Is there a weight limit on CWD 2G or other “flexible tree” saddles? I’ve heard that a heavier rider can cause the saddle to actually interfere with the back of the horse on a flexible saddle vs a traditional. I’ve heard numbers like people weighing fewer than 180lbs or so are best for those trees and anyone heavier should stick to a more solid tree.
Is this true? What are your experiences?
Why not ask the company directly?
I googled the saddle and got a not very clear description of it having a double tree not a flexible one.
What do you mean by "other " flexible trees? The traditional wood and metal “spring tree” has some flex after all.
I have a rep but I ask want honest input from sources who don’t benefit directly if I buy the $6000 saddle 
I too couldn’t find clear results on google but did find that many other flexible saddles both English and western that have weight “limits”.
The 2g has a carbon fiber tree that moves with the horse but I wonder if under the weight of a rider it could potentially press in too much to their spine or interfere in another way. I have one on trial and I’m floating around 200lbs and I worry it will not buffer me the way it should. (I am actively losing weight and usually I weigh around 150-160. Going back to school and no riding made me fat but I graduate in a week so woohoo!)
Email the company head office directly if you don’t trust your rep. Indeed if you don’t trust your rep to be honest on a basic thing like this, do you trust them to fit the saddle correctly?
Specifically which other English and Western saddles have a weight warning because of flexible trees? Are you conflating flexible and treeless?
I can’t imagine that a major competitive brand would top out at 180 because that is not heavy for tall man.
However if you are planning to lose 50 lbs this summer I would not invest in a high end custom saddle at your current weight. Anymore than I’d put that kind of money into a saddle for a green horse whose back was going to change drastically. If you are serious about losing weight, buy the saddle (and the new breeches) after you are in shape. I think 50 lbs would impact the seat size of the saddle for sure.
Thanks for the input. I’ve reached out to the company of course, but I’d also like independent input too. The saddle I tried will fit me with a 50 lb loss… It’s actually a 17.5 which fits me even though I usually go in an 18" in my Antares. (CWD more roomier maybe?)
I too thought it was weird that a saddle would top out at that weight but then again men and women carry themselves differently, have different pelvises which probably distribute weight different, etc. But I don’t know for sure. The biomechanics of saddles isn’t something I really have much education on so I can only speculate.
This thread mentions the saddles a bit: https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/discussion-forums/western/256943-flextree-saddle-yeah-or-nay
The Circle-Y saddles, reining saddles, Ortho-flex which I think is an Aussie saddle? All have mentions about weight issues and funky distribution.
Plus, I’ve read on other threads that flexible saddles with normal sized riders might not be the best idea because the saddle doesn’t stabilize the weight on the back and puts uneven pressure on places? These are all just theories I’ve encountered.
You can’t compare English and Western trees. Totally different designs. Whatever is inside a CWD will bear no resemblance to what is inside a Circle Y Western trail saddle.
You can’t compare English and Western trees. Totally different designs. Whatever is inside a CWD will bear no resemblance to what is inside a Circle Y Western trail saddle.
There is a COTH thread from 2013 that says the only part of the CWS tree that flexes is the points.
Bear in mind also that everyone claims their saddles flex these days and they all mean something different by it.
Anyhow the Western flex tree has no relation to an English tree.
Considering many tall, fit men are around the 200-220 range I seriously doubt there is a weight limit.
I contacted the company and the respondent did not know the answer. They referred me to my rep who also did not know.
Carbon fibre is very strong, I can’t imagine that a carbon fibre tree would have a weight limit.
Not very reassuring considering they’d like you to plunk down $6k plus?! Especially since this is the company that charges around 30% for the privilege of you getting to enjoy them not managing to make your custom saddle properly.
FWIW, since this was probably about 5 years ago now, a CWD rep recommend not purchasing the 2G if you wanted it to be your forever saddle since they were seeing the trees wear out over time. He said it was great for trainers who needed to fit a lot of horses and then replace it when it was worn down anyway.
Not related to weight specifically, but it thought it was telling that (at the time) the rep wasn’t pushing it to the majority of his clients.
Then get back to the company and request an answer from someone further up the food chain. I expect this is not an issue and therefore not a question they have been asked before. But for the price of CWD they should be willing to do a little customer service.
I had the same thoughts!
I also wondered if they do know the answer but would rather not offer it because it doesn’t flatter them… In that case maybe they aren’t the best for a heavier rider and they aren’t willing to just tell anyone about negative findings. And why have me ask the rep when the rep gets their information from the company? Shouldn’t someone actually from the company have that info? It didn’t make sense to me.
I’ve never heard of a weight limit. It’s very hard to imagine it going so far as to sit on the horse’s spine if the panels remotely fit - it’s not THAT flexible. When I bought mine, it wasn’t really described as a “flex” tree, just that it happens to have more flex than the standard tree.
CWD’s dismal customer service and horridly inconsistent rep quality is another topic…
This is my guess. The Western flex tree is a whole other thing, and the brands that have it, make it a huge selling point. You can see diagrams online and it is nothing like any English trees.
Weight on spine is more a factor in treeless saddles.
I can not imagine that any high performance jumping saddle is going to have a true flex tree like a Circle Y because it is just too unstable. If ndeed the CWD the OP mentioned is said to have a double tree. There is no illustration of what that means but the d guess it would be more between rider and horse.
Now there could be legitimate questions about foam v wool or the surface areas of the panels for a heavier rider.
But I doubt anyone is jumping 5 feet in a true flex tree. Or treeless.
It depends on how the carbon fiber is woven, but while it can be engineered to be flexible in certain directions, it can at the same time be engineered to be very strong against forces in other directions. And it does so at a lighter weight than some other materials, which is why it’s a good material for racing bicycles and wheels (which undergo a lot of stress yet need to be comfortable for the rider), aircraft and aircraft parts, and race cars, among other things like helmets and other sporting equipment.
I can’t speak to other types of composite materials. Or the 2G-Cubed saddle which is a double tree, and I’m not really sure how that works.
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