BEFORE YOU BUY A TREELESS SADDLE: WATCH THIS!

If you're shopping for a treeless saddle, you need to watch this video! Treeless saddles are awesome for some people and horses, but there are a few things you should know before you buy one. I spent a few trail/endurance seasons in high-end expensive treeless setups, so I feel pretty confident in sharing what I learned during that time. From specialty treeless saddle pads and shims to fitting for horse and rider, treeless is a whole different world than traditional treed saddles. Make sure you're prepared before you buy one!

[@math5735]

I agree xD i have a gypsycob and because of her morphology i must bought treeless saddle and its expensive af to get good one xD the price start at 1900$

[@Ginnyshorseproductreview]

SO expensive!!! I hope you have better luck with yours than I did with mine!

[@math5735]

Ginnyshorseproductreview after 4month of research I find the one I would for 1400$. But like you said at the end you have to pay an expensive one if you want good quality :)

[@Ginnyshorseproductreview]

Glad u finally found one you like though!

[@bridgetkrumenacker110]

I purchased a Barefoot Cheyenne treeless for my very wide Appy who’s hard to fit for treed saddle. Personality wise he’s not at all spooky so we don’t have any crazy lateral movements. We have had some crazy fast gallops due to foot races, around corners at full out run (asked to do so) and I’ve never had a problem with my saddle slipping. I can mount from the ground with no movement as well. It does pitch forward but I have adjusted my posture to accommodate for it. For someone with mediocre balance or riding ability it’s definitely not the saddle for you. It does initially cause lower body discomfort in places I didn’t have in a treed saddle but again, I’ve ridden it so much that my muscles have adjusted. Muscle memory like any other saddle. I use western fenders and stirrups with mine to protect my shins from rubbing. It is like bareback riding which my horse likes best and with the Equipedic pad I have, we have lots of spinal clearance.

[@gottatrot1]

A lot of misinformation in this video. The comments are based on using probably an older Freeform without a good fit and setup for the horse. Those have a wide twist, and with the wrong pad, girth etc could have the issues described. That being said, tons of people ride spooky horses, gallop and jump in their treeless saddles with no stability issues. My horses have bucked, reared, spooked etc without my Ghost saddles moving at all. My horses wear XW treed saddles, so very round. I've never used a breast collar or even safety stirrups. Applying an experience with one saddle and setup not well done and giving advice saying treeless saddles are like that is very misleading. How could people barrel race or ride the Tevis cup in them if they were that unstable?

[@Ginnyshorseproductreview]

Just one woman's opinion. You don't have to agree, and I was very transparent about my experiences going treeless. Also, more power to those it works for, and it obviously does for a lot of people! P.S. it was one of the newer modern Freeforms and I worked with the gal from the company to dial in fit and correct pad. For $2500+ setup with company help, it sure didn't work out for the variety of reasons which I spoke about. It's not like I had a cheapie off brand, it was a nice one. Glad you like your Ghost, I've heard good things. I ride in a Marciante and Thorowgood now, both treed and horses and myself are comfy.

[@epona9166]

It's totally unfair to label this video "misinformation". It's her experience and boy it rings true to me. I'm a treeless saddle believer, and I've ridden successfully in an Ansur Westernaire for years. It was $4500 when I bought it 12 years ago and would be $7500 to replace it. I definitely didn't cheap out. But my horse is at his highest weight ever right now and I have definitely had some trouble with my saddle rolling recently. I didn't want to believe it was his rounder belly, but I feel like this video came up on my feed for a reason 😂 I'm happy that you've had success with your saddle, but it doesn't invalidate a single word of what this woman has experienced.

