I know NOTHING about flextree saddles, but am looking. I’ve always avoided flextrees but with so many horses of varying sizes and shapes, i’m finding myself leaning toward one. Someone has told me that flextree saddles can pinch withers? Our riding is up and down hilly country in Missouri. (We have a equine wilderness SAR group starting up…)
More specifically, has anyone had any experience with Sarah Sanders’ Flextree saddles?
In the first couple of decades of the 20th Century the U.S., British, and Australian Armies experimented with “flexible tree” saddles. There were the 1912 Experimental saddles in the U.S. and the 1912 Brit/Aussie UP models. Within a very short time the U.S. and British had given up the idea as it just didn’t work. There were attempts to modify the original design but they were not effective in bearing weight and caused an epidemic of sore backs. The Aussies went a bit longer, but then realized it wasn’t working for them, either. The idea was gone before the start of WWI.
Not only did they sore up the horses they were not very “robust” and did not hold up well under field conditions. While this might be of less importance to a civilian user who will not be pushing equipment to its limits it is a warning.
The military load in those days ranged from about 250 pounds in U.S. service to 290 pounds in British and some Continental armies (The Austrians were actually a bit north of 300 pounds). Most modern civilian riders are below this unless you’re talking about people who seriously “horse camp” or hunt game in a wilderness milieu on a Western saddle.
I get the difficulties of saddle fit. And I understand the motivations to look at things like “flexible trees” or “treeless” saddles. IMO they don’t work over the long haul because NONE of them effectively distribute weight. If they don’t do that then they don’t fulfill their primary duty, which is to protect the horse’s back by preventing areas of weight concentration. Mind you, a badly fitting treed saddle fails in this, too. But I don’t know of many who recommend badly fitting, treed saddles.
With saddle fitting you’ll have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince. WAY too many people are unwilling to buy good quality saddles 'cause they are trying to “economize.” But with a good saddle you not only get a good quality of leather, workmanship, fittings, etc. you also get some GOOD ENGINEERING!!! The wise horseman/woman bites the bullet and buys good stuff for their horse. It means fewer vet bills, fewer months in training with somebody who has to try and fix problems caused by poor choices, makes riding more pleasant and productive, etc.
In short, quality doesn’t cost; it pays.
G.
The Circle Y Flex2 tree is really good - seems to fit a variety of horses and is comfortable for them. I do ranch riding and my horse goes brilliantly in it. Here is a video. There are many kinds of flex trees, so do your homework.
i have 8 horses and two mules. Ranging from a narrow Standardbred and narrow Palomino of arab descent to a 17.1 Percheron! (…with a Missouri Foxtrotter, a Morgan, a Quarterhorse, a big rangy Arab all inbetween) So, there are MANY differing body types! I’ve a bunch of saddles, mostly old english schooling saddles, a couple which are synthetic. Now i’m looking toward branching out into western-ish territory, but the look of them and the weight of them puts me off. So a cross-over look and weight is what i’m after (aesthetically speaking) The saddlemaker i’m questioning about them has this to say: "I am currently using two different trees. The highbred that you are interested in the entire tree flexes. It’s a rubber plastic compound, I don’t know the exact percentage, and that’s also what makes it a little heavier than the other tree.
My newer lightweight saddles have a tree that is more plastic than rubber so we have to cut into the tree to give it some flex. We give the horse room for the shoulders to move, and there is a little flexibility where you sit in the saddle, it helps conferment to the horses back.
There are a lot of imitator flex tree saddlesout there, and I actually would like to name my saddle company something different to get a way from those negative connotations.
Also, if this saddle is not put on properly, and you allow it to slip too far back on the horse, it could cause some overfluxing behind the weathers. But when it gets done properly, it fits perfectly like a glove you will have zero pinching or rubbing. And if you purchase a saddle, I will show you how to rig everything properly. It will be easy for you since you can already get a saddle on a horse properly."
Anyone have any experience with endurance trail riding on a flextree? I’m pretty small 5/1 and around 120-125#, but some of my EQSAR teammates are bigger.
Oh, saddle makers can and will say anything about their saddles.
Are you hoping that this saddle will fit all 8 horses and two mules, of very different body types? The only thing that will fit all 10 would be an unstructured bareback pad, possibly (and I expect that you couldn’t use the same one on the Aeab and the Percheron).
Is the saddle maker promising the saddle will fit all these horses?
The problem you are going to run into with that many different horses in that many different sizes is that one saddle is not going to fit all, flex tree or not.
Just because a saddle is a flex tree does not mean it will fit every horse. Flex trees come in different widths- for example Circle Y’s come in medium, wide and extra wide. An extra wide tree is not going to work on a horse that needs a medium tree and vice versa. Saddle fit, in a flex tree or any sort of tree, is extremely important for each horse as an individual. There is no “one size fits all”!
I have never heard of a tree made of just rubber or plastic. There are many good tree manufacturers out there, many in business for well over a hundred years. If this person tree were so fantastic, it would be patented and named already!
I have friends who who have been riding on Circle Y flex tree saddles for years and not had issues. I have had one since January and not had one bit of soreness in my Horse after many, many hours of riding.
No, she’s not promising saddle will fit them all… I have quite a few saddles already…(mules have their own custom ones with tons of strapping paraphernalia), and using wintec and thorowgood with interchangeable bars for most the others. One with a medium bar and one with a medium wide bar as it’s sort of a PITA to change them all the time… And i have about a half dozen close contact english saddles. I just thought it would be nice to have a generic Western-ish one for the medium-ish guys so people who come and ride with me, on one of my more adaptable horses, can feel a little more secure. Seems everyone I know who rides around here is a western style person. And i just can’t bring myself to buy three or so western saddles that are going to fit. I could buy used ones i suppose, but those leather western saddles are at least 25 pounds all by themselves though.
The Percheron will soon have his own …it’s just not here yet. So: Mo Foxtrotter, Akhal-teke cross, the more narrow Curly-arab cross, narrow at withers Standardbred and rangey Arab are KINDA within a range … The QH might just fit the percheron’s…as he’s extremely wide! So hopefully he’ll be taken care of. And maybe, just maybe a flextree would fit him as well as the mediums.
i guess i really want to know if flextrees are pinchy? And do they kind of collapse and put all the rider’s weight in the middle of the horse’s spine, (kinda like if you rode bareback but not quite so bad.)
Is this saddle maker associated with the Parellis? Just curious…
The only way to know this is to visit the saddlemaker and let them demonstrate that it works to properly distribute weight. You can ask other questions at the same time.
G.
P.S. The other way is for you to make a tracing of your horse’s back and let them send you a tree that they claim will fit. Then you can ride and see for yourself.
she’s sending me one to try. i’m hopeful
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