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T O P I C R E V I E W
leiat8
Posted - 24 Oct 2012 : 1:06:45 PM i currently have put one of my saddles up for sale/swap and somebody has offered to swap there SES treeless saddle. she says it is English leather and it does look quite nice but the pommel looks very low to me and i'm a little worried it may put a lot of pressure on the withers. here is a couple of pics of it.
any advice appreciated
3 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First)
martha615
Posted - 24 Oct 2012 : 7:05:58 PM Your reason for using a treeless is exactly how I got into them, lol! Let us know what you find out about that SES saddle and good luck!
leiat8
Posted - 24 Oct 2012 : 6:15:02 PM Thanks for all the advice i have ridden in torsion and barefoot before and found them both nice to ride in and the horses seemed happy. I am in the process of backing my 4yr old and will start off bareback. I have tried quite a few treed saddle on her and none seem to fit well enough for me to risk working her in. I would like like a treeless saddle but have heard some horror stories about the cheaper ones but on the other hand have heard good stories about some too. I will have a look at the links you have put on.
edited to add the saddle i am looking to swap/sell is a 17'5 sytnthetic saddle that measures 9' d to d and 7 inbetween. it quite nice for a synthetic but does not fit any of my neddies.
martha615
Posted - 24 Oct 2012 : 5:49:41 PM Hi,
I ride in treed and treeless saddles and am not particularly biased either direction. The place to go and ask questions about different treeless saddles may be this link for the Yahoo forum: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/treelesssaddles/
Treeless saddles are tricky. I have a Torsion and a Sensation. They have their good points, but they also have some drawbacks. If you are not wanting to go treeless, I wouldn't just swap a saddle like this because you really need to study the treeless options and know what is out there, what people say about that brand, and how it might work with your horse. For example, the Torsion is a good solid saddle, but has no "twist" and so is very wide for the rider. On a narrow horse, this is fine. On a wide horse, this can be awful! The stirrups hang from a small area on the back and there is no distribution of pressure across the whole of the saddle, while on some treeless (like the Sensation) you get better distribution of pressure from the stirrups. Does this matter? Depends on how you ride.
Do you want to jump? Most treeless aren't good for jumping.
My Sensation is slipping when I mount but others have said it doesn't slip for them....so maybe I need another girth. Or maybe I'll always have this problem. The Torsion certainly slips a bit, too. This seems a common problem for treeless. I'm going to carry on with both and sell one of them in the spring as I certainly don't need two treeless saddles. I have used both a lot and of the two, I'd say that the Sensation is more comfortable for the rider, but the Torsion has better wither clearance as it has a hard pommel. If I had a high withered horse, I'd probably not be able to use the Sensation unless I got the one with the "cut-back" pommel.
I am not familiar with the saddle you have here, but the withers do look a little low. One person who knows a LOT about treeless is Birgit at Dream Team Products. Here is her website: http://www.dreamteamproducts.com/
I tried to get the website for Sussex Equestrian Supplies but couldn't find it. This is surprising and I'd be wary.
Treeless saddles can be well made, but can also be shoddy and nothing more than bareback pads with stirrups. A LOT of their comfort or lack thereof depends on the pad, too. Pads range in price from £50 to about £150. No lie!
All in all, if I were you and wanted to experiment with treeless I'd be wary of this brand as it is not well known. There are some other really good deals on second hand treeless right now and I'd take advice and go for one of those.
Arabians do well in treeless -- usually -- but slippage is often a problem.
Bottom line: Do you want to go treeless? Research it first but don't go treeless just because a particular saddle shows up as a swap option. What saddle are you trying to sell? You may find a good price for it on this forum or go to Saddles Direct and sell it there, maybe?
i have ridden in torsion and barefoot before and found them both nice to ride in and the horses seemed happy. I am in the process of backing my 4yr old and will start off bareback. I have tried quite a few treed saddle on her and none seem to fit well enough for me to risk working her in. I would like like a treeless saddle but have heard some horror stories about the cheaper ones but on the other hand have heard good stories about some too. I will have a look at the links you have put on. 
