I LOVE my Treeless saddle. I do a LOT of trail riding. I ride in a Barefoot Sierra w/a Skito w/dryback. I do NOT tighten the girth very tight. It is snug, but I can get several fingers between the horse and girth.
I do wear a breastcollar IF I am going to ride steeper hills. My horse is a more round body type. The saddle will slide back if the hill is steep enough, and no breastcollar.
It seems like many of the people that are responding have no idea on what they are talking about. Have any of the nay-sayers actually every tried a well made treeless saddle?? There are some cheap knock offs, but Barefoot, Torsion, Freeform, and Bob Marshall would be brands to demo.
I could ride ALL day in my saddle and be completely comfortable. Tack that fits you well makes a huge difference. Being close minded is silly.
TWO Cases in point - Last weekend, I went camping w/several people at a state park. A few of us had brought our horses. Several people had traveled much farther, and did not bring horses.
That morning, the ones will horses went on a great three hour ride. The terrain was gorgeous, and we kept a quick pace. It was a GREAT ride. I was completely fine when we got back to camp and I got off. NO pain at all.
After we got back, some of the non horse people decided to all go to Starved Rock rental horse ride. The horses were in very good shape. I have never said no to go riding, so I figured that I would let my horse relax, and go w/the people that didnt have or bring their horses. Most of the people who I had ridden w/earlier stayed at camp, so my horse was well looked after at camp.
It was a walk only ride. The saddles werent too comfortable, but not horrible. My stirrups felt ok, but for the last 30 minutes of this ride, my knee just started to KILL. I was sooo uncomfortable!
I thought it was funny. I did this fairly intense ride for THREE times as long as I was on this walk only ride, yet, I was almost in PAIN during the latter.
Next point - I ride w/an older lady, J that has an Abetta western saddle. She would never want to stay out trail riding for more than a hour. Once we went riding w/another lady, P. It was wonderful weather.
Like clockwork, after about a hour, this J wanted to head back to be dropped off at the barn. The P and I were going to go back out once we dropped J off.
On the way back to the barn, I started to ask J why she didnt ride more than a hour. Well. her knee and butt starts to hurt. I asked if she would try my spare saddle just to see if it made much of a difference. J was open to it.
I have a Barefoot Cheyenne that is my spare saddle. I took her saddle off, and put on the Cheyenne.
J is really short, so I had to take off the fenders, and put on leathers to get the stirrups short enough.
P and I were going to go back out, so we waited while J was just going to ride around the arena in the new set up before she left.
She found the Cheyenne soo comfortable, she went back out w/us. We rode another TWO hours.
J was just amazed. She thought she was just getting old enough that some pain during riding is normal. She was beaming the entire time.
Since then, she bought her own Barefoot Cheyenne saddle. I just went riding w/her on Tuesday. We rode for over 2 hours. She has NO pain while riding. She said that her knee had started to hurt when riding for as long as she can remember. She had NO idea that she could ride w/out pain. She blamed her age.
My point is that it is possible for most everyone to find some sort of combination of saddle and stirrups to be comfortable while riding.
Personally, I think that Barefoot saddles are the most comfortable saddles that I ridden. I have ridden in the London, Cheyenne, Arizona, and Sierra. I didnt care for the London since I found it super slippery. The Sierra is my favorite of any saddle I have ever tried. I did use the Cheyenne for two years as my main saddle. I missed having a horn is why I got the Sierra.
Several people borrow my Cheyenne saddle. It has a decent fan club. lol.
I am never close minded when it comes to horse tack. I find it just soo interesting how tack can really make such a huge difference while riding.
For now, my set up works perfectly for my horse and me.
I had moved to a bigger barn last fall. They have Chiros that come by every few months. I have had my horse for 6 yrs, and know the people who owned him before me, never had him checked by a Chiropractor.
I was more interested than anything. My horse just turned 13 yrs old.
A few months ago, I had the chiropractor check him out.
Again, he has been ridden w/Barefoot treeless saddles for several years. I haul him to State parks many times per month, plus my barn has lots of land to trail ride. He gets a lot of miles put on him.
The Chiropractor was surprised that his back was in as good as it was. He has one small spot by a rib that was out, but she got it back w/little effort. The Chriopractor was very, very happy w/the condition of my horses back.
For me, it is ALL about comfort while I ride. I can not have fun if I am hurting. I learned that well this weekend during the last half of our rental ride. My stirrups were just a touch too short, and it KILLED. I had to walk around for a few minutes after the ride before my knee stopped aching.
I’ve seen horses sored terribly after 45 minutes in the arena in a bad fitting saddle!
