Breaking saddle, help! treed / treeless....?

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almrc

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Hi All not posted for a looooooong time, but more of a lurker really...

anyway i have a question. I want to get a saddle for my tb x shes just over 14hh but 2.5yrs and still growing. I am looking for a saddle for her to get used to and next year when shes 3, i would like to use the saddle just to put weight on her etc.

now iv looked at the cub saddle, but they are small so i may not be able to sit in one?


so then i was looking at some kind of treeless saddle, that could last her until shes kinda stopped growing then i can get her a proper, nice treed one. i would get a traditional looking treeless to last her, but i want her to be my eventer so will eventually need treed.

BUT I was then also thinking of the synthetic ones with changeable gullet etc.....

I thought treeless was a good idea as i know how important fit is, but i am concerned that i will be starting her in treeless but i want her eventually to go treed and dont know how this will affect her?


so basically any views opinions appreciated, im lost!!!
 
I dont know that much about treeless saddles so i would go the synthetic ones with changeable gullet - although no where near as nice as leather that is what i bought (second hand) for my old cob temporarily as i bought him obese and he was going to loose weight and therefore change shape drastically and it worked out really well. I would have bought a perminant leather one for competing etc when he lost all the weight but i sold him instead.

But thats just my personal preference!
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many treeless seem to have probs with stability, i'm not sure i'd want to back a horse in one. lots of posts about them.
tbh a good medium fit flat tree checked on her by a good saddle fitter, with various prolite, pads, etc if necessary to balance and fill in if she's not muscled up yet, shouldn't do any harm...
millions of horses go very happily in treed saddles. i'm sure some treeless are very good but the pressure across the spine from the downward pull of the stirrup bar area is a huge concern.
i had 2 to back last year, and found a Barrie Swain gp saddle, med fit, flattish tree, soft flocked, serge lined, on ebay for about £200, had it checked my local master saddler on both of them, it has been great and they are still both ridden in it without probs. they'll get proper saddles of their own when older and hopefully nearly stopped changing shape!
 
The make is more of an issue than the style. For example a Dartmoor Treefree looks very similar to a lot of the treeless saddles on EBay. However, I found my Treefree extremely stable on an sharp young horse, a lot of the cheap imitations are anything but.
You should be able to swap from treed to treeless with no problems as long as they are fitted properly. I do it all the time.
 
I break all the youngsters I handle in a racing saddle which is half tree one. The treeless saddles I have ridden on Torsion etc are just not stable enough IMO and you had to have the girth so tight that I would not risk it on a youngster. Otherwise I would probably use a wintec with changeable gullet or similar
 
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I break all the youngsters I handle in a racing saddle which is half tree one.

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Please tell me that's not true?! A TB half tree racing saddle? I cannot think of a more unsuitable or uncomfortable (for the horse!) saddle to sit on a young horse for the first time
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I have a very nice Freeform treeless I've used to break a couple of horse in recently. It's got a stiff base and and good shape for wither clearance (still need the use a pad though) and it'a been very stable, even on totally round, flat things. The base is stiff enough to distribute weight well and a quick test with a Port Lewis Impression pad showed no pressure from the stirrup bars. It's also VERY comfortable
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and secure to ride in. Drama Queen Idiot is very approving of it and mush preferes it over any tree'd saddle (even well fitted ones) I've tried so far.

All of the 'endurance style' treeless's I've seen, even the 'proper' ones like the Barefoot and Torsion are just glorified bareback pads with a pommel and cantle stuck on and I totally agree with those who say they cause pressure points. The Freeform is different as it has a stiff (but not totally inflexible) base then a well padded seat velco'd on top. It's one of the few types i'd actually use.

The Heather Moffet saddles are also very nice, showed no pressure points and are very stable. And traditional looking. They're also very expensive
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I've broken and schooled my most recent project in it and now he's finished changing shape he's got a 'grownup' tree'd saddle. My 2yr old will be the same.

