Treeless Saddles?

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Hattiehorse

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At the riding school I used to go to they had 3 or 4 of their (chunkier) horses in treeless saddles. I rode all of them in these saddles and found them ridiculously uncomfortable as they all had huge handles on the front which I hit my legs against in rising trot (even when I tried to do the smallest rises possible!) and were just difficult in jumping.

Are all treeless saddles like this?

Also are all treeless saddles (I know NOTHING about them!) just a piece of leather between rider and horse? That probabley makes me look really stupid, I know theres NO TREE but I though there'd be a huge piece of cushioning or something?!?!


I'd love to hear your opinions/experiences with them but not wanting a huge fight to break out (which I know you all dearly enjoy!)

Thanks!
 
No, not all treeless are like that
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Sounds like they had the Barefoot Torsion type, which I really don't like.

I have a freeform which I love, as does the horse.
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It feels pretty much like a tree'd saddle to ride in apart from being a bit wider feeling. The kneerolls feel like a VSD/dressage saddle and the pommel feels like normal. It's also VERY comfortable to ride in (I find all normal tree'd saddle make me really sore after just half an hour).

My friend has a Heather Moffet dressage saddle and it looks and feels pretty much like a normal saddle, just a bit wider and a lot softer.

My freeform isn't just a pad of leather - it has a very stiff base that stops your seat bones/stirrups digging into the horse and the seats a moulded shape to feel more like a 'normal' saddle. It has a shaped pommel so it gives wither clearnace but it needs a pad to give spine clearnace (like most treeless). My friend phenoix doesn't need any pads at it has moulded panels.

The Torsions on the otherhand appear to be just a glorfied pad with pommel and cantle stuck on - they're soft and floppy and provide no protection to the horse's back from the rider.

Treeless's can be great but they aren't the be all and end all of saddles and don't suit all horses. They will ALWAYS be better than a poorly fitted tree'd saddle (it's much harder to cause damage with a treeless) but not quite as good as a WELL FITTED tree'd saddle. Unfortunatly well fitted tree'd saddles can be hard to come by for the more awkward shaped horses!
 
Our treeless is really comfy, I am planning on using it to back my youngster.
I don't think they are supposed to be used for jumping though.
 
No, not all treeless saddles are like that!

My cob competes at affiliated dressage in his - and it looks pretty much like any other saddle.

I jump in it too (but not much & not high owing to a wide streak of extreme cowardice on my part!
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Is this the sort of treeless you mean? I ride two horses in one of these (my friends) - both are big chunky types. I hack one out mainly and love riding him in the treeless, the other one is a shire x that i'm doing some schooling with. I find it hard to do rising trot in this saddle - but sitting trot is really comfy!! I quite like it but couldn't imagine jumping in it!
 
Thanks guys!

I was wondering about one for my pony as I'm pretty sure the saddle that he came with won't last much longer!

I guess I should start looking into it!
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