08/14/2026
I am so disheartened by the number of twisted saddle trees I keep seeing out there, both on the market and at appointments.
If you're saddle shopping, please require a trial and have the tree checked before you lock into a purchase. A twist can be sitting under leather that looks perfect, so don't skip this step.
If you're selling a saddle, please sight it yourself or have a reputable fitter or benchworker check it if you're not sure. I am so disappointed to keep seeing consignment saddles sold through local tack stores that skip this step entirely. People are spending real money on a used saddle that isn't actually usable, and I hate being the one who has to break that news. It's my job to make sure that saddle doesn't circulate again. At that point it can be a decoration, turned into a purse, or anything else, just not put back on a horse.
Twisted trees are a serious problem. They load the horse's back unevenly on every stride, and over time the horse's own muscling starts to match the twist just to compensate. Once that pattern sets in, the horse can't develop symmetrically underneath it, no matter how good the training is.
Look at the photos of a horse from a recent fitting, along with the saddle they'd been using, which turned out to be twisted. See if you can spot it in the saddle first.
Now look at the horse's back. Can you see the asymmetry and the marks that saddle left behind?
For anyone who needs help spotting it, I marked up a few photos. This saddle is twisting with the pommel shifted left and the cantle shifted right. On the horse, you can see darker marks along with a noticeably less developed left shoulder compared to the right, and that asymmetry carries back toward T18, but on the opposite side. And yes, the horse is standing square in every one of these photos, this is not a stance issue.
The after photos show the same horse's back three months later, in a properly fitted saddle, at recheck (clipped, so there's less hair to hide behind). There's still a little residual asymmetry, which is normal this soon out, but look at the scapula. The horse is no longer dropping that left shoulder down and forward the way it was before.
If this post is useful, please share it or send it to a friend who is saddle shopping, or riding in something they're not totally sure about.
Check the comments for a few reasons on why this happens. And NOTE just because it was "expensive" or a well known brand doesn't mean it can't happen. Unfortunately its common in quite a few VERY common brands.