If you decided to go for a tree'd saddle the saddle company saddles are good, if the type suits. Throwogood saddles are alsonuce saddle and the new ones have changeable gullets so the width can be altered. And wintecs should be steered well clear off for a flatbacked wide young horse
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[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I break all the youngsters I handle in a racing saddle which is half tree one.

[/ QUOTE ]

Please tell me that's not true?! A TB half tree racing saddle? I cannot think of a more unsuitable or uncomfortable (for the horse!) saddle to sit on a young horse for the first time
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have to say, i totally agree with this.

i went to Doncaster sales a few months ago with a friend. the first one that walked past us with a huge lump in the middle of its spine about 8" behind the withers, (a bump about the size of half a Cadbury's Creme Egg!) i though "must be one of those awful fly-bite things where the maggot lives inside for a while etc". when another went past with the same thing, i mentioned it to my friend, who looked at me as if i was a cretin (fair enough!) and said "they're from where the tree ends on a half-tree'd racing saddle. lots of them have it."
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i wouldn't put one on a youngster, no way.
 
I ride all my horses in Solution treeless saddles. I back all my horses in these saddles. Not only are they perfectly stable, and you do not have to have the girth too tight, all the youngsters I have backed treeless have been much easier to do than those I have done for many years in treed saddles.

If the horse is happier and more comfortable, it is far less likely to do anything untoward anyway
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There is no reason why you should have to change to a treed saddle to go eventing. Lots of people event (in fact compete in all disciplines) in Solution saddles. I believe they are the only make of treeless saddle which you can use under FEI rules, and they were designed for competition riders from the outset.

Like everything else, there are some very bad treeless saddles out there, which I wouldn't touch with a bargepole.
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The idea that anyone would back horses in a half-tree saddle makes me
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Here you go, young horse, bad day (found physical issues once we were safely stopped), Dartmoor Treefree saddle. Definitely not girthed extremely tightly, I never do that. At the end of the spins the saddle had shifted forward slightly, no lateral problems at all.
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so with the synthetic ones,can you just pic saddles like that up off ebay, how will you know if it fits? shes tb x so wont be a cob type saddle (i think?!) and shes not high withered either. i def prefer thorowgood had bad things with wintec personlly.

I have never really liked treeless saddles, but would get one for my youngster if i had to, the last thing i want to do is damage her back
 
There are some rubbish saddles on EBay to be honest. I'd buy from somewhere like Better Saddles (they have a website) where you can try before you buy. Goldfinch saddles and Fhoenix also offer hire options and a fitting service.
Contrary to what many believe, treeless saddles don't fit all horses, but if you get a good one and have it fitted it will often be the only saddle you need for your horse, as padding, pommels etc can be adjusted and swapped.
With saddles that have blocks front and back, like Torsion and similar designs, if it does't fit it will cause pressure problems. There have been quite a few treeless threads here recently, so worth a search if you do consider going that route.
If I was backing a horse treed then personally I'd like something like a stock saddle, but again it needs fitting and might not fit as your horse's shape changes.
 
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Contrary to what many believe, treeless saddles don't fit all horses, but if you get a good one and have it fitted it will often be the only saddle you need for your horse, as padding, pommels etc can be adjusted and swapped.

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I did think of this, but I would like this horse to be my eventer, so will need to have a treed saddle

Didnt know not all treeless saddles fitted! Well I live in cornwall and there are hardly any saddeleries/saddle fitters down here so not sure what to do
 
Who? Me Spyda? I don't have experience of Spring Tree saddles, so I wouldn't like to comment on them.
Had a read, it looks as if a lot of "treed" saddles have spring trees.
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Hi, no, sorry Kerilli mentioned in one of her posts [ QUOTE ]
tbh a good medium fit flat tree checked on her by a good saddle fitter, with various prolite, pads, etc if necessary to balance and fill in if she's not muscled up yet, shouldn't do any harm...

[/ QUOTE ] and I wondered if she'd specified a flat-tree for any particular reason (I should know about!
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