Treeless Saddles - What you should know

Whilst treeless saddles have been around since man first rode the horse, they are still a new concept to many. The treed saddle took over when menused the horse in warfare and as their ammunition got more powerful, they needed armour to protect themselves.This meant more security was neededin the saddle to enable them to stay on board plus the need for something more substantial to protect the horse from the weight and hardness of the armour.Thus, treed saddles became popular and without the materials that we have today, there wasn't much option than to use wood, wool and straw to give the rider the support and the horse the protection from the rider. However, despite the best of intentions, a distinct lack of understanding horse physiology has been apparent during the development and use of the saddle treeand whilst the argument of time still favours the treed saddle, there is and has been, much evidence that it hasn't always been the best option for the horse. You only have to look at old paintings of horses to see the white hairs - evidence of the same damage we see today caused by treed saddles all that time ago. Only the wealthy had their horses painted and only their best beasts too and it's evident that they did not realise these white marks were scars or they would not have been painted in.Over the years, treeless saddles have been available, if only in limited form. However,in these enlightened times and maybe due to the "natural horsemanship movement", treeless saddles are back and this time round, they're here to stay. They may still be a "minority member"in comparison to their treed counterparts, but there is now much more variety available than before and here at least in the UK, they have been commercially available for at least the last9 years.Horse owners

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