Members Newfman Posted September 16, 2011 Author Members Report Posted September 16, 2011 I wonder what the horse thinks about that "treeless" saddle?....... So far, so good! Quote With enough leather and rope, you could probably make your horse cut a deck of cards. . .but you'll never make him deal 'em with a smile on his face!
Members AdamTill Posted September 16, 2011 Members Report Posted September 16, 2011 <br />I wonder what the horse thinks about that "treeless" saddle?.......<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />So far, so good!<br /><br /><br /><br />Just as a bit of a terminology point, your saddle is actually just bar-less, not truly treeless, since it has fiberglass pommel arches and some sort of rubber cantle insert. I sympathize with your plight, since my Icelandic is wider then any of the fork or cantle templates from the Dennis Lane system. Glad to hear things are working out for you, but you had better luck with those types of saddles then I ever did. My horse never complained, but I found the lateral stability to be lacking with the model I used for a while, and the soft seat was miserable to sit in for more then a couple of hours (I can ride hard seat saddles for much longer). In the end I had a custom Wade done up for him and modified the tree on another saddle with a few leather shims skivved to shape (skirts went back on fine), so I now have a couple of saddles that fit. Both of us are much more comfortable in those, so if you can save up for a custom saddle that would be my recommendation. That said, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. To your point above, I'm just as picky about fit with my custom saddle as I was with my cheaper ones. My "cheaper" saddle is just less expensive, not lower quality - as an endurance saddle it's cordura for weight reduction, but still has a good rawhide covered tree. If Ray Hunt wouldn't call himself a horseman I'm nowhere close to worthy of the title yet either, but no horseman ever blamed his horse for a tack problem. Quote
Members Newfman Posted September 16, 2011 Author Members Report Posted September 16, 2011 <br /><br /><br /> If Ray Hunt wouldn't call himself a horseman I'm nowhere close to worthy of the title yet either, but no horseman ever blamed his horse for a tack problem. Well said. She (buffy the Belgian) has a Duett all purpose english saddle as well. It clashes with my western riding gear a bit though. Barefoot calls their saddle a treeless, so I just go with that. Buff is too wide to use the fiberglass pommel, so she has a foam insert. There is nothing down the spine of the saddle, just very thick padding and flocking. I can flex the saddle in the middle if I try to fold it laterally. the cantle I don't think qualifies as a tree, as racing trees don't have much of a cantle, or so I thought. It is much more a big heavy bareback pad with stirrups and a seat like a saddle. There is really no tree in the barefoot saddle. I could have a western saddle built for her, but she doesn't get ridden enough to justify the cost. It would be easier to justify putting my butt into her english saddle. The Barefoot seems a good compromise though. I have a very nice handmade wade that originally sold for $4K. I love it, but would not buy one for my draft. Barefoot makes some interesting Endurance saddles as well. You could find out from the endurance website what they think of them. Could be interesting. Dennis Quote With enough leather and rope, you could probably make your horse cut a deck of cards. . .but you'll never make him deal 'em with a smile on his face!
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