Re: treeless saddles

["C. Osborne" <whiteokarabians@email.com>]

I had the chance to talk to the fella who designed and developed the Ansur
back in October at the Arabian Nationals.  Very well built saddle.  Got to
see that new Safari too.  They are teribly pretty, and appear comfy.
However, I didn't get the chance to ride one and at the time I certainly
couldn't afford to buy one...and ya just don't see em used yet :).  Pretty
much just as you described it to be.  He rides dressage on his stallion in
his.

Corrine
----- Original Message -----
From: <guest@endurance.net>
To: <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2001 9:17 AM
Subject: RC: treeless saddles


> Chelle Sherman cms@fluent.com
> Hi - I've been watching the thread on the treeless saddles and I just want
to comment from my experience on this. I have tried many saddles over the
past few years, both treeless and with trees, including the sports saddle. I
found the sports saddle to be OK, but long and awkward to fit properly on my
horses' short backs. I wasn't wild about the fit for me - had to do lots of
padding and tweaking to get it comfortable and the stirrups were set too far
forward. The point I wanted to make, though, is that the sports saddle is
not the only treeless saddle out there. I currently ride in an Ansur Safari,
and in my opinion, the design of this treeless saddle addresses some of the
drawbacks of the sports saddle design. It is short, just like an English
saddle. The stirrups are set far back, like a dressage saddle, so your legs
hang comfortably. It has a gullet and air channel, and a nicely formed seat
for your pelvis to balance in. The girth rigging is like a y-rigged dressage
saddle!
> !
> , so it is low-bulk, and very secure. I have NEVER had it slip forward or
back in steep terrain and it does not slide any more than a treed saddle
when mounting. Best of all, the panels under the saddle seem to provide
excellent weight distribution - the overall assembly is much stiffer than
the sports saddle, yet it still flexes to fit. I use it on two horses - one
is super wide and one is sort of your average Arab width (kind of medium).
It fits them both beautifully and comes off absolutely clean, with no
pressure points or friction anywhere. It is a nice ride for me, though I
strongly prefer a dressage saddle with a narrow twist, and this is a tad
wider than I'd choose in a perfect world - it was easy to adapt to, and is
super comfy with a full sheepskin cover and Wintec webbers to reduce the
stirrup leather bulk. I'd encourage anybody considering treeless to look at
the Ansur as another option - yup, its expensive, but is less than many
"high end" endurance saddles. I hav!
> !
> e nothing against treed saddles - I also ride in a Wintec Isabel d
> addle which I love, but it doesn't fit both of my horses, and the Ansur
does - It appears to be very well made as well, and is made in the USA. I am
a lightweight rider (about 140), but this saddle comes in several sizes, and
my tendency is to think that the weight distribution is much better than the
sports saddle (a lot more layering between horse and rider, and a semi-rigid
gullet), so it should be fine. One more thing, about the Boz, I've studied
the literature, and it really looks like a neat design, but I will never buy
one because the creator seems to be stubbornly determined to set the
stirrups so far forward on the saddle (almost arrogant about it) - posting
is so much more work with that type of configuration - I think he's shooting
himself in the foot, unless he wants to sell only to gaited horse riders.
>
> Chelle Sherman
>
>
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