My review of the Torsion treeless saddle

[Abigail Aiyagari <abby1@itsa.ucsf.edu>]

I received a lot of private emails asking for information and updates
about the Torsion saddle, so now that I've had a chance to try it out I
thought I would just write my impressions to the list, for anyone
interested.

I have had the saddle for about a month now.  My horse seems to like it
better than any other saddle I've ever tried on him (that means about 40
other saddles, treed and treeless).  I've been using it with a Skito pad,
and that combination does NOT slip at all.  I can mount from the ground,
and ride without a breast collar up some very steep hills without the
saddle slipping.  Last week I went on a 2.5 hour, 12-14 mile (I got lost,
so I'm not too sure of the actual distance) ride.  Mostly trotting, some
walking and cantering, lots of steep hills.  No breastcollar, and my
girth turned out to be pretty loose when I got home.  A couple of
days after that, he was seen by Nancy Elliot (DVM, chiropractor,
acupuncturist); as soon as she looked at him, she said "I hope you found a
saddle, because his back looks perfect!"  (She knows about all of my
saddle woes, she's had to put my horse back together after a couple of the
more negative experiences)  Yay!  Of course, I haven't gone farther than
that 12-14 mile ride yet, but my gut feeling tells me that it will be fine
for longer distances, at least for my horse.

As for the saddle itself, it is very comfortable for me.  It's also quite
modular; the seat, pommel, and cantle are all removable.  The pad section
of the saddle is fleece, and the top is leather.  It's a little grippy, a
little suede-y, but not as much as roughout leather.  I do want to switch
over to nylon tights from cotton, though, especially for long rides.  The
leather is fairly soft, but I think it will hold up pretty well.  The
billets (I got the dressage rigging option) are leather reinforced with a
nylon core, well stitched into the flaps.  The stirrup attachment is a
large square D ring attached to a wide piece of leather (to distribute the
pressure). I'm using Wintec webbers on it, I just turned them upside down
so that the loop that normally slides over the stirrup bar is on the
bottom (E-Z Ride stirrups come apart).  :)  You also do need slightly
shorter than normal stirrup leathers, I ended up buying the kids' size
webbers since I'm only 5'3".  The saddle has excellent wither clearance,
because of the design of the pommel it automatically stays clear of the
withers (though a horse with super-high, very narrow withers might have
some contact--however, since the pommel isn't weightbearing in any way, it
probably wouldn't be  much of a problem).  There are 4 D rings, two in
front and two in back, and you can also tie stuff to the pommel and cantle
or even remove them and use the zippered pouches for stuff.  There aren't
any knee or thigh rolls, but the pommel and cantle provide a pretty secure
seat (removing the padded seat portion provides an even deeper seat).  I
personally like the freedom, the stirrups are also hung in a very balanced
position for me (quite well underneath).

So overall, I'm quite happy.  Cola gets a very even sweat pattern from the 
saddle.  I would hesitate to ride long distances without a Skito or other
pad with inserts, just to provide a little spine relief and someplace for
those pointy seat bones to sink into besides the horse's back muscles
(though the seat of the saddle is well padded).  As with any saddle,
whether it will work or not is certainly dependent on the horse/rider
combination, but it works for us!  I'm looking into getting myself set up
to import the saddles, the price I'd be charging depends on what I'd have
to pay for import duties.  I got a near flood of emails from people
interested in the saddle after I mentioned it on Ridecamp the first time,
so it seems like there is interest out there.  Looking through the catalog
from the German tack shop where I bought mine, I'm jealous of the stuff
they can get over in Europe!  Lots of cool tack, good prices.  Even
properly designed bareback pads.  But, I guess maybe they wish for big
fancy Western saddles and silver accents...grass is always greener.  :)

If anyone has more questions, feel free to email me!

Abby