Treeless Saddle pad rubbing?

[Orangehorse]

I am using a Barefoot London treeless saddle at the moment, until my usual saddle has been re-fitted.

I have all the correct pads bought with the saddle, but however carefully I place the saddle on my horse's back, it seems that the saddlepad drops down to press on his withers. I don't want to replace one problem with another.

I also find the saddle feels a bit thin just where I sit. Is this normal?
I have to admit that my horse is going much better, particularly when schooling. He obviously likes the extra freedom of movement.

 

[Theresa_F]

I have the same saddle. Not had any problems with it, but when I put it on, I then put my hand under the pad at the front and pull it up and ensure that it is not touching the withers before I get on.

You do feel a lot more under you - you can feel the horse's muscle moving - almost like you are riding bareback. I personally like it, but one person who tried my saddle hated that she could feel so much.

I have used it on my young cob and two clydesdales. The old clydie particularly loved it.

Final tip - don't do anything more than very low jumps in it - they just are not great for this, but general schooling and hacking is wonderful in terms of comfort.

Final thought - what pommel do you have? If you have something with very high narrow withers, you may need the narrow pommel and not the standard one they come with - they also do a wide one for table top types.

 

[Orangehorse]

Thanks for the reply. My horse is quite broad and doesn't have particularly high withers, so he probably is OK in the standard pommel.

I won't be jumping in it!

I pulled it up as you describe, but it seems to work down as the ride continues. It was slightly better this morning, so perhaps I am learning to put it on correctly.

 

[Theresa_F]

Hopefully it will also adjust to his shape and it is possible that the girth is not quite tight enough and allowing the pad to slip down?

Appreciate that adjusting the girth on this saddle onboard is just about impossible but might be worth taking time to hop off and check to see it is not loose.

Hope you get on ok with it, I really like mine and it has also saved a lot of having to get new saddles every few months where my youngster grew so fast.

Just a thought if you have the type with little/no withers and very broad, you may need the wide pommel. My horses take a wide fitting and though they are heavy types do have definate withers. They are fine with the standard, but an xxw type may need the wide one and this could possibly be why the pad is slipping where it is being pulled down by the pommel not being quite wide enough.