Ghost of Italy, exceptional treeless saddles

"la sella chec non c'e" - the saddle that's not there

Why on earth would a treed saddle fitter with 15 year's experience start offering a treeless saddle?  Very few fitters carry and recommend both, but I had an unusual introduction to the brand, and could really see the benefits these saddles could bring.

Observing another fitter (Riding in Balance, the UK distributor based near Edinburgh) almost in action, seeing the saddles in great detail when I was in Scotland, over several visits, was a great way to get to know the brand before even considering I might take it on.  Taking on a new brand can be a HUGE reputational and financial risk as I'm sure you can imagine.

So what's so special about them?

Ghost saddles work.  Most saddles "work" to be fair, but there is a horror expressed by some parts of the industry at treeless saddles.  Just as a minority view treed saddles as the work of the devil too!  Me?  I try and be pragmatic, and these things are being used in the very toughest endurance races across the world but especially in the USA.  They have a very good reputation with only a very small amount of criticism, and usually just "I didn't get on with them" rather than really upset customers. Always a good start.

They're very cleverly designed with modern materials providing the appropriate rigidity, protection for the horse from the solid elements such a stirrup loops (like bars) and girthing fixings, plus the panels create as much of a spinal channel as you'll find in a treed saddle.

They're versatile.  The range is incredible and every new introduction to it often brings the chance to order elements of the new design, to hybridise a saddle, so expanding the options even further.  This is, of course, offering various options for the horse's preference and fitting  - different panel options and materials, shimming, a range of pads, and four different types of base, from the Cavallin flexible bareback pad at one end to the standard Ghost base at the other, with more rigidity and more of a twist for the rider.

The spec for the saddles - materials, options, accessories - is incredibly wide ranging, and mind boggling when it's new to you!  So much choice - for instance you'll see in photos that some saddles have a traditional "flat" leather or synthetic flap, some have a soft, quilted flap, and most models can be ordered with either style of seat!  Another example if you like suede - there is a choice of about 20 colours, all shades of the rainbow.

 We've dealt with what this choice means for the horse, but it's important for the rider, not just for them having a super pretty and comfortable saddle, but in getting the rider comfortable and functional.

Like with ErgoX2 I can sit the rider closer to the base of the wither than in most saddles, treed or treeless.  They have a flexible design, carrying little weight at the very front and at the back, so enabling the panel to be placed a 2-4cm or so over the back of the scapula, plus they are designed to sit the rider toward the front of the saddle.  And just with ErgoX2 this can be a joy, or unnerving at first!

Why is this significant? Your horse can carry you so much more easily here, and it helps us, as fitters (and for the saddle designers) to get you sitting over your feet, where you can take more responsibility for your own weight and forces that you exert onto the horse.  You can drape your leg better on a narrower part of the ribcage, getting weight down your inner thigh as opposed to on the seatbones.  The seats are very comfortable for most people - the pelvis generally gets great support, but if we need to deviate from the seat size that best reflects what  your pelvis needs we also can ADAPT THE SEAT!  

Amazingly we can use inserts between the top layer, the seat (seat and flaps are made as one), and the base to change the shape/profile of support for the rider.  This was the deal breaker for me (or the reverse of that?!), realising I had tools to help me switch riders between seat sizes and saddles but STILL with some clever gizmos to help them with stability, comfort and functionality.  Different but not dissimilar to what I can achieve with ErgoX2.

 Below is the Maremma and Toscana bareback pads, left and right ends, the Barocco and a standard Ghost base with "handle" or external arch.

And all along, I knew that they would help more customers because they're way cheaper than anything else I stock, and actually cheaper than the very first treed leather saddles I fitted 15 years ago!  At £900-1300, very roughly, for most complete saddles, and around £600 for a Cavellin bareback pad, they really are affordable as we experience this prolonged cost of living crisis.

If you want to upgrade you can change some parts of the saddle without having to change all - in many/most cases you can select a new seat style, or change the panels, or even change just the base to something more or less flexible.

These will go up on my website as soon as I can, but with my OH being my website builder (this is the only bit I can add/edit!) and up to his neck in work from big important customers, I have to sit in a queue.  In the meantime do get in touch or complete my booking form if you'd like to try one! 

Here's a video I posted in September 2024 announcing what my new brand was to be, watch right here or go to the FB post to be able to pause etc