treeless saddle slipping help!

tikkitti

tikkitti

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Mar 8, 2015
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My daughters using a Libra with a treeless pad on her fell ( due to her becoming too wide for her h&c)but although everything else is great it does tend to move about a little. I am clueless when it comes to treeless saddles, the pony is very flat, round, no withers, is there anything I can do to improve this or is it something we have to live with cause she's so round ATM. Any advice appreciated.x
 
Have a look at the fitting - you may need shims to balance it out if he's changed shape recently. If you're then certain that the saddle is correctly balanced but it's still slipping you could always pop a non slip pad/sheet between saddle and numnah. B&M do rolls of the stuff fairly cheaply.
 
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As well as looking at whether evenly muscled on the back, would also look at a shorter girth - they tend to be more stable the lower the girth hole, then your daughters stirrup length (longer the better) and then at daughters straightness - if she is wonky she will move the saddle and she needs to straighten up :)
 
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Thank you this has given me food for thought, it seems to fit really well imo but I had our ri take a look and she felt it fit well too. Will get some non slip pad and see if that makes a difference, I will also check where the girths sitting. Maybe it is a cases my daughters not as balanced as she should be and it shows more than it did in a treed, tbh it only happens when she's having a lesson and I don't have the problem if I ride her but then I only would hack her and now its lighter nights that very rarely. Maybe its a combination of her being so round and my daughter being a bit wonky at times. Will definatley work through all your suggestions and see if I can find a solution.x
 
popularfurball said:
As well as looking at whether evenly muscled on the back, would also look at a shorter girth - they tend to be more stable the lower the girth hole, then your daughters stirrup length (longer the better) and then at daughters straightness - if she is wonky she will move the saddle and she needs to straighten up :)
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With a treeless you're supposed to girth higher than a dressage girth, so about 2" above the elbow.
 
Moving a little is different to slipping. If its being used by two riders of differing sizes, it could be you shape it to your body and then its got to flat a seat for a smaller rider, who moves about in the space.
The Libra isn't structured even with the newer models having an underside. My thoughts would be, is it actually symmetrical when girthed up with your daughter sitting central? By that I mean the pad as well. I know with mine if my pad is off at the front I can feel it as that's my flocking in effect. It puts me out of balance.

Its better with longer stirrups I second that.
A treeless shows up our balance that a treed would hide, she might be unaware of having more weight in one stirrup. Does it move if these are quit.
 
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Hi, Our ri hasn't done any work without stirrups with her recently as tbh the seat of the libras too big for my daughter too which may just be exasperating the problem. I do however think you right in saying faults show up more when riding in a treeless so it may be my daughter riding wonky and I will check the pad saddle exactly straight next time she rides. I'm hoping to find a resolution and have bought another Libra with a adjustable seat and at least then she can be in the correct size seat ( this adjustable one alters from 15" to 18") it arrives next week and hoping it gives my daughter more security when riding. Ive found it so hard to get a small seated treelesses unless they are imports, so when I saw it I had to buy it:) I will then keep the current Libra for adults riding her. x
 
Thats sounds great,I didn't know it was a bareback pad too as Ive bought it secondhand, I'm looking forward to its arrival.x
 
ponylover88 said:
With a treeless you're supposed to girth higher than a dressage girth, so about 2" above the elbow.
Click to expand...

They are, however when a saddle slips its usual for the girth to be tightened, and when that happens the fastenings are higher. In my experience, if slipping is an issue, using a shorter girth can help (on the assumption the horse isn't unevenly muscles and rider isn't wonky).

Tikkitti - I think treeless often "looks ok", but you need to really look at horse stood square and without tack to identify and differences in shape one side to another
 
My daughter hasn't ridden the past couple of weeks due to me being too ill, the horses have had a rest although my ri is going to come through and keep my horses ticking over and give my daughter a lesson so will update then. Received the adjustable Libra, what a great invention, hoping its as good as it looks.xx
 
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tikkitti said:
My daughters using a Libra with a treeless pad on her fell ( due to her becoming too wide for her h&c)but although everything else is great it does tend to move about a little. I am clueless when it comes to treeless saddles, the pony is very flat, round, no withers, is there anything I can do to improve this or is it something we have to live with cause she's so round ATM. Any advice appreciated.x
Click to expand...
 
I would firstly tack up and lunge with it.
If it moves its either the pad or the girth or both, or more fat one side than the other since you didn't describe muscle. A non slip treeless pad will probably help, not anything with fleece.
If it doesn't move with lunging it's the balance of the rider. So some time sitting central without stirrups and making sure those are level.

They don't make the Libra anymore, so you may even find that it's reached the end of its life.
You don't say which model it is.
 
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