Has the treeless saddle come of age?
Spinal Therapist, Anya Thomas investigates
When treeless saddles started to appear on my radar a few years ago, I was interested in the concept but all the saddles I had seen looked unconventional to say the least and, sometimes, not particularly well made.
When I looked into what was available only a couple of brands stood out in any way and the Solution was one of these. It was, and I believe still is, the only treeless saddle suitable for use when jumping any great height plus it looked conventional enough to be used for showing and affiliated competition. However, at the time I had no issues with any of my horses in treed saddles and, although I tried another brand of treeless saddle on a youngster who was rapidly changing shape, I didn’t feel it worked well so I abandoned treeless for the time being.
Since then, in the course of my work as a spinal therapist, I have come across more and more horses ridden treeless and they are certainly not the one-size-fits-all panacea that some people would have you believe. Both treed and treeless saddles can cause back problems in horses when not fitted correctly and so I asked Solution Saddles if I could trial one of their saddles and if one of their Technical Advisors could give me some advice on treeless saddle fitting pointers.
First Impressions
The saddle I trialled was a Smart™ GP which is the most conventional looking saddle in the Solution range. It is made from lovely quality leather and has an amazingly soft, cushioned seat which I fell in love with at first feel, and until you start handling it you would be hard pushed to tell it apart from a treed saddle. Once you pick it up, however, there are surprises at every turn. Emily, the Technical Advisor who came to answer my endless questions, demonstrated how flexible the saddle is by bending it half both lengthways and across (I tried this later in front of someone who didn’t know it was a treeless saddle and their eyes almost popped out of their head!). She then showed how movement at one point in the saddle was not transmitted to the other end of the saddle thus eliminating rocking and pressure transfer issues from uneven movement.
It has a W-girthing system, which means that the girth can be correctly positioned for virtually any variation on conformation and pressure is distributed evenly. The saddle panels are beautifully soft but firm enough with their layered construction to spread out the weight-bearing area over the whole length of the panels rather than transmitting pressure points from seatbones and stirrup bars straight through to the horses back. This is clearly a very well thought out and thoroughly researched product.
The Fitting
Emily demonstrated the different fitting requirements of several different shaped horses with this saddle. This involved lots of assessment of balance from pommel to cantle and also lateral balance where the horse had asymmetries followed by adding pads where necessary to correct. This was followed by a ridden assessment and further fine tuning of the pads to get the perfect fit. The things I found most striking were a) there is no need to sit the saddle behind the shoulder blade as there are no tree points to interfere with free movement of the shoulder (this fact was especially appreciated by the big-shouldered cob we tried it on), b) only the tiniest amount of clearance is required between saddle and spine as there are no rigid structures to keep away from the spine and c) how much difference a tiny adjustment in padding can make to the horses way of going.
The Trial
Emily fitted the saddle to both my horses and left me to play with it…. I have to say I found the pads a bit of a fiddle to get right the first couple of times but after a little trial and error and talking it through with Emily I got it sorted. I found the most dramatic change initially with my mare: she started stretching down and taking the rein freely out on hacks which she had never done before. She also stopped fussing with her mouth and accepted the bit quietly and softly which was something I hadn’t expected. The associated areas of tension in her back which were “normal” for her then also vanished. My gelding (who is much more easy going) didn’t seem to notice much difference until it came to jumping. He doesn’t tend to jump upright fences well and will often knock them but after a couple of jumps in this saddle he seemed very free and happy so I felt confident enough to take him hunting. After the first jump he didn’t knock anything all day. In fact he felt so good that we jumped a metal 5 bar gate and thought nothing of it, not to mention some really tricky fences with no take-off and difficult approaches, all cleared effortlessly. I was worried I would feel less secure in a treeless saddle but not a bit of it, and it didn’t slip all day despite not having a 5 point breastplate.
With both horses I really noticed that I could give much more subtle aids in this saddle and they would respond instantly. This also made my own asymmetry glaringly obvious and, after being incredibly sore following the first session, improved my riding no end.
After the Trial
I was very sad to return the saddle at the end of the trial but, oddly, I only noticed some things about it after returning to my old saddle. Firstly it felt like sitting on an ironing board compared to the Smart™ and secondly I felt like I was “shouting” at the horses as I was having to give aids with what now seemed like unnecessary force but must have been normal a month ago. I also missed the much more effective position it put me in and the softness in my mares mouth which vanished with the Smart saddle.
The Verdict
Put it this way, I am now saving up to buy one! I love this saddle and so do both my very differently shaped horses. The real positives are the quality of the structure of the saddle, the obvious comfort it provides for both horse and rider, and the backup support that is always there if you need it. The only real negative for me is the pad system. It felt a little unwieldy to use until I got familiar with it and the fit on my severely asymmetric gelding was better than any other saddle I have ridden him in. On balance this is an excellent product sold by a company that cares about its customers but it proved one thing without a doubt: treeless saddles still need to be fitted correctly and carefully just like any other saddle.
Anya Thomas,
Tired and Tested Review for Central Horse News,
May 2012 |
