Trying to find a saddle for my horse. Was pondering the Freeform classic, asked saddle fitter about it and she said she’s ridden in a Freeform saddle and that it was bulky to ride in. (And she’s not anti-treeless or anything, she works with all sorts of saddles). She also wasn’t sure if my horse was a good candidate for treeless because he’s “slab-sided”.
So just wondered if anyone had a Freeform treeless saddle and what you thought of it?
Thanks!
I’ve owned a Freeform classic and the Freeform Liberty. Like many treeless saddles with full sized “english” type flaps they have a lot of padding in the flaps. Just drives me crazy that the designers can’t seem to undersatnd that with treeless saddles the less bulk under the thighs and knees the better. That said, IMO, the horse conformation best suited to treeless saddles is a narrow, flat or slab sided horse! I’ve ridden all body types of horses in numerous types of treeless saddles and the most comfortable for me was a horse with slab sides. A flat back combined with a round rib cage and a typical treeless saddle can put a lot of strain on the hips and lower back of the rider.
I do suggest borrowing various saddles to try out, with different saddle pads before you buy a saddle. I have a wiiiddeee barreled Arab that I ride in a BMSS. I have added a seat cushion to the saddle and use saddle pads with thicker inserts and less bulk under the legs to improve my riding comfort. There are a lot of combinations of saddles, pads, etc that can be used together.
Bonnie
I think it’s a matter of preference. I have one and find it to be very comfortable. Yes, it has padding, but I can still feel my horse’s back easily.
I pulled a lot of the padding out of the flaps on my Bandos treeless. Not sure if that would work w/ the Freeform or not.
Are Freeform saddles bulky to ride in ?
No definitely not. You can feel every movement of the horse’s back muscles and there is not a lot of padding in the flaps. (probably less bulk than a regular saddle with two layers of leather, plus girth, plus two layers of stirrup leather.)
Do you know of anyone that sells them that would let you try one out before committing to the purchase?
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I have two friends who love their Freeform saddles, they do a lot of endurance/trail riding.
This is probably a dumb question, but can you jump (little jumps) in any of the Freeform models?
I’ve hopped over a few – maybe up to 2’.
The real issue with them is that the flap is very straight, more like a dressage saddle. If you don’t have uber long legs, you might be able to get your stirrups up enough for jumping, but it doesn’t really work for me.
The treeless saddle brands with jumping options are the Sensation (their flap still wouldn’t be forward enough for me), The Heather Moffett Pheonix AP (they have a model for tall riders), and the Ansur.
Okay, thanks!
Then DKR model is more like an All-purpose english saddle but that model is more expensive, new or used.
I also wanted to make the point that I don’t feel the Freeform saddle is bulky under your seat, just under your legs. It’s not that there is a huge amount under your legs but due to the construction of the seats the riders hips are forced outward rather far on round barreled horses so every extra bulk on the flaps or the flaps of a thick saddle pad will stress the rider’s hips even more.
Bonnie
I ran into this trouble with the Bandos. I ended up cutting all the padding out from under the flaps. The Bandos is made by the Freeform people so it stands to reason that their designs are similar.
ANY amount of padding under the leg and thigh is terrible on a barrel shaped, fat horse. Maybe it’s fine on a slab sided, narrow bodied horse but not when you ride a propane tank.
The Bob Marshall is far superior to the Bandos in my situation.
It’s funny because I find the opposite. The construction of the freeform seat is more like a conventional saddle with a twist when compared, to say, a Torsion or a barefoot. I found that those were much harder on my hips. I used all three of those saddles on a wide Trakehner and the Freeform was the only one that was comfortable.
I think the padding issue with the freeform more relates to the depth of the foam on the seat which puts you a bit farther from the horse’s back.
That’s why everyone needs to ride in a saddle to see how it works for them.
But as she said, it’s not the amount of padding on the seat. It’s the padding under your legs that pops your legs out away from the horse. On my Bandos I probably pulled out 2" of padding across the entire flap on both sides. I had enough padding to make a dog bed with. It was ridiculous. I was left with just two plain layers of leather so my leg could hang down along the horse’s side.
The flaps on the Freeform have very little padding – certainly none that could be removed.
Generally what kills your hips on treeless saddles is the lack of a “twist”.
Here’s a photo of my Freeform:
http://equineink.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/freeform2.jpg
There’s a tiny molded knee roll but no real bulk.
Maybe I /will/ do a demo one from Action Rider Tack. To at least try it.
My horse isn’t wide, saddle-fitter says he is ‘slab-sided’. He’s gotten a bit better, but he used to be a rather unconformtable bareback ride, was like sitting on a 2x4! And I’m used to riding in a western saddle on him, so I don’t /think/ width would be an issue.
What about adequate wither/spine clearance? His spine is a little prominent. He’s actually filled out some since these pics, but this is what he looked like in August
Right now I am driving myself crazy trying to figure out a saddle and the sucky part is that I don’t really have anything to try on him 
I am currently considering an Albion general purpose saddle, a Black Country Ricochet, or the Freeform classic. Was wanting something that I could trail ride (maybe get into endurance riding if I could find anything way down here), do some dressage (maybe go to a schooling show), and some jumping for the fun of it.
My own personal preference would be for the Albion A/P. I had an Original Comfort A/P for years and I found it an excellent all around saddle. Certainly better for jumping than the Freeform.
I competed at Novice and schooled Training in that saddle.
I think that BC saddles look very nice and have a good reputation for quality but I’ve never ridden in one.
I love my Freeform but if I could have only one saddle and I wanted to jump, it would not be my first choice. Now, that’s mostly due to the fact that the flap is so straight and the seat is fairly deep, rather than a feeling of insecurity. My Freeform doesn’t slip but it also doesn’t put me in a good, balanced position for jumping – just like I don’t jump in my dressage saddle.
The wither clearance on my horse has been fine. He’s a TB with a fairly prominent withers but he’s solidly built and wears a MW tree. I did use my Freeform on a very narrow mare that I used to own and it was quite comfortable on her.
I did get to try an Albion AP on him once and it seemed quite nice! All we were able to to do at the time was walk around a little in it though. I /really/ liked the front wither gussets it had as it didn’t press on the sides of his withers as a previous saddle had done (which I think bothered me more than it bothered him, but still). I just haven’t been able to set up a time to try it out more thoroughly And I’ve never sat in a BC Ricochet (or any BC saddle for that matter), was just one the saddle-fitter thought the tree might be appropriate for his back. Got to sit in a Freeform (don’t recall the model unfortunately) on a stand at a tack store a few months back and found it to be comfortable.
Would really help if I could decide what direction I wanted to take my horse 
That’s why you have to ride in them. Until you’ve put in some saddle time, it’s hard to know.
If you want to jump at all, I would make sure that you jump in a trial saddle because not every saddle that works on the flat works over fences.
Like I said, for me, the Freeform would NOT be my first choice if I wanted to jump. My Heather Moffett is better for jumping but still not great and I haven’t tried the Sensation or the Ansur.
The Black County Ricochet looks like a nice saddle. Trumbull Mountain carries them – you could see if they have a used one you could demo. They are also very good at helping you assess saddle fit (or potential fit) based on photos of your horse.
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