Treeless Saddle Saved Rider

[EquiPortal]

Hi

I was reading an article the other day that a rider competing in cross country had an accident where her horse actually fell on top of her. Normally when a horse falls ontop of the rider, the crush injuries are serious and can be fatal. This rider happened to be riding with a treeless saddle, which actaully absorbed the impact and cushioned the blow of the horse on top of the rider!

If the rider had been using a normal saddle with a tree, she would have received far more serious injuries, because it was a treeless saddle she walked away a bit bruised and winded but relatively ok.

Now I'm not saying that treeless saddles are definately safer than traditional saddles, but its worth looking into isn't it?

[Iron Maiden]

I read that too - Anne Bondi who sells Total Solutions treeless saddles wrote an article about it. I'm sure there are some circumstances where this might happen, but in a full rotational fall it's a matter of luck whether or not the horse lands on you, and if it does, whether it does so with its full weight. If half a tonne or more of horse is dropped on you from a height I don't think a treeless saddle will save you to be honest. Best thing to do is design jumps that tend not to turn horses over and cause the rotational falls in the first place - this seems to be what the safety peeps are concentrating on at the moment, rightly so IMO.

[manwell]

how werid i went to try a saddle solution saddle last yr and they said that in a fall and the horse landing on you that yo have a better survival rate - i didnt quite belive them , guess they were right