I ride in a Passier dressage saddle (PS Baum) that now has a nice sheepskin cover on it. My daughter uses a Circle Y western-style -but hornless- endurance saddle. The western and endurance saddles are good because you can dangle all sorts of things from the rings. So I make her carry stuff. We don’t use breast plates even though we ride alot in mountainous areas since our horses came with withers. On rides I put the bridle over a halter and tie a rope around my horse’s neck mecate-style so I am ready to trot out and tie at a vet stop on my own.
I ride in a Wintec 2000 AP. Just bought it in February, and I LOFF it. I also added the Sprenger jointed stirrups, and my ankles feel so much better now.
I also have an older (15 y/o) Wintec AP that I still use for trail riding on occasion. It’s a nice saddle and very comfortable, although it’s flatter than the 2000. I wanted a higher pommel and cantle for those “come to Jesus” hills! 
Since I do distance riding (15-25 miles), I like a comfortable saddle. I may invest later in a good endurance saddle, but for now the Wintecs fit my needs.
It’s Bob Marshall Sport Saddles for me! I have an endurance and a trail model – wouldn’t trade them for anything. I’ve used them on a fat little low withered QH, and my high-withered paint. Never had one slip, and oohhh so comfy. I was able to order a skirt size appropriate for my short legs (I’m only 5’ tall, and this has been a big problem on some saddles). And as far as cost goes, I think they’re reasonable new, but eBay always has one or two for sale used – I actually purchased my first BM endurance model on eBay. Can’t say enough good things about them. I’ve even “converted” a few of the gals at my barn.
Would an australian saddle work? I normally ride dressage, but I was thinking that the Australian saddle was the closest thing to my Stubben Schultheis - with a little “extra” for holding me in when my half-arab gets flitty. Just wondering, since I didn’t see anyone else mention them.
I have a barn new custom Synergist saddle and
a Equipad (http://www.equipedic.com/). I also ride in just a sidepull. I ride a 16hh
pinto/arab
Go to endurance.net and search for “treeless.” They have alot of vendors who list on that site. Also, go to ridecamp at the same address and browse the archives for “treeless.” Lot of opinions; the search results are a little hard to read though.
I ridden in a BM SS for years and have a Torsion treeless as a back-up saddle. I really want to find an all-purpose english that is either treeless or flexible. I find the two saddles that I have to be awkward for getting your leg on your horse and having ridden in english saddles for 40 years I really crave getting back into one.
Bonnie S.
KarenC: I figured! 
I loff my Rondo II soooo much. 
Freebird rode Penny (my Clyde/S’bred X) in it when she came for moral support the weekend my app was put down. Even though it was big for her little tush (it’s an 18), she said she still felt deeply secure in it. Couldn’t believe it was only a few months old, considering how soft and supple it is.
When we find a draft/draftX for the hubby, I’ll definitely be buying him a Companion Trail saddle.
It depends.
I usually ride Sandy in a Wintec 2000, especially if I’ll be doing any galloping/jumping.
For better weight distribution longer rides, I use a no-name (literally! There’s not a single identifying mark on it!) endurance/western saddle. It came along with a horse I bought/rescued many years ago. It is very lightweight, has a suede seat, and nylon “stirrup leathers” instead of fenders. I’ve never seen another saddle like it.
I ride in an Ansur classic dressage saddle and have just purchased a Barefoot Treeless (because my Ansur doesn’t have D-rings). Haven’t ridden in the Barefoot enough yet to know if I’ll like it on trail or not. So far, on piddlin’ rides around the paddock it’s been comfortable. We’ll see how if feels after 10 miles of trotting come spring!
I ride in a Crates Flex Tree Trail Saddle. My QH loves it and he’s very hard to fit. The mustang wears a Slim Sheppard & Sons custom that I bought off of Ebay. It fits him like a glove. I use a SaddleRight pad and use a plain Mylar comfort snaffle on the QH and a Mylar snaffle with a roller for the mustang. I use a breastcollar and crupper on both.
BTW, Does anyone know anything about Slim Sheppard saddles? They’re out of CA if that makes a difference.
I have an almost new Reactor Panel endurance model that I bought some years ago for my older Arab. I’m pretty sure it will do nicely on my youngster.
I’m surprised that more people aren’t using them. Do you think it’s price (I got a discount) or the trouble to fit it in the first place, or that few people actually know about them?
After 13 years with Sport Saddles, successfully, I realized what I believe to be a big design flaw in that rigid pommel. I currently have 3 horses who are too wide at the withers,and the pommel was digging in at the sides. I loved these saddles, but they were able to work as I did not have horses with a prominent spine; I have seen some extremely bad spine rubs from the sport saddles as they have no kind of a gullet. Even with equipedic or skito pads with inserts that raised them a bit off the spine, it was not enough. It took my poor 5 year old mare who started getting really grumpy when I put the sport saddle on, for me to start checking, and realize I could not get
my hand under the saddle at the sides of the pommel They DO NOT fit all horses…
So I went to Reactor Panel saddles, which have a terrific flexible panel system that leaves the spine free…her grumpy behavior ended
Karen
I have a collegiate jumping saddle that I did 50’s in and use for trail riding, I tried all kinds of saddles except for western. I had a wintec all purpose but it didn’t fit my horse, had a stubben dressage saddle, didn’t fit me. I know jumping saddles are not the most comfortable but it fit me and the horse I was riding. It has a soft seat.
I did not use a bit, either a halter or a hackamore, rope reins.
I was thinking about Circle Y’s trail saddles. But I have thoroughbreds…
I have an American Saddlery endurance (western no horn) saddle that I mainly ride in now, and also a Kieffer all purpose dressage Aachen. I used to ride in just the Keiffer, but about 6 years ago got a deal on a new endurance saddle. I love all the ties and clips, and although heavier than the Keiffer, it seems pretty well balanced on my girl. She knows when the trail saddle comes out, it’s all for trails, when the Keiffer comes out, could be ring work or to give a lesson.
I ride in a Wintec 500 AP or a Dakota Arabian western saddle right now (just trail riding). What I WANT though is a Tucker Endurance! OMG!!! My friend let me borrow her’s twice before, and that is undoubtedly the most comfortable saddle that I’ve ever ridden in and my horse thought the same! It was as if it had been custom made for both me & my horse, and it wasn’t even my saddle, lol! So, once I get my truck paid off in about 6 or 7 months, maybe I can put that money (or most of it) away each month to start saving up to buy one.
Bits, I just use a snaffle for any of my horses, either an eggbutt or a dee-ring. Now that I’m feeling good/confident in my horse, I’ll probably go ahead and start ridng him out on the trails in my The Bitless Bridle—he’s fine in it, I just hadn’t been confident enough til now to go ahead and trust him that he’ll stay fine in it outside on the trails in “the real world”
I’ve been wondering about the ansur, i tried my friends and loved it but haven’t gone on any long rides with my current horse, she is a widebody morgan with no withers and it seemed very comfortable on her, the problem i see is her back is slightly swayed also, I wouldn’t want to do any thing ike 50’s with her and am aiming for 25 ctr’s at the most, does barefoot treeless have a website
We ride in Stubben’s APs or a Passier close contact.
We do have a McLellan clone but it suspends you too far away from the horse’s back to make it a safe ride on a spooky horse. It’s a great saddle on the right horse, just not the one I am riding currently.
