Instructions
Fitting your saddle
Stand up on a stool behind your horse's rump to take a look at her back. If she has a narrow back, a raised spine or high withers, the saddle will press on these areas and be uncomfortable for her. But if she has a nice broad back with low withers, a treeless saddle can be a good fit.
Sit down in a saddle at the tack shop to determine your seat size. You should be able to put three fingers or your fist in front of you and behind you in the saddle.
Measure your leg from hip to knee. This will also factor into your seat size, as riders with longer legs will need a longer seat.
Sit evenly on your seat bones. You should not feel like either seat bone is going to slide off the edge of the saddle seat. Since there is no tree to determine the width of a treeless saddle, the width is less of a consideration for fitting than the seat length and flap length.
Ask someone in the shop to measure your leg on the saddle flap as you're sitting in the saddle. The flap should extend about halfway down your calf muscle.
Take the saddle back to the barn to try it on your horse. Stand up on a stool again behind and in front of your horse to make sure the saddle fits without any pinching or gaps. This is one of the reasons to choose a treeless saddle, as it is designed to mould to your horse's back.
Go for a short ride, putting your horse through his paces and going over a few jumps. It's the only way to find out if a saddle suits your horse and you.
How to Measure a Treeless Saddle
Treeless saddles are far less rigid than traditional saddles. They form to the horse's back and give the rider a better feel of the horse moving. "It's more like riding bareback with stirrups," says Henry Brubacher of Brubacher's Harness Supplies in Elmira, Ontario. These saddles work best on broad-backed horses with low withers as they may sit uncomfortably on the spine of a narrow-backed horse.