Hi all. Anyone got experience with a drytex barefoot saddle? Do you like the material? Does it wear well? Last as long as leather? Cleans OK? Is it similar to leather? Do you prefer drytex or leather? Any help much appreciated! Thanks
No obvious signs of wear yet - I am using webbing leathers with it and no rubs on the fabric. The girth strap holes do wear quite a lot, but just cosmetic.
You don't notice at first, but two hours in to a hack, you get to the stage where you can hear nothing else! I have heard on here that a good dusting with talc can help this - I haven't tried so far.I've only had mine 6 months. It cleans up amazingly so far - just a scrub with a damp cloth makes it look like new
The one think I'd say against it is that it squeaks
I bought mine as I'd tried a couple of treeless (a Freeform and a Torsion) before without success, and wasn't sure the Barefoot would work for us so didn't want to spend more than I had to. As it works out, the horse absolutely loves it (much more than I do - it puts me in a horrible position!). So if it is replaced, it will be with a Cherokee and as far as I know, they only come in leather versions.
The Cherokee has knee rolls which I think may help - but I'll be trying out a friend's one first! The advice I got when buying the Cheyenne was that you had to have an independent seat - well, I'm not bad, I ride bareback a lot, fine at all paces, still wobbly on corners (because we hack, we don't do school circles 
). But bareback doesn't tip you forward - you can choose your position, either chair seat or long dressage style position, and be with the horse's movement. Even though you can move the position of the stirrup bars on the Cheyenne, somehow my legs are always dragged backwards. It feels lovely if I drop my stirrups and use it as a bareback pad, but to ride normally I have to have stirrups much shorter than I would with e.g. my dressage saddle and I don't like that.I have the Cheyenne Drytex. You can use any stirrup leathers, but because the stirrup bars are closed rings, you need to use safety stirrups of some kind. I just use synthetic web ones for convenience - you fit them with the buckle at the bottom, and they have less thickness under the leg than leather ones.
I think the not worrying about getting it wet is because water doesn't affect the material in the way leather would be damaged by continually getting soaked. The Drytex doesn't seem to absorb water. It feels pretty much like leather to ride in. I can't say about the close contact, because the shape of my horse means we have a lot of pads and shims under the saddle - for close contact I ride with a Christ Lammfelle bareback pad. The Cheyenne is because I also ride on roads and in company and need a formal saddle, and we have had continual fails with treed saddles and saddle fitters. The horse is short backed, very broad, but has withers. The Cheyenne means we can use a short saddle (I use the size 1), and shim to account for withers, but his big shoulders are free and he strides out much better.
The reason I would move to the Cherokee is that (possibly because of the horse's shape), the Cheyenne tips me forward and I have to work quite hard to sit in a good position. Downhill at walk and trot is wobbly, downhill at a canter is not something I'm willing to do at the moment
That's just a reflection of the combination of me and my horse, though- how well it works will depend on how you like to ride and what shape your horse is.
Thanks both. Very helpful. I'm still a bit undecided whether to get leather or drytex but will just have to make my mind up!
We weren't much help, were we? They're all nice saddles... you could consider a second hand to try out if you wanted to avoid the depreciation They come up on eBay quite frequently. Just go for one that looks pretty new - the well used secondhand treeless seem to loose some of their shape and strength.