FAQ

A saddle without a tree? How can this work?

The soft structure and flexibility of our Barefoot saddles enables the horse to move without losing its natural grace, allowing full ‘range of movement’ while carrying the rider. The horses back can arch and thus enhances lateral movement of the thoracic vertebral column. The rider is placed right behind the wither therefore avoiding pressure beyond the 14th thoracic vertebrae and allowing full range of movement of the shoulder blades. This way the riders weight is carried without causing pain, discomfort and damage to the horse's body.
The horse should ideally not have any weight bearing beyond T14 but definitel not beyond the last rib T18. The area on the horse's back where they are equipped to carry us comfortably, is in fact a lot smaller than most of us think. This is particularly true if you own a horse that is short in the back. The further we move away from the horse's centre of gravity (one hand behind and up from the elbow) the more likely it is that soundness problems will occur. The Barefoot saddle wraps the riders weight around the horses center of gravity. If you look at your buttocks and upper thighs and compare the size of that area with the panels of a treed saddle you might find that the treeless rider actually distributes her weight over a larger area than the rider in a conventional saddle.

Flexibility - stability – a secure hold on the horse’s back

The BAREFOOT saddle can be flexed in all directions. It is made from a vegetable-tanned nubuck leather which is open-pored and this leather molds properly to the shape of the horse’s back. The raised front of the saddles are filled and stabilized with a piece of fiberglass while the rear of the saddle has an anatomically shaped semi-flexible foam piece built in. This fiberglass pommel is removable and can be exchanged for different size pommels in order to completely avoid undue pressure on any horses with very high withers or wide shoulders. Due to the fiberglass and the positioning of the rider close to the horse, the saddle achieves a very secure hold on the horse’s back. Provided you have girthed up tightly as recommended the saddle doesn't slip with horses that tend to be rounded and without prominent withers. Despite this, we still recommend that a mounting aid is used whenever possible.

Please note: mounting aids are at least as important with a conventional saddle. If you mount from the ground you jam the offside panel into the horses spine every time, the slower you mount and the heavier you are the more this hurts your horse. There are some schools of natural horsemanship that promote hanging off one side of the saddle before mounting. It would be great if those people had a think about what they are doing to their horses.

 

Doesn’t this mean that I end up sitting on the vertebrae wings (spine) of the horse?

The seat bones of the rider are positioned left and right of the horse’s spinous processes. Additionally, the cushioned saddle sitting area and the soft panels on either side of the spine protect both horse and rider from pressure spots. Successfully use of treeless saddles by endurance riders for the last 15 years has proven that it is in fact a myth that we need several finger width of clearance over the horses spinous processes, we just can not have any direct pressure on the dorsal processes and the saddle with the correct underlay will fulfill thise requirement reliably. Horses that are very sensitive or atrophied need a special setup, therefore we provide a number of options where it comes to padding under the saddle. Please see the 'therapeutic saddle pads' page for further info.

Treeless riding feeling - who benefits from it?

The experience of sitting in a BAREFOOT saddle is similar to bareback riding, only more comfortable and safer in that the rider is supported by the front and rear raised parts of the saddle and fenders or stirrup leathers are usually attached, but they are removable. The BAREFOOT saddles are suitable for most types of riding. A definite advantage of this saddle is that normally no specialist input is required for a fitting because the saddle fits almost every horse’s back, resulting in no pressure areas. We have worked out a saddle fit questionnaire which gives sufficient information to fit a saddle to your horse but may ask for additional photo's at times. Treeless riding is the most comfortable way to be on a horse, more comfy than riding bareback.

 

Are there restrictions to the use of the saddles and accessories?

1. A Barefoot treeless saddle should only be used with an additional pressure-absorbing underlay at all times. This underlay needs to have top quality shock absorption, an anatomical shape allowing for the horses wither, it needs to create a channel over the spine and it has to be made from a breathing skin friendly material. Generally the policy is that we will not sell a saddle on its own unless you already own such a pad. The harder you work your horse and the heavier you are the better the padding needs to be, therefore we offer top of the range therapeutic saddle pads and a variety of inserts for different applications.

2. Riders weighing over 75 kg will require an additional layer of padding in the Grandeur pads. The use of the Barefoot Physio pad or the HAF, Christ or Equipedic saddle pad are recommended for heavier riders or people who spend long hours in the saddle. We do not generally recommend the Barefoot saddles for endurance riders over 70 kg's, there are exceptions to this rule please ask Natalie about those via email. Questions on these aspects will gladly be answered by Horse Connection's proprietor Natalie Eggenberger.

3. The Barefoot saddles are not suitable for show jumping or cross country, occasional jumping up to a meter is fine, please beware of the pommel or horn when you do.

