I came to my favorite saddle out of desperation. I had two young Spanish Arabian horses to start and condition for their career as distance horses, and nothing at all in my barn, leather-wise would fit them.
Nothing that my network of riding girl-and boy-friends had in THEIR barns would fit them. I know, because we all gathered at a local arena one night and everyone brought me saddles to try. I'd take saddles off of complete stranger's horses to try. I'd take saddles off a complete stranger's HUSBAND'S horse to try...no luck.
I'd been riding with a girlfriend that owns gaited horses, and she rides a treeless saddle. I really liked to look of it, so I borrowed it for a ride to try it. I liked the seat well enough, but there was just an immense amount of "stuff" between the horse and I - knee rolls, padding, more pads, you name it. And the stirrup hangers put my legs in a funky position (I'm sure this is a professional term...).
Yet another friend knew I was in the hunt for a treeless, and sent me to a website where I promptly ordered the least expensive saddle they had. The saddle arrived and I immediately went out and placed it directly on my gelding's back with no pad. It fit like a glove. No extra padding, no knee rolls, no extra stuff. So far, so good. I put the pad on and attached all the fittings - I chose english leathers and a dressage girth, although you can choose western endurance fenders and cinches as well. Got on. I was a little concerned about the saddle slipping since there isn't a tree, but had no problem at all. That was it. I've never looked back and have been hooked ever since. The fun part of this is seeing my die-hard, cattle-raising, showing and roping girlfriends riding THEIR treeless saddles - also a move born of desperation because of an inability to fit a traditional saddle to hard-to-fit horses.
The difference in my horse's way of going was immediate. He stopped bucking down hills - well, can you imagine doing really steep grades with a rigid tree (and 120 lbs. on top of that) gouging you in the shoulder muscle? I could immediately feel him round his back up underneath me when I went to collect him. I can feel his heartbeat, I can feel him sigh, and I can feel his back hollow when his head comes up to stare down that dang turkey hen...
TO BE CONTINUED...
