Treeless saddle, where to buy

Sanversera

Sanversera

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Any recommendations of where to buy a second hand treeless? It's for a very very wide shire X cob. A synthetic with the widest tree is digging into him around the stirrup bars.
 
Not all treeless saddles are created equal! Worth doing a bit of research as to what might work best for you both.

Personally I love my Ghost, it has a narrower twist than other makes of treeless saddles. They can found second hand on Facebook groups and occasionally eBay.

After using my Ghost for a few years on various horses I got it professionally fitted for my current horse. I was sceptical about how much difference a few bits of felt were going to make but actually there was significant improvement in how balanced it felt. I will continue having the fitter out on a reasonably regular basis.
 
Thanks alibali that's helpful. I've done a little bit of research and my concern at the moment is pressure on the horse's spine, that said I'm riding bareback ATM so only at walk for half an hour max and cobby is okay about it so with a saddle should be able to do longer. My other concern is stability of the saddle. There are some pretty awful BW gates locally and I need to dismount to negotiate then mount again. Do treeless slip? And how stable are they at all paces if horse shies or spins? I hope to do three and four hour hacks a couple of times a week at walk trot and canter, not bothered about jumping. Are treeless okay for this.?
 
I've personally not been able to get my Ghost as stable as my treed saddle and struggled with it slipping on our hilly terrain. I found getting back on from the ground very difficult too, so reverted back to a treed saddle.

It's a shame as I love the saddle itself and will try to get a fitter out or an online fitting to see if we can overcome this.

@sbloom is a Ghost fitter on here.
 
Caol Ila said:
I’ve had no bother with the Ghost sbloom fitted to Fin. I love it.
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I've just been looking on her website. The Ghost is quite impressive. I live in the west Midlands near Birmingham, it's a long way from Scotland. Am wondering if there are any local fitters?
 
Make sure you always use a treeless saddle pad with whatever saddle you buy. They give added spinal clearance. My Ghost/pad combo has good clearance.

Im definitely not a treeless expert as I've only ever had one type. I didn't intend to use it long term, just while my horse was changing shape rapidly as I broke her in and started getting her fit. Long term I was worried about pressure points and intended to return to treed saddles once I started increasing my distances. However my mare turns out to be an exceptionally sensitive/demonstrative princess who tolerates zero discomfort without loudly complaining so the fact she tolerates the Ghost means I'm too scared to try anything different! So far we've completed 50km rides and my physio knows my reservations about treeless so always checks her back very thoroughly. Touch wood she has always had glowing reports including her post-50km check over, physio is delighted with how her top line is building.

Downsides to the Ghost, as Muddy Monster says it is less stable than treed saddles. I always use a breastplate which helps stability, I can mount from the ground but usually find I need to stand in my right stirrup as soon as I'm on as the saddle has moved a little.

Finally, I don't consider this a downside but others might, my Ghost doesn't provide the rigid platform to sit on that treed saddles do. So you rely on your own balance and support yourself more if that makes sense? I think it's made me a better rider. I'm not sure how I'll take to a treed saddle the next time I sit on one, I think I'll find it quite rigid and uncomfortable and lacking in 'feel'! The saddle fitter did comment that my now quite dated Ghost is much more flexible than the newer models so this may not hold so true for all Ghosts. As I say my experience is really just limited to the one saddle!
 
alibali said:
Make sure you always use a treeless saddle pad with whatever saddle you buy. They give added spinal clearance. My Ghost/pad combo has good clearance.

Im definitely not a treeless expert as I've only ever had one type. I didn't intend to use it long term, just while my horse was changing shape rapidly as I broke her in and started getting her fit. Long term I was worried about pressure points and intended to return to treed saddles once I started increasing my distances. However my mare turns out to be an exceptionally sensitive/demonstrative princess who tolerates zero discomfort without loudly complaining so the fact she tolerates the Ghost means I'm too scared to try anything different! So far we've completed 50km rides and my physio knows my reservations about treeless so always checks her back very thoroughly. Touch wood she has always had glowing reports including her post-50km check over, physio is delighted with how her top line is building.