[@desireehubbard7337]

Hi, first of all thank you for this video, I learned some couple of things! Maybe a saddle with a flexible tree is more suited for you if you don't want a woorden tree or treeless. Keep in mind that with that kind of saddle there is a maximum weight for the rider otherwise it will bent and could break or it wil leave pressure points on your horse it's back. I have written a treeless saddle on my round and short backed Fjord horse a few times now. And I want to buy another treeless saddle in the future. The only thing that I don't agree with is that you said , you felt insecure and not stable in a treeless saddle and you felt your safety was on the line. I think you cannot blame that on a treeless saddle only. Has it ever occurred to you that that's not a problem of the saddle but more a balance issue from the rider? My instructor has told me that. Also I came across a few different forums who said the same, and now I experience it daily on my horse. In a treed saddle you have indeed more support and your body uses that support to stay in balance. With a treeless it's up to you to fix your seat. It can also be true that a treeless saddle may shift a bit more, but I reckon you use a good inlayerd pad underneath? If It still shifts you can always put a woolen blanked underneath it and that stops the shifting. For the horse it's back I will be planning on investing in a very good inlayed pad which keeps the spine nice and free. For now I will keep testing this saddle out, before I buy one. Ps: it is good to hear everyones experience therefore we can only improve in saddle making and more comfortable saddles for us and our horses.

[@Ginnyshorseproductreview]

Thanks for the comment! I have ridden in an Orthoflex, which had a flex tree, and I felt like it put me too far above the horse. I really do like the close contact of an English saddle. I don't think my balance as a rider was the stability/safety issue with the treeless, as I'm able to ride, walk, trot, canter, gallop and jump bareback. If you're on a saddle that will shift laterally, aka, roll from side-to-side, if your horse spooks, like teleports sideways 6 feet, the laws of physics (and good riding) are going to dictate that one of your stirrups is going to be more weighted than the other. If all your weight in one stirrup causes your saddle to roll sideways, you're in trouble. A breast collar can help, so that the saddle doesn't go all the way over, but even a slight shift by an inch or two can then be difficult to recover from, particularly if you have a horse that bolts after it spooks. All that being said, absolutely, work on balance, and if you're a new rider with balance issues, probably a treeless might not be a safe option for you riding out in the open. I always like to ride bareback, which I think is safer than treeless (for me personally), since there are no stirrups. I did have a very expensive pad to improve spinal clearance and the freeform panels, so I think it was probably too bulky for my wide mare. Like you said, padding is important with treeless to protect the spine. Also agree, it's good to hear lots of different experiences and opinions though, especially saddle shopping! At the end of the day, I think you just have to ride in a bunch of different saddles to see what works best for you and your horse.

[@oneofamillion4951]

@@Ginnyshorseproductreview I agree, its not always about the rider's balance and can be about the saddle. I'm a long-time rider with good balance and tried a treeless on a wide horse who was somewhat spooky and I did not feel confident in the safety of the saddle as it was sliding to the right consistently on flat work despite using the pad that came with it. If she spooked, I wouldn't have wanted to be in that saddle. That said, I tried a soft-treed saddle with more form and it stays put on her. I'm learning how much of a journey it is to find the right saddle for each individual horse and rider!

[@leeanncoxey7498]

100% spot on

[@Ginnyshorseproductreview]

The treeless struggle is REAL! Glad they work for others though, just didn't for us!

[@NightAuracle]

Sorry you had that experience with treeless. Improperly fitted anything will hurt your horse. Sadly for me treed saddles have been the ones that have hurt my horses, even the professionally fitted ones. What was your setup? A lot of the stability on wide horses can come down to the saddle and pad combo. Wide flat backed horses actually don't need as thick of pads as those with narrower builds. Personally I've been treeless for close to a decade and have tried a good chunk of the brands out there. Some are definitely wider feeling then others! There are also fantastic in between saddles that offer the flexibility of a treeless, but weight support of a treed. If you had issues with the width, there are two that are worth trying a demo of, the ghost and the flexee. The flexee is a leather tree and rides like a normal English saddle, but with much more flexibility. Ghosts are a great saddle too, and have one of the narrowest twists available. You can also get it in fun colors, or a traditional English look.

[@Ginnyshorseproductreview]

Freeform, with the panels and I don’t remember the pad brand off the top of my head, but it was for treeless and recommenced with my saddle. My horse was comfortable in it, but the side to side stability and hip pain it caused me were deal breakers. I’m super happy in my current setup, a Thorowgood compact GP, and have a video on it “a great saddle for short backed horses.” I’ve heard good things about Ghost! At this time, Me and my horse are very happy and comfortable in our setup, and going on a couple of years in it, so I’m not shopping. Thanks so much for the comment!!

