I'm thinking about buying an adjustable tree saddle - experiences?

[jelrin]

I’ve decided to bit the bullet and buy myself a new jumping saddle. I’ve been out of the horse world for a while and there have been a ton of technological changes that have happened. I’m a little overwhelmed and looking for advice/your opinions. Because I don’t own my own horse, I was thinking an adjustable tree saddle might be a good idea (I’ve worked with 4 horses in the last 2 years)
Just the facts: I am an eventer. I do not own my own horse but have a lease https://liteblue.guru/ . My body type is almost exactly like Margie Goldstein, if Margie worked an office job (5’0", short, muscular legs, kinda big butt).

I’m open to any and all suggestions. Thanks all!

[Jackie_Cochran]

I am a handicapped (MS) rider who only rides on riding school horses. A lot of these horses have interesting conformation problems. My riding teacher uses me often to re-start “throw away” horses. I do not show. I’m just under 5’4" with sort of long thighs. My best fitting saddle up until then was my Crosby Wide Front 17" PDN style saddle.

I had one chance in my life to buy a good saddle. I researched on the web. My three possibilities ended up being the Pegasus Butterfly, the Bua and a Tad Coffin. Since my balance can be really wonky I was not too sure I could really adapt well to the Bua though if I ever got enough spare money I’d consider getting one as a spare saddle. I could not justify spending thousands of dollars more more the Tad Coffin plus all the pads etc…

I bought a 17" Pegasus Butterfly Claudia jumping saddle several years ago. In combination with a BOT/ThinLine Contender II six pocket shimmable pad I have been able to get a satisfactory fit on all the horses I’ve used it on, from a 6 yr. old OTTB with a decently muscled back, up to a sway back Arab mare in her 30’s and now a QH gelding in his mid 20s with an extremely high croup, low set neck, and a definite swayed back. On the OTTB I had to switch to my Corrector half-pad, on the extremely high croup horse I use both of the ThinLine bridging shims. On all the other horses I’ve ridden in it, mostly older horses, I just take the shims in or out of the Contender II pad.

This saddle does not exactly look like normal English saddles, there is a very effective cut back for the withers and the front of the saddle tree is on multiple hinges which adapt to the individual horse’s shape. My riding teachers have no worries about whether this saddle will fit the front of their horses.

[Scribbler]

@Jackie Cochran

I am a handicapped (MS) rider who only rides on riding school horses. A lot of these horses have interesting conformation problems. My riding teacher uses me often to re-start “throw away” horses. I do not show. I’m just under 5’4" with sort of long thighs. My best fitting saddle up until then was my Crosby Wide Front 17" PDN style saddle.

I had one chance in my life to buy a good saddle. I researched on the web. My three possibilities ended up being the Pegasus Butterfly, the Bua and a Tad Coffin. Since my balance can be really wonky I was not too sure I could really adapt well to the Bua though if I ever got enough spare money I’d consider getting one as a spare saddle. I could not justify spending thousands of dollars more more the Tad Coffin plus all the pads etc…

I bought a 17" Pegasus Butterfly Claudia jumping saddle several years ago. In combination with a BOT/ThinLine Contender II six pocket shimmable pad I have been able to get a satisfactory fit on all the horses I’ve used it on, from a 6 yr. old OTTB with a decently muscled back, up to a sway back Arab mare in her 30’s and now a QH gelding in his mid 20s with an extremely high croup, low set neck, and a definite swayed back. On the OTTB I had to switch to my Corrector half-pad, on the extremely high croup horse I use both of the ThinLine bridging shims. On all the other horses I’ve ridden in it, mostly older horses, I just take the shims in or out of the Contender II pad.

This saddle does not exactly look like normal English saddles, there is a very effective cut back for the withers and the front of the saddle tree is on multiple hinges which adapt to the individual horse’s shape. My riding teachers have no worries about whether this saddle will fit the front of their horses.

That’s really interesting and useful to know!

The problem with most “adjustable” saddles is that it’s only the wither gullet that gets changed, changing the gullet is not something you should do regularly (you strip the screws) and all those saddles are at the bottlom end of quality.

Changing the gullet does nothing for the drape and rocker curves of the tree.

It’s really good to know there are innovative designs.

[Jackie_Cochran]

One objection I had for the gullet plate changing saddles is that the ends of the gullet plate hit at my thighs when I put in the widest one for the WIDE horses I was riding. This problem got worse for me with the Wintec Wide GP saddle. Added to that the extremely thick padding that tried to protect the rider’s thigh–well on an extremely wide horse I felt like I was trying to do splits and I could not use my leg effectively.

The Pegasus Butterfly is not perfect. Because of the freedom it gives the shoulders I found that my seat moved in the saddle a lot more than usual, and I ended up off balance, taking the saddle with me (my sense of balance is horrible.) The interesting thing was that even when one stirrup was 3" lower than the other one the horses did NOT show great discomfort. Considering how weak I am in the saddle it would have been easy for them to just get me off, but they did not even try. The horses did not even pretend that this was a seat aid and twirl around, they just kept on plodding around the ring reasonably straight.

I fixed that problem by getting myself a pair of full seat silicon grip breeches, and it got even better when I put the Riders Grips on the flaps. Now I have a much more stable seat, unlike at the beginning, and the saddle remains reasonably centered, though I still have to check it periodically during my ride.

With the six-pocket pad I’ve fit every horse but one, the young OTTB, and I fixed that by using another pad.

The rear of this saddle tree does not adjust to the horse and is rather flatish, which is why I have to use a 6 pocket shimmable pad.

But it is a relief to me not to have to worry about the saddle fitting the front of the horse. The horses also move much more freely with this saddle than with my old regular treed saddles (Crosby Wide Front PDN, Stubben Siegfried & Wintec GPs). I did not KNOW that the horses were sucking back so that the top of their shoulders did not run into the points of the tree until I used this saddle. With this saddle the horses reach forward with their front legs freely and fearlessly and I have to use a lot less leg to get the strides longer.

[MDKCongo]

I have only ever thought of buying adjustable trees for the same reason. I too lease a horse currently and have leased a couple others before. In my experience, riding an ottb, the problem I have with an adjustable gullet is that there are no brands that make an extra narrow gullet plate which the horse needs. That being said, I have seen a lot of other riders that have their adjustable saddle fit a variety of horses without changing the tree. Some brands that I have seen big success with are Bates and Pessoa, although be careful of the types of panels. I highly recommend wool, not CAIR or synthetic as those are harder to fit. Those two brands are a bit more pricey but some other brands that aren’t as pricey, but not as high quality are Collegiate and Wintec. I know there is a lot of controversy like previously said that the tree points at the end of the gullet plate don’t run long enough, but I think these kinds of saddles are a great way to save money and adapt to the changing musculature of the horse.

[Anna.m]

I personally do not like saddles with the adjustable gullets. Like Scribbler said, they only change the gullet size, they do not change anything else. So your saddle may fit at the withers, but it will not fit elsewhere, ex, not a wide enough channel and put pressure on the spine.