What are the cons to these saddles?

Question

So I was just reading about saddles and came across a flexi tree saddle with pads (well a few makers of those actually). Are these better than treeless since they don't sit on the spine? Would they create less pressure points than a tree?

Answer 1

Both flex tree saddles and treeless saddles are excellent saddles.   I own a treeless saddle and I barrel race.  I must say that I absolutely love it.  My horse is much more comfortable too.  I have noticed a substantial difference in the way that he performs.  I would definitely recommend a treeless and a flex tree

Answer 2

a flex tree saddle is a saddle that is almost like a treeless but unlike a treeless where your body absorbs all the shock the flew tree alows for shock to be abosrbed into hte tree while aso there is a good fit to the horses back.  I bought one of my horses a flex tree Australian saddle and the saddle took about two weeks of regularly riding to break it in and have a snug fit onto the horses back.  Whch makes it more comftorable for the horse rather than a hard tree. I preffer treeless over flex- tree jsut because the treeles forms to my horses bakc well and there are no saddles tha ti kow of with a tree that fit this horse. ( he has Ginormous shoulders a short spiny back and slopping haunchs.  He is a TWH so a tennesseean saddle should fit him but it didn't)

if you go for treeles get a Bob Marshall they are definitly worth the price- ive owned mine for over 5 years and it still is in good shape.

for a flex tree id go for a Circle Y-  There hard tree saddles are a bit low end but they take extreme pride in there flex trees.

Answer 3

My friend is a custom saddle maker and he told me they are junk and never to buy one. He said if I want a good tree that won't break in a couple years or after hard use, to stick to a nice rawhide covered tree. I don't know the specifics of why, but that is out of the mouth of a pro.

Answer 4

Even a wooden tree sits on either side of the spine. I think the flexi ones are just lighter for you to lift and for the horse. They may also be a bit more durable.

Answer 5

They have a tree.  It just flexes slightly.  I think if you have ahard to fit horse and they work fine get one.  But the tack shop owners we talked too was not wild about them. (We talked to two shop owners and both had flex trees and regular tree for sale.  They didn't bad mouth them though either.  They were sort of indifferent.  To sum it up they said in some cases they worked, but if your horse was not hard to fit and a regular saddle fits then it really doesn't matter much at all.  We decided on a regular tree as none of our horses have a problem with the saddle fitting.