treeless saddle

[rwc]

Has anyone replaced the riggings on a treeless saddle?

[bruce johnson]

No, but I have refused to. After seeing how that one was put together, I had zero interest in doing anything with it.

[TracyMoss]

I have to go with Bruce on this one. I wouldn't touch it.

[barra]

Without trying to hijack the thread, here is treeless saddles according to Barra. I in no way profess to be an expert and i welcome anyone to prove me wrong.

Now while it is stating the obvious that the horse and human sceletal system is different. i don't feel it is that vastly different.

I too know what it is like to be a beast of burden just like a horse. I have been an Infantry soldier in my younger days. I have carried huge weights in Packs with no frame (tree) and carried the same weights in a pack with a frame (tree). I know which I preferred.

P.S. Don't restrict my shoulders, I needed them to function in my task.

Barra

[rwc]

Thanks anyway. Maybe after seeing how it's put together I too will refuse. I guess experience is the best teacher.

[bcurrier]

The most basic difference is that the equine spine isn't designed to bend as much as a human spine, if I remember my shoeing school anatomy right. Horses have evolved to optimize straight-line flight in open country. To my mind the difference emphasizes how appropriate traditional saddle trees really are to the horse's anatomy. There's every reason to keep weight off the spine, of course - but because of the limited sideways bend in a horse's back, no downside to the tree shifting the burden off to the sides, either.

I don't have a problem with the concept of treeless saddles per se so much as they introduce risk when people don't know when or why to use them. It's fine to use one for an oddball fitting problem or to improve on bareback if you can evaluate the fit properly, but their flexibility increases the odds over a traditional tree that you'll injure the horse if you can't. I've been around horses since before I can remember, owned some, and studied the horse, but would still have someone else take a look before I used one.

I've never even heard repair issues mentioned before - and it sounds kind of scary. Glad the discussion came up.

Bill

[Kevin]

I have only seen two of these jewels. They both had the same problem. The stirrup leathers are held by brass 1'' dees. The dees are held in place with a piece of leather riveted through the saddle with 2 copper rivets. Since there is no tree, this means they are anchored to a bit of foam and chap leather and on both saddles the rivets pulled right through almost effortlessly. Luckily, nobody was hurt in either incident. Absolute junk that should not even be on the market, if someone wanted my opinion. Kevin

[rwc]

Thanks Kevin, Yes that's sorta the problem with the gals saddle I asked about. She has that nylon junk for the d ring rigging that's wearing and wants it replaced with leather along with her stirrup leathers. I just wondered how it was held in place under the seat and if anyone had replaced them before. On the subject of bareback riding, Stacy Westfall does a reining demonstration bareback and bridleless that can probably be seen on youtube. The horse seems to be performing pretty well. Thanks again everyone.

[rwc]

Well after getting in there I'm glad all I have to do is stitch it back and tell her to send it to the factory or sell it if possible. Everyone's right....JUNK!

[rwc]

[quote name='rwc' date='Feb 28 2008, 09:13 AM' post=

[Onsite Tack]

I had a young woman ask me to fix her treeless barrel racing saddle. I did not realize it was treeless until I had it at home and started looking at it. I could not imagine anyone would run barrels in a treeless saddle! Duh. After I opened up the saddle and looked at how it was put together, I called the customer to advise her on the risks of this saddle, regardless of how I replaced rigging. She declined to do the repair - due to costs. Everybody here is right about the poor internal construction. Unfortunately, buyers of this saddle don't get to look inside and I have never had a coherent answer from dealers or makers on how they fix the rigging to the saddle.

Kathy