Downsides to the Ghost, as Muddy Monster says it is less stable than treed saddles. I always use a breastplate which helps stability, I can mount from the ground but usually find I need to stand in my right stirrup as soon as I'm on as the saddle has moved a little.

Finally, I don't consider this a downside but others might, my Ghost doesn't provide the rigid platform to sit on that treed saddles do. So you rely on your own balance and support yourself more if that makes sense? I think it's made me a better rider. I'm not sure how I'll take to a treed saddle the next time I sit on one, I think I'll find it quite rigid and uncomfortable and lacking in 'feel'! The saddle fitter did comment that my now quite dated Ghost is much more flexible than the newer models so this may not hold so true for all Ghosts. As I say my experience is really just limited to the one saddle!
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That's very encouraging 😊
 
I have had treeless wonders since before they became cool. I have never had any luck with traditional treed saddles fitting my horses for longer than six months, going back to like 1999, so I was trying all sorts of weird sh11t before anyone else was.

The trouble with treeless saddles is that there are a large number of different systems, and they all work on completely different principles, and not every system will suit every horse and/or rider. Or if once worked on your horse, it might stop working on your horse. And if you can find a fitter who knows anything about treeless saddles at all (most don't), they tend to specialise in one or two types. So you often find yourself DIY-ing it.

It can be a total ballache, first of all choosing the best treeless system for you and your horse when the initial steps feel like throwing darts at a board, blindfolded, then fitting that to your horse, unless you're lucky enough to have a trained saddle fitter for that system in your area.

Hermosa is currently in a leather tree German thing, made by a company whose UK website has been deleted from the internet. Like, totally gone. You Google it, and it's like it never existed. I asked a friend in Germany if she could find it, and she could, but the website, in any language, does not show up on UK Google. And the person who fitted it no longer fits saddles and is moving to Germany, so whenever I have issues with it, I'm a bit like, "well, I'm gonna have to just make something up..." It's pretty great. I'm gonna get her a Ghost when I can afford it (I just bought Fin a new saddle), but for now, we're stuck with this thing. But that's a lot of treeless saddles for you. If you or your horse need it adjusted, you're on your own.

But I never found treed saddles particularly useful, either. If the horse lost/gained a small amount of muscle/weight, they'd stop fitting. My experience of treeless ones is that there is a wee bit more wiggle room.
 
My Westphalian Kaltbut mare loved our Solution treeless saddle. She went better in that than any of the 5 treed saddles that I had previously ridden her in (+ numerous others we tried). I never felt unstable in it and it never slipped.

Hoof boots, however, wete a different story - they spun round!
 
MuddyMonster said:
I've personally not been able to get my Ghost as stable as my treed saddle and struggled with it slipping on our hilly terrain. I found getting back on from the ground very difficult too, so reverted back to a treed saddle.

It's a shame as I love the saddle itself and will try to get a fitter out or an online fitting to see if we can overcome this.

@sbloom is a Ghost fitter on here.
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On the other hand, I've found mine is more stable side-to-side than the treed saddles I was using previously - I have to be so, so careful to tack up straight with the Ghost (yes I'm a klutz, yes apparently I find this hard!) because if I place it slightly to one side while tacking up, it will stay there for the whole ride. No amount of "leaning a bit more in the other stirrup" will shift it. I did this yesterday and felt like a right prat. That said I've never been one for jumping back on from the ground; instead my horse is used to me clambering up onto benches, trees, gates etc and hopping up from there.

We're in a very hilly area too so I've always needed a breastplate on any saddle.

Mine was fitted by the fitter mentioned above so I'm confident it fits as well as it possibly can given the horse's shape at the moment. I love it.
 
I've been using a Torsion Close Contact Treeless for a couple of years now, on two different mares, one being veeeery wide backed, and I really like it. More importantly, both mares got on really well with it, nary a complaint and glowing reports from their routine Osteopath checkups.
I did cut off the closed stirrup rings in favour of open stirrup bars, and I use a seat saver to add a bit of twist.
I use Acavallo Twin Gel saddle pads underneath (The older style ones, don't know if the newer ones are different) and as long as I keep the gel clean I don't have any issues with slipping.

