Barefoot treeless saddle for high withered horse?

MDB

MDB

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Hi all,

Does anybody have experience with treeless saddles for high withered horses? In particular Barefoot saddles? I am struggling to find a decent fitting saddle out here in Spain and with no saddle fitters and my dearth of experience it is not easy. The biggest problem seems to be bridging and wither clearance. With each saddle I try I can solve one problem but not both. So, it is has been mentioned about treeless in the past on one of my previous posts and after much thought I would like to explore this option further. So any experiences or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
 
Try Podium if you can cope with it not looking like a GP saddle. No idea who sells them in Spain, they come from Italy. To see them look up Zoe Lindop of Pioneer Equestrian who sells them in UK. Built around a 'frame', which is based on old cavalry saddles, so very comfy for horse and rider. Also means they have higher pommels than most saddles. Only down side is the stirrups fit onto the 'frame', so don't come off in an emergency, so I would recommend using caged stirrups (the endurance ones are very comfy as well) with it. These will prevent your foot getting trapped if you are ejected.
 
I've tried Barefoot - they are lovely saddles, but I can't get the right size for either me or the horse. Size 1 is fine for the horse but too small for me and Size 2 is too big for me AND the horse!

But I digress.

I did buy, in error, a Barefoot Lexington saddle for my cob. It was awful! Just didn't fit him as he has a flat back and low withers, and in the end I sold it. It felt and looked like it might fit a different sort of horse, i.e. high withered WB type rather than a cob.

I just throw this out as a suggestion. They sometimes, if rarely, come up on e-Bay.

Also....... on e-bay recently there was a Barefoot "Madrid" saddle which I think is designed for Iberian type of horses. So you might find that one or both of these two Barefoots might fit yours??? On Barefoots you can also change the pommel plate if needed for a narrower horse.

I don't know for sure, but just muting this as a suggestion OP??
 
I have successfully used a Barefoot Cheyenne on my Lipi/Arab who has a high wither and broad shoulders. The standard pommel insert gave plenty of wither clearance.
 
Thanks for your replies. I had a look at the Pioneer Equestrian web page but couldn't really find much nitty gritty information on the site. Maybe I was just blind. Interesting other comments on Barefoot saddles. I did have in mind the Notting Hill, but I will run to ebay now and look up the Madrid and also have another look at Cheyenne too. Anybody else got any experiences with Barefoot or other treeless saddles?
 
I use a Cheyenne very successfully on my ISH who has withers. It did take a bit of chopping and changing to find a pad that suited him. In the end, we have bought the Barefoot Physio pad and use it with shims. There's plenty of wither clearance and actually the saddle is now better balanced - it tended to tip me forward until I found the right pad and shims.

I use the same saddle on my New Forest x TB, but with a different pad (he has a flat back and no withers).
 
i think you will be fine with a Barefoot, both my horses have high withers and you get plenty of clearance with them, the Nottinghill has extra padding i think for a heavier rider, you could go for a Drytex rather than leather if you didn't want to spend as much, i have seen them and ridden in one ( Cheyenne) and it was great, think they have extended the choice now and called them Vegan, a treeless is a good option for you OP as you have the same issues as me stuck here in the wilderness, also if i remember correctly your mare needs building up ? and will change shape? also she has a short back? try and go for the shortest model as they are a big saddle , you can use a Haf pad if you prefer, great for super hot countries and some are shimmable. xxx
 
Doesn't work for all, and I haven't tried it with a Barefoot saddle, another option is a High-wither Suberpad used instead of a shim pad.

They look strange as they are filled with cork which moulds to the horses shape. I use mine under a freeform junior with great success on a withery beast. For this particular horse I found shim pads would tilt the saddle down at the front - no such problems with the suberpad ( dressage trainer likes the saddle/pad combination a lot - prefers to teach us in it than my fancy-schmancy dressage saddle )
 
Shady said:
i think you will be fine with a Barefoot, both my horses have high withers and you get plenty of clearance with them, the Nottinghill has extra padding i think for a heavier rider, you could go for a Drytex rather than leather if you didn't want to spend as much, i have seen them and ridden in one ( Cheyenne) and it was great, think they have extended the choice now and called them Vegan, a treeless is a good option for you OP as you have the same issues as me stuck here in the wilderness, also if i remember correctly your mare needs building up ? and will change shape? also she has a short back? try and go for the shortest model as they are a big saddle , you can use a Haf pad if you prefer, great for super hot countries and some are shimmable. xxx
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Thanks Shady, you have a good memory! You are right she does need building up and she does have a short back. I am not riding her at all at the moment as my gut is that she just is not comfortable with the saddles I have despite all the pads and shimming. She clearly has had damage from previous saddles as there are different coloured hairs around her withers and spine which are in the precise pattern of a saddle. I liked the look of the Barefoot Notting Hill because of the extra padding which gives more vertebral clearance and the knee rolls which would add a little stability. I don't want to do anything fancy on her, just hacking, but we do have steep terrain and she can be a bit dim at times we can have some silly spooks. I always knew when we first went to see her that she would be tricky to fit a saddle to, but I never thought it would be this hard. Thanks for your advice. I will take another look at some of the shorter saddles on th website. Xx
 
My lad gets rubbed by the back of his saddles moving to and fro across his spine (he is very short-backed and slightly sway-backed). I use the Barefoot size 1 and put a pad underneath that stops a few inches short of the back of the saddle. This solves the rubbing problem without putting undue pressure on the back of the pad as there is no tree to transmit my weight to the back of the saddle. His ideal saddle would be a 15" one but I would have to spend my life standing in the stirrups!
 
it's a horrible combination to try and fit MDB, i found the Belgium Barefoot people really helpful and as you pay in Euro's you will be better off buying in Europe, exchange rate is terrible to buy in pounds at the mo, what i did was send some photo's and they can advise from there, for example the Arizona was terrible on my Arab but the Cheyenne much better, i went for a Trekker finally on their advice, this could be an option for you as you ride the same as me but it may not work if her withers are really high, they work on the principle that you can adjust higher and narrower or lower and wider so you could end up too narrow on her sides to get that extra wither clearance you need, worth a look tho as they are super stable for hill work, also Ghost is an option, talk to Louise at Equine Whispers, she sells both plus the Libra and is lovely . xxxx

just to add , Barefoot and Trekker are great for riding out spooks!! very deep seat on the Barefoots and a handy endurance style grabby thing on the trekker, i love it when i am being a lazy slouch along rider or going up steep slopes. xx
 
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