Horse Connection Kind Solutions Pty Ltd are the exclusive Australian importers and distributors of the original Barefoot and Freeform treeless saddles since 2004. We also sell a big selection of treeless saddle pads, bareback pads and bitless bridles.

We are currently selling out all our remaining Barefoot and Freeform saddles. If you would like a saddle that has passed our quality control checks or you want to take advantage of our fitting expertise with these saddles, don't wait too long to avoid disappointment. Special Offer : postage for saddle orders is capped at $25 Australia wide. Please see our Specials page (see list on the left of this page, second from the bottom) where all available Barefoot and Freeform saddles plus other treeless saddles are listed, all saddles are reduced in price. We are updating the Specials page on a daily basis.

Our shop and website will be revamped during Jan 12. We just added more info about the Christ 'fursaddles' (which we love!) on the fursaddle and bareback pads page, dated 21st Jan.

they areBarefoot saddles:

	Cheyenne	Atlanta	Cherokee Vario	Cherokee Classic
	Cheyenne Drytex			London
Italian Freeform saddles: very last chance to buy a Freeform from our shop with our fitting expertise and the best available saddlepads to suit these saddles, there are only two saddles left now, please see Specials page.

This intro section was rewritten by Natalie, owner of Horse Connection on 15th January 2012: Well made and intelligently designed treeless and flexible saddle brands have gained appreciation by an ever growing number of riders and their horses worldwide. The modern type treeless saddle has been around for approx. 20 years. Due to the flexibility, these saddles are more forgiving and usually better tolerated by the horse than many saddles with a rigid tree. Flexible saddles have gone through a lot of development since Horse Connection introduced the first bareback pad style treeless saddles in 2004. The brands of treeless saddles worth considering, have successfully addressed issues that proved problematic with the early designs. Many types of flexible saddles are fairly structured now to ensure spinal clearance, optimal weight distribution and they offer proper rider support while still allowing flex in all 3 dimensions to accomodate the horse's moving back and shoulders. Treeless saddles were officially approved for competitions in Australia in February 06, only PC still makes a fuss in some States due to the closed stirrup D's on some saddles. Please note that the saddles we are about to introduce do have open stirrup attachments. General introduction to the treeless principle: Treeless saddles are constructed of several layers of leather, foam, wool, synthetic fur, felt and/or other shock absorbing materials like Prolite and PU. The saddles mould softly around your horses body and follow every move, without restriction. The horse’s stride lengthens and the movement of the shoulders and back is free and more powerful as the horse moves forward with more relaxation and ease. The rider sits nicely 'on' and not above the horse, gaining a very close contact and intimate connection with the animal. Balance, harmony and improved comfort for horse and rider, are the most obvious advantages for the rider choosing a well made treeless saddle. Why a treeless or flexible saddle? we were taught that the rigid tree is the most important structure of a saddle, so why the change in direction? Most saddles with a traditional rigid tree are fitted to the ‘stationary horse' This is highly deceptive and too often does not allow for a moving back and shoulders. The horse's back and shoulders move constantly while in motion and a saddle has to accomodate this movement to be comfortable for a horse. Your comfort is also important, yes of course, but the first priority should be that your horse is not bothered by the saddle you are using. After all your horse did not choose to be ridden and he is not and was at no time in history anatomically designed to carry the weight of a person on his back. It is therefore our responsibility to ensure the horse's comfort so that they do not suffer physically for our joy. Horses also change shape a lot during their lifetime and to be fair a traditional/rigid saddle would need to be adjusted whenever this takes place. Responsible horse owners in Europe meanwhile have their saddles checked on the moving horse with a high tech pressure testing system every few months (2-4 times per year is recommended) and then they have the saddle adjusted accordingly and scanned again to make sure all is good. Most professional saddlers in Europe do own such a pressure testing device meanwhile. To my knowledge only a single one of those computerised pressure mats exists in Australia and it is owned by the Sydney university and used by a very competent vetchiro for research on saddles. FYI Horse Connection involves the services of this vetchiro and her pressure testing equipment when assessing saddles for this shop. Because horse and rider are two constantly moving beings/structures while engaged in riding it makes a lot of sense to place a structure between them that has some 'give and flex' rather than something that is hard and rigid - I hope this makes sense to you. If we create pain while riding we make our horses numb and uncomfortable meaning less responsive, or listless and lacking forward motion. Sometimes they even react aggressively trying to get away from the pain and who could really blame them. With the availability of our treeless and flexible saddle range there is simply no good reason to put your horse through saddle pain any longer. It is our aim to make the riding experience as comfortable and enjoyable for horse and rider as physically possible. Our saddles are suitable for most disciplines including endurance and they fit all shapes of horses. Hard to fit horses are our speciality: No withers? High withers? Short back? Long back? Wide horse? Roach back? Atrophied spine? Sway Back? left /right Asymmetry? recovering from injury or saddle pain? Due to our background in physical therapies (Natalie had a thriving bodywork practice for close to 20 years and worked on a wide clientele that included Olympic athletes) we also try to take the riders physical issues into account when fitting saddles, provided of course, those issues are disclosed by the customer. To get our recommendation re which saddle and saddlepad set up would work best for you and your horse(s) please email Horse Connection to request our saddle fitting questionnaire. Please note that a treeless saddle when it is fitted or set up incorrectly or it is badly designed or lacking the right type of underlay can create numerous problems for your horses backs. We invite you take advantage of our saddle fitting expertise, we have in-depth experience with several different systems of flexible saddles and have literally fitted thousands of saddles over the last 8 years. Since we are human and sadly not perfect we offer a 7 day return clause which applies to the purchase of most items of this shop. When it does not apply you will find it is clearly advertised as such. This shop exists for the horses first and foremost, the biggest motivator to keep Horse Connection going is to serve horses and give something back to those amazing creatures who give so abundantly to us. Natalie and her agents reserve the right to refuse a sale if your horse is too physically immature or too unwell to be ridden or if you are too big for your horse (rider weight should not exceed 20% of the bodyweight of your horse). Some call us rude for this others love us very dearly for the exact same thing. We run this business in accordance with our expertise, values and beliefs and when you contact us you enter into our world. We hope you will enjoy the experience.