Hi,

I'm trying to find a light weight western saddle to fit my slightly sway backed fox trotter.  I've tried a couple of Tucker's saddles but they caused too much bridging.  I was thinking about trying the Circle Y flex lite.  Any suggestions?

Thanks.

I second the treeless idea.  For the money you will spend, you'll be sure the saddle will fit him, not cause pain or bridging, and you can use it on about any horse. They DO make swayback pads to help with bridging. They're hard to find, but they're out there if you look.  Treeless saddles are VERY light. I love mine, I'm just a tiny gal and I can toss my Bob Marshall up on even the tallest horse.  I've also heard very good things about the Sensation treeless saddles.  The Sensation hybrid is going to be my next saddle purchase for my icelandic horse.

Amanda

Look at Kings "Trekker" endurance saddles (western). They are reasonable and I think they may suit your needs. I have a very nice Tucker, but I ride my custom rigged Aussie saddle most because it is so comfortable... I rode about 50 plus miles in the past few days in it, I feel great... my hips, knees,and ankles are fine. I also have other saddles for shorter distance riding... I keep coming back to my Aussie again and again.

Cjane

Just my op, suggest you look at the Big Horn saddles on http://www.nationalbridle.com/

and if you telephone them you will find them knowledgable and helpful

on my sway backed elderly gaited mare, I use a Big Horn gaited tree saddle with a baby pad in the middle of the pad to fill in the area so the bars are in the right position and not making her sway any worse (I hope)

I ride with a Sensation Hybrid which is a treeless saddle.  I ride lots of miles in endurance and this saddle is just great.  Comfortable for both me and the horse.  I think they have a loaner program where you can use the saddle for a week or so and see if you like the style and if it fits your horse.  It costs a little but not too much.  One thing I can say about treeless saddles in my experience is that your horse has to get used to them - my horse got a sore back at first because he was accustomed to hollowing his back to avoid the saddle.  He is not having any problems with the Sensation.  I used a Skito dryback pad with it.  Here is the link to the dealer I used - I had wonderful service from her.

http://www.equineperformanceproducts.com/sensation.htm

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Check with Gary Mc Clintock in Descanso, Ca. I have three of his saddles, they fit both horse and rider like a glove. My wife is having another built because she cannot lift heavy saddles anymore. Gary is building it to weigh 22#. I would even suggest taking your horse to Garys for a fitting. Good luck. WWW.MCCLINTOCKSADDLES.COM  

The McClintock pad looks like it might be the answer for the swayback......

The pressure relief pad works as the name implies, it relieves excessive pressure. When you notice an unequal sweat pattern on the back of your horse after a energetic ride, you are seeing an area where the saddle is setting heavier in one area, and not equally distributing your weight over the animal's back. Many an old timer would cut a hole in his perfectly good felt pad, so as to carry the weight around the cut out, instead of a hole you can pull the shim and save the pad. 

The area where the stirrup leather wraps the tree is the most common culprit of this problem, to relieve the pressure, pull the shim in the second pocket and carry the weight around the dry spot or excessive pressure.  Be sure your saddle is not too far forward on the horse's back. Too tight of a cinch will exaggerate the problem.

Another use for this pocket pad is a saddle that needs to be lifted higher over the horse's wither. A saddle sitting on the back bone can cause some serious problems. Lift the saddle by shimming only the very first pocket and pulling the other three shims. The middle shim is a double pad. Do this on both sides of the pad.

The middle double shim can help lift the saddle when a horse's back has more rock than the bars of the saddle. For instance, for the old gray mare that ain't what she used to be, has a sway to her back and the saddle sits heavy in the front, think of relieving the pressure by lifting the tree off of the point of excessive pressure by shimming the center of the tree. If you could see the tree only on the animal's back, you would see daylight in the center of the bars causing a bridging effect between the front and back of the bars.

The Pressure Relief Pad can also help relieve the pressure caused by a saddle tree that is too narrow for a wide backed horse by pulling only the very first set of shims and carrying the weight on the back three pads so the pressure from too narrow a bar spread can be relieved.

By shimming the front and very back pads the flatness of a mules back can be compensated and a saddle with too much rock can be helped.

When the bar angle is too wide for a narrower withered horse, a shim that is tapered from top to bottom will fill the void caused by the excessive angle. The indication of this problem is a wear area or a dry spot up higher towards the back bone and back from the wither, where the stirrup leather wraps the tree.

These are the most common problems we run into on the horses we see and the pad has been very effective in making a change in the distribution of body weight on the animals back.

        For more information, please call me at our shop. 619-445-3946,

          To order call with a credit card or send a check for $75 plus $8.00 shipping