Why a Treeless Saddle? |
Tuesday, 14 August 2007 17:03 |
![]() Another problem with rigid tree saddles, especially the newer styles of Western Saddles is that they are too long, so the hard ends of the panels will jam into the horse hip or shoulders when it tries to bend. Try this if you have one of those roper-style saddles: saddle up, then put your hand under the saddle at the shoulder, far enough so you’re just under the tree. Now have a helper bring the horse’s head around to your side. Ouch! Pinched your hand, didn’t it? Now you know why your horse doesn’t want to turn on a dime. The same happens at the rear end. A lot of Western horses have learned to hold themselves stiffly, they don’t freely swing their barrel right and left anymore — sad! English riders on the other hand fear the dreaded ‘bridging’, or ‘rocking’ saddles. A treeless saddle takes care of that once and for all. Photos courtesy of Sabine Kells, author of the book “The secret of happy horses” and several other good books on hoof care and riding. This is how most custom-made saddles are fitted, with a flexible ruler. You shape it perfectly to the horse’s back, and they make the saddle to match that curve. But watch what happens as soon as the horse moves: When the head is lowered, the saddle bridges, you can see two thin strips of air under the ruler, so the weight is NOT distributed onto the whole saddle area. With the head lifted up, it gets worse, there is pressure at the withers, and the weight is concentrated onto an even smaller area, much of it jamming into the sensitive loins. Also notice the change in postion of the tape markers on ruler and back — the back gets shorter and longer as the horse moves! And this is before the horse even walks off! A stiff tree cannot follow this movement, so some hard part will always jam into the horse’s back here or there. A conventional, stiff-treed saddle can only distribute weight evenly if it lays flat over a big surface — as you can see, since the back changes so much (and this is just a horse standing still!) it will always rocker and lift in some areas and press deeply into others. |
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