They seem to crop up occasionally on FB Marketplace, that's where I got mine from for about £250 which was an absolute bargain.
 
I use a Barefoot Cheyenne and have done for probably 15 years.

Used it on a variety of ponies, ranging from about 13hh through to 15.3hh.

The stirrup bars are set back a bit further than a normal saddle so can take a minute to adapt.

Perfect for hours of hacking. Wouldn't want to jump more than 2ft in one personally though, although I know people who do.

Got mine second hand on eBay.
 
i bought an Edix Union recently-its called a bareback pad but its not, its a treeless saddle. very structured pommel and cantle and nice chunky secure knee rolls (looks like a suede dressage saddle) i use it on a TB with moderate withers and a fat, flat dippy backed welsh B.

i have struggled with treed saddles for both TBH, the pony goes ok in a little Black Country show saddle but definitely prefers the Edix and the TB will ONLY entertain one particular Erreplus dressage saddle or the Edix!

interestingly neither went well in the smart treeless saddles.

its honestly been the best money ive spent, used it on a variety of clients horses also and its just so comfy and stable on the horse.

edix.jpg
 
millitiger said:
@Hallo2012 where did you get it from please?
I want one but put off the UK seller saying I have to buy a matching girth etc. otherwise she won't sell you the saddle.
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which seller?

i purchased from Bell 4 Branding (who i think have now re branded as Edix UK) and didnt have to buy anything except the saddle. If you are having issues i would contact Edix direct on email they are very responsive...............a friend has purchased 3 from Bell4 and not had to buy anything else either.
 
I've got a Heather Moffat flexee. Very flat/wide across the withers but a curve to the back so cob saddles were bridging. The horse was unhappy with tree saddles even when fitter said they fit and is much more forward in this.
It's reasonably stable, he is learning to jump and so far ok but I wouldn't want to get on from the ground though but I'm not that flexible anyway.
 
Sanversera said:
I've just been looking on her website. The Ghost is quite impressive. I live in the west Midlands near Birmingham, it's a long way from Scotland. Am wondering if there are any local fitters?
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I do get to the East Midlands but otherwise it's possible, and common both here and worldwide, to supply them mail order. Stock is a bit limited in the UK at the moment but that will gradually improve.

There aren't many treeless fitters full stop, I'd love to be able to cover the whole country with fitters but it's unlikely that will ever happen sadly.

And thanks for the kind words peeps!
 
I'm massively out of the loop nowadays (it's been 9 years since I had a horse in my life) but I was a huge treeless saddle advocate (even worked for Goldfinch Endurance as a Freeform fitter for a while) for a very long time and have owned a Fitform, Freeform, Diddi Pad, Ghost and Libra as well as ridden in a Fhoenix and a FlexEE. The Diddi Pad was the only one I didn't get on with but it is designed for Icelandic horses, not the fat little New Forest I had it on so that's not the saddle's fault. My favourite was the Freeform but even the Short Base version didn't fit my 13hh pony so I rode him in a Libra and absolutely loved it on him - it was always completely stable and we hacked at speed over all sorts of country :D
 
I am a huge advocate of the Total Contact Saddle. Might be worth trying this? (sorry, don't know why I'm coming out in Italics!! - sorry).

The important thing with treeless saddles is to do your research - and if possible you really need to try them on the horse first.

I would advise you do not do what a lot of people unfortunately do, and that is buy the cheapest and cheerfullest on Ebay. You'll probably get stuck with some awful thing that's "made in India" and has carpet tacks and goodness knows what inside it. Sadly a lot of people do this.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
I would advise you do not do what a lot of people unfortunately do, and that is buy the cheapest and cheerfullest on Ebay.
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I'd also recommend, wherever possible, working with a dealer/fitter wherever possible, even if it's remotely. I think half the bad rap treeless saddles get (mainly from the treed-saddle-invested community!) is because they don't get set up right - with the right accessories, and the right fit for the horse AND rider.
 
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