From: Kandy
Dear Dr. Jahiel, I need some information about broken trees on saddles. I have recently moved to the country and am living on a small farm. Now I finally have a place where I can ride my horse in peace. My husband rides with me some days, which is just wonderful. On other days, I have a friend who loves horses and would like to ride with me on my old horse (he is mostly retired but enjoys going around our little pasture at a walk while Lexie and I chat. But I don't have a saddle for her to ride in, because my husband's saddle doesn't fit us or our horses very well. I want to buy a used saddle for visitors and friends to ride on. I went to an auction and saw quite a few saddles including two I would have bought if I thought I knew enough to tell if a saddle tree is broken. I also realized I didn't know what else to look for that might be dangerous or a problem. Everything else on those saddles looked fine, but I wasn't sure that I really knew what I should look for. How can I tell about the tree? And what if I did buy one with a broken tree? What would it do to the horse? Is there any way to get a saddle tree repaired? Every book I own says not to buy a saddle with a broken tree, but that's all they say. I would like to buy a used saddle, but if there is no such thing as a safe used saddle with a good tree, I will have to buy a new one, and as expensive as they are, it will be a long time before Lexie and I go riding together. This is more than one question, but I hope you will answer anyway. One more question, is it silly even to look for a good used saddle? I don't think it is but my husband thinks that if we have to get a third saddle we should buy a new one. Our saddles are English but I think it would be fine to have a Western one for our friends and for us to use sometimes, so I need information about both kinds, please. Thank you.
Kandy
Since none of us has x-ray vision, we can't see breaks, cracks, or twisting in our saddle trees. Instead, we have to figure out what shape those trees are in by pulling and pushing the saddles in various directions and watching carefully to see how much movement we can create.
First, you should be aware that it's entirely posssible for an unbroken tree to be warped or twisted - and that this can hurt your horse. So while you are checking prospective saddles for broken trees, always check them for crooked or warped trees, too. In fact, check the straightness of the tree FIRST. If the tree isn't straight, you don't want that saddle even if it's brand new and the tree is rock-solid. Your saddle - English or Western - must have a tree that is both sound and straight. I'll give you a quick checklist for both sorts of saddles.
English Saddles
Step one: Start by holding the saddle on your leg, with the cantle resting against your upper thigh and the pommel down in the vicinity of your knee. Hold the pommel and try to pull it up toward the cantle. If it shifts toward the cantle, or if anything else between pommel and cantle moves, or if you hear even a slight squeaking sound, it could mean that the tree is broken.
Step two: Turn the saddle around so the pommel is uppermost. Hold the pommel firmly and use your other hand to push along both panels in turn. Push hard, and notice what happens. If there's a small movement that you can create just about anywhere along the length of the panels, and you can create the same amount of movement on both panels, that's probably a normal spring tree in reasonably good shape. If you get no movement on one panel but a lot on the other, or no movement along most of the panel but a lot of movement in one or two specific spots, that's much more likely to indicate trouble - and a broken tree. If the leather over those spots looks less-well-stuffed than the rest of the bars, and/or wrinkled, then the saddle tree has probably been cracked for some time.
If you're satisfied that the tree is sound and straight, check a few other safety factors as well.
Is the saddle in good shape overall - not torn or worn through? Green leather looks horrid but can be cleaned and reconditioned, dusty-dry cracking leather may look better, but it's not safe and can't be restored.
Check the stirrup bars - they should be firmly in place, and you shouldn't be able to move or wobble them. You SHOULD be able to open and close them. Open them - and if you buy the saddle, keep them open.
Check the billets. If they are thin, stretched, or cracked, or if the holes have been pulled from round to long, you'll need to have them replaced. Check the webbing - that's what the billets are sewn onto. Billets can be replaced easily by any saddlemaker, but replacing the webbing will mean taking the saddle apart, so if you see torn webbing, don't buy that saddle.
Hold the saddle upside down and look closely at the panels. You can usually tell whether they've been stuffed with wool flocking, wool felt, or foam. Wool flocking is the best material - and the most easily replaced. Look at them panels and run your hands over them. Are they sagging and bagging, or tight and smooth? If they're uneven or wrinkled in spots, the stuffing has shifted and settled, and you'll need to have them restuffed. If they are smooth and rock-hard, they may have been badly re-stuffed - OVERstuffed - somewhere along the line, and they'll need to have the old stuffing removed and a proper amount of new stuffing put in. This is a job for a saddlemaker or a good repair shop. If you call the manufacturer of the saddle, you can generally get good advice about repair shops, and quite often, you'll be told that you can send the saddle back to the manufacturer to have it restuffed or the billets replaced, etc.
Western Saddles
Western saddles are designed differently, but your goal is still to have minimal movement in the tree. Put the used saddle (carefully) on the floor with the pommel down and the cantle up, and push hard on the cantle. Watch the bars while you do this - you shouldn't see them move. If you do, it may welll have a broken tree.
The fleece lining should be uniform - not worn in spots and intact in other spots. The stitching should be firm, not loose or rotting. The saddle horn should be firmly in place - if you can move it from side to side or from front to back, don't buy that saddle.
Run your hands over the inside of the saddle - all of it. Even if the fleece looks lovely, use your hands to cover every inch of it, and don't just feel the fleece - push hard enough to feel what lies beneath. Saddles - old and new - sometimes have strange lumps and bumps under that pretty fleece lining, and some of those lumps and bumps can be loose nails or screws that will dig into your horse's back.
Check the rings - you can have tie strings replaced at very little cost, or replace them yourself, but you'll want to be sure that the cinch rings and D-rings are all firmly in place. Check the fenders, which should be attached firmly, and then check the stirrups and leathers.
Test the stirrups - pull and push them to see if they move or bend or squeak. They shouldn't. Check the leathers, too. Stirrup leathers on Western saddles are hidden by the fenders, and riders often overlook them. Pull them all the way down so that you can get a good look at the area where the leather rubs against the metal bar at the top. If it's too worn, it could break. Look at the entire length of the leathers - from the top all the way to the bottom. As with English leathers, the holes in Western leathers should be round, not stretched, elongated or torn. Check the part where the stirrup is attached, because this, too, is a high-wear area, and a weak or torn leather can cause a nasty accident. Leathers and stirrups can be replaced when necessary.
No matter what type of saddle it is, pay a lot of attention to the condition of the leather. Don't be fooled by a saddle that is dark, soft, and dripping with oil. When leather becomes too dry and stiff, it is dangerously brittle, and can snap easily. All of its internal structure has been damaged, and it is no longer strong. Soaking it in oil - or even in expensive, fancy conditioners - can make it much more appealing, soft and even shiny on the outside, but it won't have the strength it needs to be safe. If you bend a piece of the saddle and see thousands of tiny cracks, or notice that there are little crumbs of leather coming off wherever the leather is bent around a piece of metal (e.g. bars or stirrups), don't buy it even if it's very pretty and you're sure the tree is good. Truly dried-out, internally-damaged leather cannot be restored, and is unsafe.
If the leather is still in good enough shape to be safe, but badly in need of reconditioning, I've found the products from Leather Therapy to be excellent.
Good luck!
Jessica
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