[@NightAuracle]

@@Ginnyshorseproductreview, glad you found something that works. Used to have a Thorowgood myself, but was still to long for one of my horses, lol. I've owned a freeform enduroX for a long time and even on my massive withered mare have never needed the panels with my equipedic pad. She does need additional wither shims but that's it. I do have them for when I want to use a regular thin pad. If it wasn't for you hip pain, which in my world is an absolutely fantastic reason to ditch a saddle, you may have gained more stability by either pulling the panels or switching to a much thinner pad.

[@Ginnyshorseproductreview]

@@NightAuracle Yeah, I figured less padding would have helped the stability situation, but I was also worried about having spinal clearance too. Probably somebody more experienced with treeless could have dialed it in better, but yes, the hip pain was the ultimate deal breaker! I have the "compact" Throwogood, which I think is 2" shorter than their traditional model. Works great on my 13.2 Morgan pony with a short back! Hard to find a saddle that accommodates my long legs and his short back.

[@robertpaulsen5114]

I don't own my own horse anymore, but I have the option to ride several different horses. 90% of my riding is just around the property 30min to an hour. Would a treeless with a shimmable pad be worth looking into? It be nice to have my own rig I can toss on and go for a lil ride. I very rarely go above a walk. I ride so I can get closer to nature, I don't need to get there quickly. lol

[@Ginnyshorseproductreview]

Treeless sounds like it might be a good option for you. Definitely make sure to get a pad that is designed to work with a treeless saddle, shims or no shims. Best wishes!!

[@robertpaulsen5114]

@@Ginnyshorseproductreview Thank you. GOing to look into it more for sure.

[@stacysmith2521]

Are you able to say what saddle you used? Ghost? Thanks for your info !

[@Ginnyshorseproductreview]

It was a Freeform. Don't have any experience with Ghost. Please let me know how you like them though!

[@laurenesavio4065]

@@Ginnyshorseproductreview I was gonna ask the same question! Ghosts are supposed to have a narrower seat than other treeless saddles

[@alexmarr6598]

Have you tried the barefoot or edix treeless saddles?

[@Ginnyshorseproductreview]

I have not! Would love to hear about them though!

[@annakhjelm146]

I know that I am spuer late to the party, but... 😆 I am shopping for a new saddle for my very narrow backed, big shouldeted gaited Icelandic mare. I am from a very tiny contry, we don't have a single saddler, not one! We don't even have the job of ferrier (actually never have had historically) some private individuals that have learned to sho horses in other contries are the ones providing that service, they are only a few and darn expencive and a few people sho their own horses too (which actually was the tradotional way, back before you could drive everywhere) and we only have two very small shops that sell the most basic equestrial equipment, both located in the capital which requiers a 30min drive and a 2 hour ferry ride for me to reach. So perhaps you can imagin the struggle to find a propparly fitting saddle or even just a good saddle at all 😔 I have tried out 3 differant treeless saddles over the last couple of months, to see if treeless is a safe option for me (I am a chronic pain paitient. I have reduced strenght in my entire right side, which I always have to take into acount) I don't remember the exact modles, but I tried a Sensation, a Ghost and a Barefoot saddle and I have to say that I was very impressed with all 3 of them. (I jad only tried a few min in a cheep treeless saddle before and probably not eell fitted at all either, many years ago) I normally ride in an older model Rhimnir master with an excellent flex tree and exchangable head gullet. I have had this set up for almost 8 years now, but the head gullet has become to nerrow for my mare's big shoulders over the winter. She aldredy has the xxw head gullet in, so I have decited to look for something that fitts her better and thought treeless might be a good opion since my girl is getting up there in years and her body might change enough over the coming years, that she will need a new treed saddle in a few years time again. All 3 of the treeless saddles were excellent to ride in, both on short rides and on long mountein rides. Both the Batefoot amd Ghost gave excellent suport (more then I was expecting) and were perfectly stabel both in tølt and at a full gallop. The barefoot had a deeper seat then the Ghost and was without knees/thigh pads, but both felt amazing to rode in. The sensation was also perfectly stabel on my horse and very comfortabl, but did not give me any suport since the seat was very flat and it felt as if I was about to slide backwards in my sest at any moment, although I never did, but that feeling was simply put, very uncomfortable and it was just ok for the tølt too, I did not sit very comfortably even at a slow tølt 😕 P.S please excuse the 'essey', I appologice for the lenght, but I just had to blow a little steam off. 😶 And please excuse my english, it is not my first language

