Saddles

Quinian

I thought some of you on here may own and/or ride horses so I have a question for ya.

What do you think of treeless saddles?

Yes, that's vague on purpose. I want your over all opinion on them. I know some of them don't work well but I figure some of them must.

NCFUBAR

Only treeless saddles I've ever seen in person were for barrel racing. They worked well for that from what I saw but for me a working saddle (cutting, reining, etc) I want a tree.

Jayhawker

I'm using the same saddle my Dad cowboyed on in 1935...worked for him, works for me...

1965Jeff

I have two favorites, an old Hereford saddle that belongs to my wife's grandmother who is 85 this year who also with my help sat; rode one our older mares 2 years ago while I held my breath the whole time. The other is a roping saddle my wife picked up for me 5 or 6 years ago comfy but heavy ,can't recall maker. Guess I lean towards more traditional gear. Over the years at horse auctions they usually sell tack before the horses, we picked up some other saddles pretty cheap.

wookie

I have my granddad's and my dad's saddle and I have the one I won and my cowboying saddle I have seen the treeless but I have no use for them. I do have an aussie saddle that I trail ride with and I really like it.

ilove22s

i think the concept is great, but maybe with our knowledge/technology its a little early still.

A former Dressage instructor came up with an idea for one and had some made. Some people loved them, some hated them. Dont know what the horses thought/felt, but i know that some horses will put up with alot of pain before they do/show it.

since horses arent made to carry extra weight, i think its better to have something. Also just from the physics POV distributing the weight of us over a larger area should help.

I think the one thing that alot of people forget about horses and people is that we both grow/change with use and exercise. Horses can show more of a change in muscle development and as such the saddles should be checked every 6 months or so for fit.

i personally will tolerate with less confort in the saddle and put more comfort/fitting for the horse.

fyi, there use to be some business that had a saddle pad with pressure sensors sewed into the lining. you could use the pad under your saddle and ride around recording the pressure difference during the different types of movments. It was surprising how much pressure there is in the corners. The westen saddle had the least high pressure points followed by the Austrialian, English and the last/worst was the saddle that looked like it was a blend of pack/western saddle. but of course this was for a particlular horse/saddle combo.