Treeless saddle people

Bertolie

Bertolie

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I am thinking of getting a treeless saddle for my awkward shaped cob. I tried one on him tonight (not sure of make) and with a rider on board there was virtually no clearance above his withers, I could barely fit a finger under the pommel. Is this normal? I have no idea how a treeless saddle should fit. Any help appreciated.
 
p.s. Being able to fit barely one finger under the pommel sounds too low for any treeless. However Ansur saddles supposedly don't need much space. A lot of treeless can be adjusted by using the right numnah or pad.
 
Not sure of the make, a fellow livery left it at yard for me to try. It was really just so that I could see how my horse went in a treeless and so that I could see how I felt. It just seemed to sit extremely low with a rider on board.
 
If it was a solution saddle I would advise you to get a qualified fitter of this make out. I have one and I love it, I use it on my own 15.1 wb x cob and the same saddle is used on my daughters 16.2 TB. Daughter steels it to school in rather than use her own brand new bates as the horses stride is much longer in it and the recurring back niggle the mare had has gone since using the treeless. I don't need the shims on my girl as she is built like an out house, but the TB has a small shim pad to fill out her typical TB bits!! so if you are serious about treeless then for peace of mind get it fitted rather than guess. However they do tend to sit a bit closer to the wither than your tree'd saddle's, I can slip a finger under when mounted and when the horses walk it doesn't get squashed. I love mine, but they are like Marmite
...you either love them or hate them..! x
 
The make of saddle is crucial really, there are some rubbish treeless saddles about, and some really good ones.
You could post a photo here?
I don't know where you are, but Better Saddles fit treeless saddles, so if they're close enough you could maybe contact them.
 
I think it was a cheap budget treeless, possibly Libra or easytrek. I could get a finger under when mounted but said finger got squashed when we moved! I am going to try a secondhand Saddle Company saddle that someone on the yard is selling but I think I may have to get a saddle fitter out again!
 
If the saddle has a solid (block" pommel at the front, possibly in a zipped pocket, then you need to be really careful about the fitting. If it's so low that you can hardly get a finger under then you'll probably see the "ends" of this block pressing down on your horse when you're in the saddle. As the cantle can also be solid in these types of saddle, you also need to be sure that the saddle fits you. The worst pressure problems I've seen with these saddles have been because the rider's bum was resting back on the cantle. Treeless saddles aren't one size fits all.
If you type treeless saddle into Ebay you will see that there are a lot of saddles for sale that look very similar, but honestly the quality is very variable. I would need to know exactly which one it was before using it, and also be really sure it fitted. From what you say, I'd guess that this one doesn't.
 
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