Im after a new saddle. I cant make my mind up between a traditional saddle or a treeless saddle. Can you tell me your opinion especially if you have or have tried a treeless. The pros and cons would be gr8. Many thanks
I don't like treeless saddles and I'll tell you why. A tree gives the saddle structure and raises the weight off of important things on your horses back. The caritlege caps as well as spinal ligaments are very important and prone to getting sore if you ride bareback really often or your saddle sits on them. If you ride a treeless saddle, you are continuously putting pressure here and actually hurting your horse, causing him to be sore. This actually happened to my mare when she was a filly and I couldnt afford a saddle and rode bareback all the time (An hour a day, 5 days a week, so not THAT much).
If you get a properly fitting saddle, your weight will be distributed evenly and your horses muscles will carry your weight and he will not be in pain. The horse should be able to carry your weight on the top of his ribcage, and no where else . An improperly fitting saddle can, obviously, cause pain and damage to him.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com Actually, if you ask me, I think that flexible tree saddles are heading in the right direction (Though they aren't there yet). You want something with a firm enough tree to keep you off of your horses spine but still have a little give so when your horse collects and moves his back up, there is nothing poking him and preventing that. Again, they aren't there yet. The few I've seen have been TOO flexible (The lady was bragging about being able to flatten the whole dang saddle) or were basically as rigid as a regular tree but claimed to fit every horse (Flex tree or no, one saddle will NOT fit every horse! No matter what!).
Don't go treeless. They're silly.
I'm quite a fan of treeless saddles.
They are a bit difficult to get the hang of to start with, but they improve your position no end because you are less reliant on the saddle to support you hence you learn to use your balance a million times more effectively. They are pretty comfortable once you get the hang of them aswell and I find they are far less inclined to slip on the horse's back if they generally don't fit well in a normal saddle.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com They do have a few cons though, not all horses like them - and if you yourself are not a balanced rider they can quickly do damage and cause pressure points. The cheap treeless saddles are often more inclined to do this as less effort is made on good structure.
Treeless saddle are good for when your breaking young horses in as there shape changes rapidly and you don't want to keep getting the saddler out!
I think saddle with tress ar alot more comfortable than treeless for the horse and rider as the horse has alot more protection around there backs from a proper saddle.
Hope this help a little x
English or Western?
I ride in a Bob Marshall treeless Western saddle. However, it's not truly "treeless" like the other saddles, it has 2 independent trees that are rigged through the saddle to redistribute the weight of the rider over them. That is why it's important to ride using your stirrups. If you go treeless, you need to be a rider that is light in their seat and doesn't bounce much, otherwise you can sore your horse up.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com When it comes to Western treeless, Bob Marshall is the way to go. Hilason's are cheap and bad quality and the rigging isn't always completely correct, causing a greater chance of soring a horse up.
The pros:
Treeless saddles fit most horses.
Comfortable
Extremely close contact.
Cons:
If you can't ride you'll sore a horse up
Without the proper saddle pad they can slip a little more than a tree'd saddle.
If the horse has a sway back, etc, it will effect the shape and seat of your saddle.
My sister's cob has a treeless as he has a really dipped back and normal saddles bridge on him. I've found them really comfortable and you can feel all the horses back muscles. The biggest downside I found is that they aren't as stable as a normal saddle - I needed to use a moounting block or have someone hold the stirrup to stop it pulling round and you need to have better balance.
None of the saddles have trees on them, so what are you talking about?