4. We do not have a narrow twist with the Barefoot saddles therefore you are sitting as wide as your horse really is. Rule of thumb is, if you are comfortable on your horse riding bareback you will be comfortable in these saddles. If you have impaired hipjoints (get hip pain) and you ride a horse with wide sprung ribs, the Barefoot may not be the best choice for you.

5. Stocksaddle riders often find the different stirrup positioning an adjustment, the saddle does not really allow you to have your legs in front of you. Once you adjust to this different way of riding you never look back and your horse will thank you for it.

I ride endurance / go on very long trail rides / spend long hours mustering - is there anything I need to know? A must read for the endurance rider The Cheyenne and Cherokee saddles are suitable for long hours in the saddle over tough terrain unless you are a heavy weight rider. This saddle is widely used for endurance in Australia and overseas with great success. We had numerous winners in the light weight and midweight class and several 'best conditioned horses'. To name some of the winners: Jen Clingly, Dave Edgar, Sue and Duncan Mc Laughlin, Jennifer Gilbertson, Carol Layton, Ian Mc Donand, Arch Felton, Linda and Glenn Dix, Yvonne Strand and probably many more riders that we did not hear about.

For endurance and CTR riders we recommend to invest in our Physio pad for high withered horses or the HAF, Christ or Equipedic saddle pad for horses with low to medium withers. You can use the standard Grandeur pad but it would be best to use an additional saddlepad between the Grandeur and the saddle for the longer rides. Most competitive endurance riders own more than one therapeutic saddle pad and alternated those between legs. A D Lua Park woolpad or a sheepskin can be used under the Grandeur and many competitive endurance riders use this setup. All saddle pads sold by Horse Connection have velcro pouches and allow for individual adjustments. The Easy Clean pad is recommended and can be used under any of the pads sold by Horse Connection provided your horse is not sensitive to the material. Besides needing additional padding under the Grandeur pad or a superior pad the endurance or CTR rider using the Barefoot Cheyenne saddle has to give the horse intervals with very little or no weight in the stirrups for at least 10 minutes of every hour. This can be done in a walk or canter with your buttocks in the saddle or while you lead your horse. The change in rider position allows circulation to return to areas on the horse's back under potential stress from two-pointing. The two-point position reduces the weight bearing area of any saddle to about 1/3, so is not a position one should adopt permanently in any saddle. Educated riders who stick to this rule have a wonderful and trouble free time with the Cheyenne saddle and usually go with straight A's for back condition through the vetchecks.

If you are a novice to horse riding and spend long hours in the saddle please make sure you ride with enough padding and that you work on your balance and position. An unbalanced riding position due to untrained rider muscles or if you ride with more weight in one stirrup than the other can make horses very sore no matter what saddle you use. It is the oppinion of the author that riders need to have a very good and balanced seat before they attempt any endurance rides, it is just not fair on the horses to ask top athletic performance if you can not assist the horse to achieve and maintain it. Schooling of the endurance horse to get off the forehand and to relax the back muscles while under saddle is essential to keeping your horse sound - no matter what saddle you use. You can tell who is riding their horse properly by the end of the endurance season, the horses who lose all topline instead of building it while doing massive amounts of work are not ridden in a competent way. Those riders would be well advised to get some help regarding proper training of horses under saddle and on the ground. No saddle will be able to prevent damage to the horses back if an endurance horse is not ridden properly, you create less damage with a treeless saddle but we still strongly encourage you to work on your own riding and training skills.

Everything is carried on my back!
(By horse physiology specialist S. Ullmann)

Good riding technique as well as sound training of the horse is especially important for the horse’s back. Here, the actual type of riding involved is not so important. The anatomical and physiological requirements of the horse are much more significant. In this context, the importance of using the correct equipment, especially choosing the right kind of saddle, cannot be emphasized enough.

The thoracic section of the horse’s vertebral column is not created naturally for carrying the weight of the rider. The aim of schooling must therefore be to build up the horse’s muscles so that it is able to carry our weight without injury.

A horse only becomes a true riding horse when it has learnt to curve its back. If this motion sequence is hindered by a saddle that sits wrongly and is rigid or by the rider sitting too far back in the saddle the horse cannot move its back properly. A rider leaning forward will discourage engagement of the hindquarters while rider's leaning behind the vertical, riding in a 'chair seat' create a 'dead weight' on their horses backs. The BAREFOOT saddles encourage the rider to sit straight which makes it easier for the horse to bring the hindquarters under to build and maintain the muscles needed to carry the riders weight without compromising soundness.

The BAREFOOT saddle positions the rider over the horse’s center of gravity, thoracic vertebrae 9-13. This creates the optimum horse welfare conditions for riding. However, the BAREFOOT saddle cannot replace correct riding technique!