I was looking at Craigslist, for a trail type saddle that weighed less than my western, and found this.
On photo number 8, it looks very crooked. Can you tell from the photos if the tree is broken/warped, or is this just the photo angle?
https://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/grd/d/tucker-montreal-trooper-horse/6444149049.html
All help appreciated.
In the first 2 photos of the bottom row it could be the angle, but my impression is that the tree is twisted. Probably from mounting from the ground.
I agree that photo 8 does look odd, but none of the other pictures do, so I wonder if the saddle wasn’t sitting quite straight on the stand or something?? The underside picture looks fine.
You certainly would not be able to tell from photos alone if a tree if broken versus warped. Plus, a tree can be broken and still look straight. 
I guess I’m not familiar with the type of tree that Tucker uses, but any GOOD tree should not be warping from mounting from the ground (or I’d have a tack room full of crooked saddles!).
I tried looking on their website to see what type of tree they use (wood, fiberglass, etc) but I couldn’t find it. 
Saddles are supposed to be used for mounting from the ground!! It might just not be positioned on the stand squarely. Tucker supposedly makes a good quality saddle.
IIRC the Tucker is a suspended seat saddle and is derived from the British Uniform Pattern military saddle (in continuous use since the 1790s). The boards are joined by two iron arches at the pommel and cantle. You can’t “break” a tree in this saddle as you can in a standard Western saddle. You can bend the arches but all the ones I’ve seen have been pretty robust. You’d have to drive a vehicle over it or many have it stepped on by a big drafter. Such could happen but I suspect you’d see some evidence of that.
There is no way to be sure without putting your hands on the saddle but it looks crooked on the stand and some shadow issues, not tree damage.
G.
Don’t some Tucker saddles have panels that velcro on?
To me, in photo 8 it looks like the wool panel is not in the same place on both sides and maybe on one side it is slightly crushed from improper storage and that could be easily fixed with a little steam and blocking.
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