[@nikitabarker2129]

What saddle do you use?

[@Ginnyshorseproductreview]

You can see my tack setup here: m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/bpPGanuqq91rmqM

[@Ginnyshorseproductreview]

Have an additional video about my Thorowgood saddle here, and why I like them for short backed horses: m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/foKQanawndiUgNk

[@faithgunning]

U don't need special pads I have a horse who can only ride in treeless. I hade customs made,circle y, alomo, ect to try to fit they don't work so I bought a bob marshall treeless. I use the same pad I use on other horses

[@Ginnyshorseproductreview]

I've heard great things about Bob Marshalls, but have never rode in one!

[@YL-up8qc]

i dont know wich treeless saddle you have bought.. but barefoot or edix saddles aren't like that. my barefoot saddle doesn't move at all, my pony isn't that skinny, he's round builded. Also a treeless saddle need to fit. If it fits, you won't have that problem. Treeless saddles from freeform, torison, am reitsport,.. are not good treeless saddles.

[@Ginnyshorseproductreview]

I had about a $2,500 setup from Freeform. You think spending that kind of money, and the reputation they have it would have been workable, but not for my hips and the horse’s body. We worked with a fitter and had the expensive treeless pad too. I suspect it was too bulky for her round build. Have since done very well with a more affordable English saddle. I need a narrow twist for my hips anyways. You live and learn. 🤷🏼‍♀️ thanks for the comment! Until this, I had only really heard good things about freeform, so it was disappointing to have it not work for us, especially after spending so much!

[@miabeaulieu3149]

I’m thinking about buying a barefoot treeless saddle for my very round pony. Would you recommend it?

[@gruenzeugs]

@@miabeaulieu3149 I would recommend Barefoot or Ghost or Edix for round horses :)

[@tilly_horses]

Treeless saddles are like Ugg boots they r fine for slow easy work but not great for other work and they can put weight on the spinal chord. Imagine running in Ugg boots they aren’t supportive rlly? Saddles with trees r good but must fit well

[@Ginnyshorseproductreview]

I agree to an extent, but they obviously work for some people and horses, just not me!! There are plenty of people doing 50, 75 and 100 mile rides in them and horses are being vet checked with sound backs and no soreness. The good ones have panels or you have to get a special pad to keep the saddle off the spine. I will stick to treed saddles though!

[@runswithhorses1]

Treeless saddles are a poor option. You will either wreck your horse's back, or your hips. I had both and had a very good pad and an expensive saddle. Damage to horse and my body are permanent.

[@Ginnyshorseproductreview]

I’m so so sorry about the damage! I hope u both fully recover with time. My hip was messed up for months, and thankfully I threw in the towel early! Horse did okay, and I had an expensive BIG name brand about $2,500 setup.

[@runswithhorses1]

@@Ginnyshorseproductreview This was 8-10 years ago. My horse still has lingering problems but after buying a very good brand of adjustable tree saddle (not an exchange gullet) my horse went on to win some top national awards in Dressage (Arabian shows). There are some excellent treed saddles but so expensive, but worth it rather than having the same cost in vet bills.

[@kimbyers5042]

I've never rode a treeless saddle but please stop whining

[@Ginnyshorseproductreview]

😂 lol, kewl. Thanks for the comment!

[@seaamundsen4687]

If the whining isn't useful for you, than don't listen. It's when people feel pressured not to "whine" that those looking to buy a setup like this can't find any information on the cons they may run into or things to watch out for.