
The Classic Jump Shimmable Half Pad ($240) and the Classic Dressage Shimmable Half Pad ($240) are the most practical tools I’ve found for managing asymmetry in working horses. The jump cut and dressage cut differ in flap length and shape — choose based on the discipline your saddle is built for, not the discipline you primarily ride in. If you’re on an all-purpose or close-contact, go jump.
The pad has dedicated shim pockets — front, rear, and center depending on configuration — that let you slide inserts in and out without removing the pad from the horse. That matters more than it sounds. If you’ve ever tried to shim by layering foam under a regular pad, you know how imprecise that is. Here, the pocket holds the insert exactly where you placed it.
The base construction is quilted with a memory-foam panel. That matters because memory foam distributes pressure evenly when there’s no insert, so even before you add a single shim, the pad is doing useful work. You’re not starting from a neutral baseline; you’re starting from a pad that’s already helping.
Sizing: the pad should fit under your saddle panels without bunching or extending past the flap edge. Ogilvy’s sizing is generous. When in doubt, size down rather than up — bulk under the panel edge will cause pressure, not relieve it.
The Inserts: The Part Most People Skip (And Then Regret)
The pad is only as useful as the insert system. You need the Memory Foam Inserts / Gummy Inserts (from $75) — they are sold separately and this is not the place to improvise.
The inserts come in different thicknesses. Start thin. This is the single most common mistake I see: riders who are frustrated that the saddle is tilting badly want to correct it aggressively, so they go straight to the thickest shim. That creates a different problem. A too-thick shim lifts the saddle on one side past the point the panels were designed to accommodate, and now you’ve created high-pressure contact on the opposite side.
The rule I follow: add the thinnest available insert on the low side, hack, assess. If the saddle is still tilting after the horse has warmed up and the pad has settled, go up one thickness. If the tilt is corrected but the horse is now tense through that shoulder, come back down. It takes a few sessions to land on the right configuration — that’s normal, and it’s precisely why the insert system exists.
Where to place the inserts:
- Front pockets (near the pommel): Use these when the saddle is dropping at the pommel on one side, or when a low wither on one side is pulling the tree to the left or right. Most asymmetrical horses need front shimming on the lower side.
- Rear pockets (near the cantle): Use these when the back of the saddle is tipping — either because one side of the horse’s back is less developed, or because there’s been muscle atrophy behind the shoulder on one side. Rear shimming alone, without front shimming, is less common but sometimes right.
- Center pockets: Use these for general low-on-one-side back shape where the drop is in the middle of the panel contact zone. Least common, most specific.
You can combine front and rear inserts. You should not, as a general rule, shim all three zones simultaneously unless a qualified saddle fitter has instructed you to do so. More pockets filled does not mean more correction — it often means more confusion.
Ready to try the Ogilvy Shimmable Half Pad and Inserts? Use my link for reader benefits at Ogilvy Equestrian → https://ogilvyequestrian.com/samanthabaer
The Premium Option: Sheepskin Shimmable Half Pad
If your horse is friction-sensitive in addition to being asymmetrical — skin-reactive, prone to rubbing, or coming back from a spot of soreness — the sheepskin version is worth considering. The Classic Jump Sheepskin Shimmable Half Pad ($319) and the Classic Dressage Sheepskin Shimmable Half Pad ($240) add a sheepskin top layer over the same shim-pocket architecture.
Sheepskin wicks moisture, reduces friction, and gives a slightly cushioned feel at the skin level that some horses respond to noticeably. For a horse that’s compensating for asymmetry and therefore moving unevenly — which often means one side of the back is working harder and sweating more — the moisture management is genuinely useful.
The tradeoff: sheepskin requires more care (lanolin wash, proper drying, occasional conditioning), and it does add a small amount of bulk. If your saddle fit is already snug in the channel or the flap clearance is tight, that extra layer may cause more problems than it solves. For horses with a bit of room in the fit, it’s a lovely upgrade. For horses where the saddle is already borderline narrow in the channel, stick with the standard shimmable.
One practical note for summer: sheepskin breathes better than most riders expect, but on genuinely hot days or with horses that are heavy sweaters, check the contact zone after your ride. Sheepskin should not be left wet against the horse’s back for extended periods.
A Note on Using the Shimmable Pad Under an Under-Pad
If you’re also using a baby pad under your shimmable half pad — which many riders do, both for sweat-wicking and to protect the pad itself — make sure the under-pad is thin and flat. The Classic Jump Baby Pad ($65) is designed to work with half pads and won’t add unwanted bulk. Thick quilted under-pads will interfere with how the shims seat and will undermine the precision of the correction you’ve spent time dialing in.
The stack should be: baby pad, shimmable half pad with inserts in the correct pockets, saddle. That’s it. No additional pads, no foam inserts anywhere other than the designated shim pockets.
When Shimming Is Not the Answer
A few scenarios where shimming will not help and may make things worse:
- The saddle tree is the wrong width for the horse. A narrow tree will pinch regardless of shims. A wide tree will rock regardless of shims.
- The horse is actively sore in the back. Shimming a sore horse to correct for compensatory movement is working backwards — address the soreness first.
- The horse is significantly unlevel to the eye at a standstill, with obvious muscle atrophy on one side. That’s a veterinary conversation, not a tack conversation.
- You have never had the saddle fitted by a qualified fitter. Shimming a random direction without a baseline assessment is guessing.
If any of those apply, the pad will still be useful once the underlying issue is resolved. The inserts can be removed entirely, and the shimmable half pad functions as a standard memory-foam half pad with excellent pressure distribution. It’s not a one-trick piece of equipment.
I’ve talked through the thinking behind asymmetry and shimming in more depth on the podcast — if you want to hear a longer conversation about saddle fit for the horse that doesn’t hold a static shape, start there. It covers a lot of the assessment questions that are hard to answer in writing.
The short version: start with the thinnest insert, place it on the low side in the front pocket, ride, and observe. Give it three or four sessions before making additional changes. Be patient. The horse’s back is responding to decades of being built the way it’s built — you’re not going to re-level it in a week. But with the right pad and the right insert placement, you can get your saddle sitting square, your horse moving more evenly, and yourself riding straighter, which is the whole point.
Ready to start shimming? Shop the Ogilvy Shimmable Half Pad and Memory Foam Inserts through my link for reader benefits at Ogilvy Equestrian → https://ogilvyequestrian.com/samanthabaer
