at our last board of county commissioners meeting it was 30 degrees out and a man came in and sat next to me wearing bermuda shorts, short sleeved tee short, and crocs. One of the holes in the croc had a lttle plastic panda head in it. ?? He was about fifty years old. as for treed saddles. yes. Here are mine and my comments:
1. Thorowgood wide tree dressage. Works great on Fox but is miserably wretchedly uncomfortable after even an hour on the trail. 2. Antique bona allen custom plantation model. (roy rogers traveled with Trigger cross country by train to have him fitted in Georgia for his custom bona allen saddles. (not to be confused with buena vista model saddles as so many often do, bona allens come in many models, most were custom made and custom fitted horse by horse). I have yet to find a horse this saddle doesnt fit, even Tivar, tho I am no expert in saddlefit and due to his saddlefit issues I never actually rode him in it longer than two laps around a roundpen but I might risk a longer ride in it someday just for experimental purposes) it fits all my other horses, no matter the shape. I spoke with Liz about it and she said the bona allens, like many vintage saddles, work for more horses than modern treed saddles due to somewhere along the line saddlemakers started all using the same pre-fab tree which has little or no flare whereas vintage saddles, custom fitted for each horse, most had "flare". It is very slick and hard but ok for a trail ride if I put a cusion in teh seat, and its a hassle to adjust the stirrups. 3. a cheap mexican show saddle with lots of silver, never been on a horse. I imagine its horrible. 4. a wide tree tucker endurance, my husbands. None of the horses he rides seem to object. I thin anytime you ride in a tucker on any horse it needs to be a wide tree to have enough flare. You can always pad up the rest. 5. I have had many treeless saddles and the one most stable and secure feeling to me was a bob marshall, but I HATED the way i felt like my hips just hung straight down. and it wasnt my imagination, after an hour on teh trail my hips would start aching. My sensation hybrid is the most comfortable/best treeless so far, and I really think I can get over this wobbly feeling I get in it when Teev is cantering around a corner. and since i have never ridden him in any treed saddle, I might even feel that way then too, I dont know. Janice yipie tie yie yo
