The trees of western saddles

[Sandra]

Hi! I have a big finnhorse and she has a wide and straight back. I would like to buy her a western saddle too but the market here in Finland is minor so I think I must order it from USA. Her english saddle is perfect to her but I am confused about the trees of western saddles. I know the seat size and she is size of the FQHB or haflinger depending on the model.

The problem is I have not found any information about weather the tree of western saddles is straight or “curve”. In English saddles it is important that the saddle fits by the withers and width but also it should fit the horses back muscles (straight-backed horse has straight tree and so on). Otherwise the saddle rocks. She has normal withers. Any advice?

[aktill]

This is about the closest thing to a “system” that I’ve seen. Some custom saddlemakers and most tree makers understand it, but if you just want to order a saddle from a store, they may not understand.

http://www.dennislane.com.au/cardsabout.html

[beau159]

Fitting a western saddle is difficult.

The full quarter horse bars of one saddle maker will be entirely different than the full quarter horse bars of another maker. There can be different flare to the bars of the tree, as well as different twist and different rock.

Honestly, it is trial and error. And lots of it.

I just finished the saddle search with my gelding. Went through 8 saddles before I found one that was a good fit for him.

Do you have any photos of your horse that you can share? That can give us an idea of what her back looks like.

[Aces_N_Eights]

Here is some good reading…
http://saddlemakers.org/id193.htm

[quarterhorse4me]

I have a very wide, round, mutton withered quarter horse. I just purchased an extra wide circle y saddle from The Horse Saddle Shop. The customer service was very good about making some recommendations to me. They will also send you templates that you can use to help get a better fit (I didn’t do this as I had a pretty good idea what I needed.)

Quality wise, a circle y definitely was not my top choice but short of having a saddle custom made, I did not have a lot of options. I am pretty happy with both the saddle and the fit. Very little roll and the 3-way rigging also helps.

[quarterhorse4me]

I have a very wide, round, mutton withered quarter horse. I just purchased an extra wide circle y saddle from The Horse Saddle Shop. The customer service was very good about making some recommendations to me. They will also send you templates that you can use to help get a better fit (I didn’t do this as I had a pretty good idea what I needed.)

Quality wise, a circle y definitely was not my top choice but short of having a saddle custom made, I did not have a lot of options. I am pretty happy with both the saddle and the fit. Very little roll and the 3-way rigging also helps.

[Kitt]

One of the best sites I’v encountered for western saddle fit. You can email them if you have questions; they’re very knowledgeable and helpful: http://www.horsesaddleshop.com/saddlefit.html.

[froglander]

My favorite site about tree fit

http://www.rodnikkel.com/content/

[beau159]

[QUOTE=quarterhorse4me;7494618]
They will also send you templates that you can use to help get a better fit (I didn’t do this as I had a pretty good idea what I needed.)[/QUOTE]

While the templates can give you an idea of what tree size you need (reg or full QH) I honestly find the templates useless.

Every manufacture makes their tree slightly different. One company’s full QH bar tree is NOT the same as the next company.

Each tree has different twist, rock, and flare. And it will sit differently on a horse’s back. You have to physically try the saddle on the horse to see if it’s going to fix. A template can’t tell you that.

Meleta Brown has a lot of good information on her website about saddle fit, and how to check a saddle on your horse.
http://thefreedomsaddle.com/articles/saddle-fitting/