"Treefree saddles" - feedback sought

MiJodsR2BlinkinTite

MiJodsR2BlinkinTite

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Joined
16 February 2009
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Slopping along on a loose rein somewhere in Devon
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http://www.treefree-saddles.co.uk/

Just wondering if anyone has one of these saddles???

Looking for feedback, opinions, experiences, whatever. Good or bad.

Are the saddles comfy? Do they feel "wide" like some other treeless saddles? Did they fit your horse/pony?

Did you have a saddle fitting with their fitter? If so, did he/she give the impression they had good product & equine knowledge?

And what is their after-sales like???

Sorry, lots of questions. In the quest for "the" perfect saddle, we're having a fitting with them on Wednesday. So any opinions good or bad would be welcome.
 
I have a second hand tree free exmoor and really like it. Mine looks like it has a lot of miles on it but is still in really good condition. I've only had it about 6 weeks and haven't done a huge amount yet as Roo is just coming back into work but we're doing hacks of getting on to nearly 2 hours and both of us are still comfy after.
I find it reasonably wide but my girl is pretty wide. I love that I can really feel her back muscles and how she's using herself. Roo is so much happier in this (her treed was well fitted but she just wasn't happy in it). I've found it stable but definately needs treeless/dressage leathers rather than normal ones. I find it very comfy.
It does have a good gullet intergral to the saddle but I use a proper pad as well to get good clearance - Roo does have a fairly prominent spine/withers tho.

I didn't have a fitting or anything as bought second hand online but they did give me some decent advice about the right pommel insert.
 
Oooohhh, so now I'm really looking forward to the saddle fitting on Wednesday :) I've tried the Barefoot London size 1 (way too small for me but liked the feel of it even so, probably a size 2 would be OK???); Cherokee size 2 (hated it, felt very insecure and needed more knee rolls); Cheyenne Size 2 - completely disappeared in it and felt totally insecure, awful!; Lexington Size 2 - looks nice but the cantle bit at the back has got to be more than 6" high, absolutely ridiculous! Tried my traddie boy in it and felt myself tipping forwards far to much, and you can see that when its on him it needs to come up at least two inches in front to be balanced. Not tried it on mare yet tho', but she's done endurance in a Barefoot Cheyenne (with someone else riding) before so just might be OK with the Lexington.

So all in all, not the greatest success with Barefoot! The thing I'd like to try is a Size 2 London, as the size 1 was comfy enough, but I just didn't have enough room in the seat of it.

Have tried a Freemax Evo, and liked it, BUT wasn't happy that there was enough support in it for my iffy back, and also had concerns about indentation where the stirrup bars went on the horse's back. So have sold it!!
 
On Roo, if anything it's a little up at the front but thats good for (I tend to tip forwards). I tend to use 17'5 - 18'' treed saddles and find the exmoor fine for me (I think it's an 18'' one).

This is her
20140319_180227_zps181123a2.jpg
 
We've used the exmoor/dartmoor treefrees for years now. I got one as a 'stopgap to use over the winter when my horse is too fat for his normal saddle' type saddle, and ended up using it all the time.... and then bought another one.....

One thing we did do was take out the solid arches and replace them with teddy bear stuffing, so ours are completely flexible. I've competed up to 80km in the saddles - the jury is out as to whether they'd be up for longer, but it depends on what you want from a saddle. Personally I think they have the best stirrup and girth rigging of all the treeless saddles.

They are easily the most useful saddle we've ever had, and they are the best saddle we've had on Spud. Tried 'upgrading' to a 'proper' endurance saddle for him but he hated it so we went back to the treefree. It does depend on the horse though - the saddle itself is ok on my youngster to a certain extent but he is very round and I think he and I need something a bit more secure in the long term. And as with any treeless, the key is getting the padding right.
 
EstherYoung said:
We've used the exmoor/dartmoor treefrees for years now. I got one as a 'stopgap to use over the winter when my horse is too fat for his normal saddle' type saddle, and ended up using it all the time.... and then bought another one.....

One thing we did do was take out the solid arches and replace them with teddy bear stuffing, so ours are completely flexible. I've competed up to 80km in the saddles - the jury is out as to whether they'd be up for longer, but it depends on what you want from a saddle. Personally I think they have the best stirrup and girth rigging of all the treeless saddles.

They are easily the most useful saddle we've ever had, and they are the best saddle we've had on Spud. Tried 'upgrading' to a 'proper' endurance saddle for him but he hated it so we went back to the treefree. It does depend on the horse though - the saddle itself is ok on my youngster to a certain extent but he is very round and I think he and I need something a bit more secure in the long term. And as with any treeless, the key is getting the padding right.
Click to expand...

Can I ask why you replaced the pommel arch? and how did it affect the stability of the saddle?
I haven't had mine very long so am still experiementing with fit etc
 
Have you tried a solution? Some of the older ones are pretty reasonably priced second hand now. The fitter I had was really excellent, and they will come out and fit second hand ones too. You can also have a saddle on trial to see how you get on with it.
 
Just a personal opinion, I think these saddles are possibly the best of the treeless of this shape (block pommel and cantle). The stirrup pressure is distributed through a web arrangement inside the saddle. I think even Torsion is still a strip over the back? Not sure on that one, but a lot of the cheaper saddles definitely are. I used to have one of these saddles and wish I'd never sold it, it was great to ride in and surprisingly very stable. Just make sure you don't get so comfy that you start to sit a bit "armchair" and put your bum against the cantle, that would cause pressure problems. The seat has to be the right length so that the rider doesn't cause pressure there.
 
The treefree people are on Facebook by the way, there were some quite interesting pics of the inside webbing arrangement as mention above. I was going to try one before I got this current Hm flexee, but they are really hard to find second hand and couldn't afford new.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
Thanks for the responses........

I love your cob "my nutmeg"; and that saddle does look lovely!

Will have to see how our fitting goes tomorrow. Am keeping an open mind, trying not to think "hey ho here we go yet another flippin saddle fitter":)
Click to expand...

Thanks, she's a fab girl and is going so much better in this that she was in her previous saddles, either treeless (cheaper end) or treed (prof fitted but we had bronking going on)

mandwhy said:
The treefree people are on Facebook by the way, there were some quite interesting pics of the inside webbing arrangement as mention above. I was going to try one before I got this current Hm flexee, but they are really hard to find second hand and couldn't afford new.
Click to expand...

Am starting to think I got incredibly lucky with mine - paid £200 second hand for it recently, almost didn't buy it as I hadn't heard of them before but pm'd someone on here who said it was a good make.
 
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