Modifying A Saddle Tree, After It's Finished?

[HorseGirl98]

Howdy

Hopefully this is the right place to post this questions.

It may be silly, but it's worth a shot.

I have a saddle I really love, but it's pinching my horse where the conchos are in the front, where the gullet meets the bars/fork. It's a pretty decent fit withought a pad, but once you add the pad it's just too narrow (3/4" pad).

Is there a way to take off some of the tree from the bottom? I have a whole arsenel of tools and glues.

If there isn't any way, that's fine. I hate to re-sell this saddle since I just spent a ton of money on it two months ago.

Any info would be great, thank you!

[Ben]

Horsegirl,

Making adjustments to the bottom of a tree is not a good idea, it is like sticking your finger into a balloon, it affects the rest of the aspects of the tree. I am thinking you will be better off to try some different padding. Has you horse lost weight and the withers are more narrow? Some pictures would be helpful.

Ben

I

[Denise]

What is the tree made from? If it is a covered wood tree, you can't really change it without affecting the integrity of the tree itself. If it is a synthetic tree of some nature, you may be able to rasp it down to what you think you would want. However, problems with saddle fit are rarely just due to one small area. If you can change that one, I expect you will either find problems somewhere else or possibly create problems somewhere else.

What makes you think it looks OK without a pad and yet doesn't work with a pad? Did you determine the first by looking and the second by riding it? There are a lot of factors involved under that saddle that you can't see, and maybe it isn't "too narrow" but something else is off that is causing the problems, in which case rasping to make it wider won't fix the problem. Just some thoughts...

[kseidel]

These replies are correct. Reshaping a tree can be done, but it is very technical and few makers have the qualifications and equipment to do so correctly without making matters worse or causing other problems to arise. We need more information about your specific situation to properly advise you.

Keith

[HorseGirl98]

Thanks everyone for the replies

I had a friend help me out, I can fix the problem with some different padding. Turns out the saddle fitter was incorrect.

I won't try any backwoods engineering on the saddle trees.

Thanks!

[mauifarrier]

Thanks everyone for the replies

I had a friend help me out, I can fix the problem with some different padding. Turns out the saddle fitter was incorrect.

I won't try any backwoods engineering on the saddle trees.

Thanks!

You can accomplish some amazing things with padding ingenuity. (or lack of padding in certain areas) Sounds like you've already nailed it, but otherwise the Pain Free Back & Saddle Fit Book Western edition by Joyce Harman DVM is a good buy. You can find it on Amazon. It cover's all aspects of saddle design, pads, fit etc. I think you'll really like it and will find yourself lending it out to friends when they encounter a fit problem

Aloha,

Gretchen

[AdamTill]

There are ways of getting around actually modifying the bars themselves if you're feeling brave, but they do involve lots of work and a working knowledge of fit.

I have a saddle that I wanted to modify to fit a different gelding, since it generally fit but tended to slide back a bit and dive down in front. I used layers of skivved leather added to the tree to modify pretty much the whole bar, and have been riding that quite successfully for a few months now. I like the leather option because, while it adds a bit of weight, it's reversible later on.

One tricky part of modifying the tree is that the skirts may not cooperate when you go to put them back on as well, so do be careful if you try this in the future. This particular saddle had cordura skirts, so it wasn't a big deal at all.

Adam