How to Fit a Treeless Saddle
Some people are choosing to ride in treeless saddles if they are having difficulty fitting a horse. Though these saddles are treeless, they still need to be fit to the horse, and especially the horse-and-rider relationship.
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Instructions
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Saddle your horse with the treeless saddle over your clean, light-colored pad. If you want, just brush your horse off rather than groom him completely so the dirt marks on the clean pad are even more obvious at the end of your ride.
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Ride in the saddle for about 15 minutes. If you feel like you're getting pushed into a chair seat (where your legs stick out in front of you rather than fall underneath you), then this treeless saddle is not for you. Instead, look for a treeless saddle with a saddle seat more like what is found on a treed saddle. If your legs fall underneath you so there is a straight line from your shoulder through your hip to your heel, the saddle does not alter your position on your horse.
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Dismount and pull off the saddle and saddle pad. Look at the dirt and sweat marks on the saddle pad. Dry spots under where the saddle sits on top of the pad indicate pressure points, which can be caused by the girth or stirrup straps. If you see these dry spots, that particular saddle is not a good design for your horse.
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Use a pad with gullet space over the spine for horses with a more prominent spine to keep the saddle from rubbing after you have checked the fit of the saddle and decide you like it. If you have a high-withered horse, treeless saddles may never work because of the withers pressing against the underside of the saddle. Adding padding won't help; this will make the pressure worse.
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