Driving Harness Saddles – Treed vs. Treeless

DISCLAIMER: This blog is about the ComfyFit Treed and ComfyFit Treeless saddles. These are saddles made by the Countryside Harness here in the USA and sold by Chimacum Tack. Not all treed and treeless harness saddles made by other harness makers are the same!!

False Claims Regarding Treed versus Treeless Driving Harness Saddles

I have been reading quite a bit of misinformation about treed saddles versus treeless on the internet lately. Some of false statements include:

• The treeless saddle is ugly compared to the treed saddle.
• The treeless saddle will not offer spine clearance.
• The treed saddle is the only saddle that will offer stability when using a two wheeled vehicle.
• The treeless saddle fits all ponies better.
• The treed saddle fits all ponies better.

As I typically state, there is no “one way fits all” in harness, in training and in feeding. There are as many different options out there as there are horses, ponies, donkeys and mules! Thank goodness! Sometimes we will have to try different things to get the “right” answer from our equine but let me tell you, when you finally have the correct set up for your animal, they are so much happier, your drives are so much more pleasant and you can finally relax knowing your equine is happy in their job!

Examples of the ComfyFit Treed Saddle versus the ComfyFit Treeless Saddle

Here are a few photos showing how each saddle sits on my pony’s backs.

First up is Zorro! He is 40″ tall and a bit wide right now, coming through winter very well. He is also super fluffy. So pardon all the hair! He has a nice flat back and very round shoulders so the treeless saddle fits him very well:

You can see in the photos above, the treed saddle sits too high and doesn’t clear his spine as well as the treeless.

Here is a photo of his sweat pattern with the treeless saddle. I always use a back pad when I drive:

Here is a photo of Oliver (who will be two years old this April) with the treed and the treeless saddle:

The treed saddle sits up very nicely on Oliver’s back. The treeless sits down too low. He is still young but it’s possible he will do better with a treed saddle when he is mature. It’s hard to say right now!

Below, is a photo of Pip a Welsh Pony with a treed and a treeless saddle. Treed saddle is the top photo and treeless is the bottom one!

Here are a few more photos of the two saddles. Just to show you how they want to sit on a very round “barrel shaped” equine…

You can see in the above photos how the treeless saddle will sit down much nicer on a very round back.

Here is a video showing the differences:

If you are wondering which saddle would be best for your equine don’t hesitate to reach out to me at mindy@chimacumtack.com.