How easy is it to break a tree in a saddle?

C

Christmas Crumpet

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I've had my doubts about my horse for a while as he's getting more and more stressy to ride. I had him scoped for ulcers and x rayed yesterday - he does have ulcers which we will treat. However, we had an incident about 2 months ago when I went to shut a gate off him and my saddle slipped, I fell off and he disappeared into the mist with his saddle round his tummy. I caught him, put the saddle back on and went home both with a few injuries but nothing major and there was no sign of mud on him like he'd fallen.

I got my saddle down last night and found a crease had appeared across the seat which I thought was unusual. I then did the bend test with the cantle against me and pulled the pommel and its bending. I've sent the video to the saddler who agrees with me that the tree is broken. But what I don't understand is what on earth he did to break it!! There was only mud on the saddle, the leather didn't have a scratch on it. He went about 4 fields with it under his tummy and from what I can see jumped a barbed wire fence and not a lot else. Can he have broken it somehow with it under him? Its the only possibility I can see but I have no idea how he would have broken it and there be no other sign of damage other than now, the crease across the seat.

He has been getting worse to ride since then - increasingly worse and I just wonder whether the tree was cracked on our whoopsie and its been getting more broken since then causing him to be uncomfortable. I know he's got ulcers which won't help the situation but the vet reckons he's had them long before I bought him and sort of just dealt with it. Being ridden in a saddle with a broken tree along with ulcers is possibly the tipping point!!

There was absolutely no sign of structural damage to the saddle. My saddler even came out and reflocked it after the incident and it was only this week that the crease came up. Its all a bit strange. I've not dropped it and noone else has used it or touched it!!

Any thoughts gratefully received!!
 
I don't know about the actual tree but I have had a headplate break just through general use so I would guess it can just happen esp if you've had a bit of a dodgy event like you described. what type of saddle is it?
 
milliepops said:
I don't know about the actual tree but I have had a headplate break just through general use so I would guess it can just happen esp if you've had a bit of a dodgy event like you described. what type of saddle is it?
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Its a Chunky Monkey saddle I've had for about 18 months. Sam, the saddler, is ace and I messaged her last night and its all fairly easy to get mended.
 
i know it sounds silly but is it possible as he jumped the fence he tucked his front feet up and bashed it with a hoof?
it may not have left a mark, chance has once stood on a friend leather jacket (her own fault for leaving it on floor if you ask me) but it didnt leave a mark we could see
 
It is a bit random, I am a fitter not a saddler but some makers' saddle trees break more easily than others due to construction, but how much stress can break a tree isn't always easy to ascertain. If you have a saddle under stress and twisting then it may not take much to break it. It is much more usual that a significant impact is needed to break one.
 
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Shavings said:
i know it sounds silly but is it possible as he jumped the fence he tucked his front feet up and bashed it with a hoof?
it may not have left a mark, chance has once stood on a friend leather jacket (her own fault for leaving it on floor if you ask me) but it didnt leave a mark we could see
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You know what - that doesn't sound as silly as you think!! He def. jumped a barbed wire fence and potentially a 5 bar gate so could easily have done. At the end of the day, who knows? But I do know its broken and needs mending!!
 
sbloom said:
It is a bit random, I am a fitter not a saddler but some makers' saddle trees break more easily than others due to construction, but how much stress can break a tree isn't always easy to ascertain. If you have a saddle under stress and twisting then it may not take much to break it. It is much more usual that a significant impact is needed to break one.
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I'll be interested to find out which bit is broken and how the saddler thinks it was done. I do have a video of the saddle bending but not sure how to put it on here.
 
sbloom said:
Wow, well and truly broken, I don't see many broken trees to be fair but that's a lot of movement!
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sbloom said:
Wow, well and truly broken, I don't see many broken trees to be fair but that's a lot of movement!
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I feel awful - we gave it a good pull and shove after the gate incident and it seemed fine. But clearly not. And my poor horse has been a tit to ride and I was focusing on so many other things that it could have been. It was only a brainwave I had yesterday that made me check the saddle again. Its proper broken!!!! And I kept saying to people, he's not a nasty horse, he's kind and lovely so something has to be wrong!! I just didn't realise that part of it was probably the saddle.

I wonder how the feel of it has affected him - at least I can't feel any bits of metal/wood sticking out!!
 
I had a customer whose horse fell XC (heart attack, or whatever the equine equivalent is as I don't believe they strictly have heart attacks?) and rolled over on the saddle and didn't think to mention it to me. The tree was broken, of course. At least you did think it might be an issue, we all live and learn!
 
carolineb said:
I feel awful - we gave it a good pull and shove after the gate incident and it seemed fine. But clearly not. And my poor horse has been a tit to ride and I was focusing on so many other things that it could have been. It was only a brainwave I had yesterday that made me check the saddle again. Its proper broken!!!! And I kept saying to people, he's not a nasty horse, he's kind and lovely so something has to be wrong!! I just didn't realise that part of it was probably the saddle.

I wonder how the feel of it has affected him - at least I can't feel any bits of metal/wood sticking out!!
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could it be that immediatly after the incident the tree was partially broken, so maybe not all the way through, and then the pressure of the following ride broke it completely?
 
OP, with my new horse I didn't do up the girth tight enough, she's a bit girthy so I was not being as cautious as I should be and checking things twice etc and boy do I regret it! My saddle, a Kent and Masters, slipped, I intended to plop onto the ground in an inelegant heap then get up and sort it, but she freaked and ran off home. The saddle outwardly looked fine but I got my saddler out to check and he found the tree was twisted/bent rather than broken, once he pointed it out, it was easy to see but initially it looked fine. I think yours was probably fine til you rode again, so no damage done, hope you get it sorted soon x
 
My horse came to me with an old GP saddle and had a few back issues. New saddler checked it nearly a year into the loan and said it was bending too much, took it away and called to say someone had put an unstable weld on the tree. It was at the point of breaking. I would have had no clue if he hadn't spotted it.

No back issues now he has new saddle.
 
Seen this before, what the horse has probably done is, as he's cantered/galloped his legs/tummy have caught the saddle and squashed it together.It may not mark the saddle but would be enough to pop the tree. Had many a broken tree through the workshop, some really are a mystery as to how they broke, poor materials, poor workmanshop undoubtedly is amongst the causes on a lot of saddles but some still can baffle me.
Oz
 
One summer day I was long lining my horse for rehab with a saddle on. She was being very good so I decided when coming down the track that I would long rein her in the strip outside her paddock - big mistake! She started to get strong, then trotted and then took off reins dangling behind her.

She ran into her neighbours field and first thing she did was get down and roll, and rolled right over on top of her saddle. I was horrified especially as my tack isn't insured anymore!!

I managed to catch her and survey the damage, remarkably it had no scratches on it but I was concerned the tree may have been broken. The saddle fitter came out a few days later and confirmed that the tree wasn't broken thank goodness. I think I was lucky.
 
Frank rolled in his, in a concrete based stable with bedding (was stopping in to see a friends new set up, had I thought for a minute he would I would have taken it off!)
Tree was (surprisingly!) not broken so I think it can really depend on what force where.
 
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