Hello , and treeless saddles

Ali

New Member
Oct 19, 2014
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Hello everyone :)
I own a 15hh horse , and riding has been something we are finding more fun in , recently . We have been using an second hand Cheyenne barefoot treeless saddle , that I found as a bargain online . But we have been riding for more and more time , and I have noticed that the saddle is slipping forwards and Eon , my horse , says that it is slightly pinching him up around his top shoulder / wither . The saddle is not sitting on his withers or his spine , and we use a barefoot Grandeur pad, also we never ride with stirrups . I realise that I am going to have to splash out on a new treeless saddle , and I was wondering if there was a specific model ( of barefoot saddles , my budget doesn't go farther than that ) that would be best for his conformation . He is very pre-eminent of a mustang ... with some PRE bloodlines . I have no idea of his breeding ... but this is my best guess of it ( apart from the fact he paces ) Is there any suggestions ?
Many thanks
Ali
 
Hi welcome, I'm new to treeless but there are some very experienced folks on here who I'm sure will pop by with some ideas for you
 
Hello and welcome :)

You could get a better saddle 2nd hand rather than a new barefoot. I started with a barefoot and tried numerous others from ansur to freeform but for me and all the horses I ride sensations are imo and experience what has worked best.
Barefoot have a ridgid pommel and semi rigid cantle which you need to have fitted correct to your horse. Other reasons your saddle could be sliding forward could be your girth,if your doing more miles now your horse could well have changed shape and need different padding or girth arrangements. Eg a curved girth can help stop forward girth grooves pulling saddles forward,or free swinging girth billets. Padding,a front riser may help for example if your horse is slightly downhill,or shoulder shims if there are hollows. Pictures of your horses back and also with the saddle on will help :)
Hopefully New forest and NoAngel, Kite rider and others will chime in too :)
 
Hi and welcome.
My first thoughts were, if you don't use stirrups do you need a saddle? There are a vast array of bareback pads with fittings for breastplate, d rings etc.
Do you have the correct pommel insert, you can buy the gauge for that now, I think its USA only, I would need to check.
Is your horse moving correctly, if the saddle has been fine, but its not now, is your horse holding any tension, my saddle tilts me if my cob goes unlevel behind.
Torsion do the Icelandic, designed for gaited horses, that would be cheaper secondhand than a Barefoot.
 
Thank you all for your advice and welcome :D

You could get a better saddle 2nd hand rather than a new barefoot

Hahaha , I am more talking about a second hand barefoot saddle , my budget is £400-£460 , maybe more at a push ;) .

Barefoot have a ridgid pommel and semi rigid cantle which you need to have fitted correct to your horse. Other reasons your saddle could be sliding forward could be your girth,if your doing more miles now your horse could well have changed shape and need different padding or girth arrangements. Eg a curved girth can help stop forward girth grooves pulling saddles forward,or free swinging girth billets

I have just taken out the pommel , and stuffed it with newspaper , we will have a ride , hopefully , today , and we will see how it goes . If that doesn't work I will look into a curved girth , though aren't they quite expensive , I would rather just save for a new saddle that will work ... instead of just throwing good money after bad :confused:

Is your horse moving correctly said:
No I am sure Eon is moving perfectly , actually in a very classical manner , we ride bridless and when we are playing together on the ground we do the intense collected exercise such as Pesade , school halt , etc ..

My first thoughts were, if you don't use stirrups do you need a saddle? There are a vast array of bareback pads with fittings for breastplate, d rings etc.

It is a very good point , mainly because I like the security the Cheyenne gives me , with the pommel that I can hold onto ....But really it is because I do not now what I am doing in both treeless saddles and bareback pads :eek:
 
I've had similar problems with 'that style' saddle with my horse, it could be that your horse's conformation isn't suited to that style saddle. Curved girth's can work, but if your horse is shaped like mine nothing will stop it from sliding forwards.

As above, could be pommel not fitting, incorrect padding, wrong girth, horse changing shape.

Stuffing the pommel can make the saddle laterally unstable, or can pull the pommel down onto the withers, firm foam insets might help with this.
 
Thanks for your reply , yes I think your horse may be abit like mine , as I cant see how anything will stop it sliding forwards , well anything less than using a tight crupper ( which I wont be doing !) . What kind of saddle worked well for your horse ?
 
I've got Sensations for her now, we've tried loads of saddles but Sensations, and a Startrekk Western are the only makes I've found that don't slide forward on her, and the Sensations are better for me.

We tried curved girths, different pads, different padding, different girthing and stuffing the pommel to try and get my Torsion to work for us but it just wasn't happening.
 
Its sounding then that you may have outgrown your saddle. By that I mean I started out with a Barefoot but I do recall slipping issues and moved onto another model.
It was great for its comfortable western type seat though as that's more of what we did.
If your horse has been seen recently by a physio and they are not holding any tension then I may be tempted to get a secondhand curved girth if your straps are being pulled forwards or look into another saddle.
Are you on EBay, girths etc pop up on their a lot.
 
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