My horse also has a very straight back, no dip at
all. I use a Bob Marshall treeless endurance sport saddle with an
extra-thick Skito pad (the thick pad keeps my back off of his spine) and Dixie
Midnight pad. My Arab cross has no soreness, stands perfectly still while
I mount and I've ridden him up to 9 hours in one day. I had to switch
my rigging to "center-fire rigging" (switch out my stirrups with the girth
rigging) in order to get my stirrups in a comfortable position. I love
this set-up and have no discomfort. Maybe you can try different saddle
pad/rigging/stirrup options with your current treeless saddle and see if this
works for you. Just a thought.
I just completed my 3rd CTR with this
saddle. I was not able to complete with my treed saddle, all treed horse
saddles seem to have a dip down the center of each side of tree and my horse
has a straight back with well-sprung ribs. These saddles rock on her
back. I found her sore right along the edge of the spine, not in the
muscles on the sides. It does have the rider directly on the horse's
spine. Great saddle for limited mileage rides unless one plans to spend
a great deal of time "in the stirrups". It will work for me
temporarily until I find the right treed or paneled saddle which I prefer for
CTR.
It did NOT work to put the Supracor Pad underneath
the Torsion because when cinched down tightly, it pulled the pad onto her
withers and gave her white spots. One needs a thin pad underneath that
can be cleaned that is cut back over the withers.
