[HairOfTheDog]

I have seen them at the tack shop, but I don't know anyone who actually owns one. They seem interesting, and more comfortable than two bars, even well padded bars. They seem like they'd be good for a tough-to-fit horse, and would be close contact too.

I wonder if they are secure enough... My instinct looking at them was that they were sortof like a bareback pad with cantles and stirrups... I wonder if they would stay in place in a slippy situation without the tree... kindof like the risk with bareback pads that have stirrups.

[FrogInABlender]

I don't know, but the girls who were riding them didn't seem to have a problem with them slipping when mounting up or anything. They may actually have some kind of fork in the front at the withers that keeps it from pulling over. I've got a bareback pad like that. The girth and stirrups attach to a hard plastic thing shaped like the pommel of a western saddle with no bars or cantle. The pad just sits underneath it. I don't use it much coz you get dirty, but it works better than just a standard bareback pad.

[tuffydoodle]

The only people I've talked to that have used those saddles didn't like them. I don't remember why but I'm thinking it's what you said, it feels too much like a bareback pad with stirrups. I almost always use a bareback pad but I would never try to use it with stirrups, too dangerous.