Why doesn Crest Ridge Saddlery offer treeless and flex-Tree saddles?
Several people have asked my thoughts on the differences between rigid, flex trees, flex panel trees and treeless saddles. I have built this whole company on my experiences of what works and what does not. In my experience, treeless and flex-tree saddles provide poor weight distribution, hence less comfort for your horse, than a well fitted conventional saddle. Rigid trees, such as all Crest Ridge Saddlery trees, have been around since Roman times. When they are properly fitted to the horse, our rigid saddle trees provide 178 square inches of weight distributing surface area. The tree has to fit correctly for the bars in the saddle to have the maximum area for distributing weight. Assuming we have selected the proper tree for your gaited horse and that all 178 square inches of the bars are in contact with your horse’s back, you can determine the pressure on a horses back by dividing the total weight of you and your saddle by 178. If you and your saddle happen to weigh 178 pounds, a wel
