Riding saddle and method of manufacture

A riding saddle having a tree including a rigid arch which is mounted between two thicknesses of flexible plastic material, one of which constitutes the seat of the saddle and the other of which constitutes the underside of the saddle and includes saddle flaps, said tree being formed in one piece by a thin strip of composite material which is rigid and substantially undeformable over the major portion of the tree, in particular at the arch, and which has controlled flexibility in predetermined zones in order to adapt to the morphology of a horse, and wherein the tree is constituted by superposing layers of fibers which are assembled and bonded together by a polymerizable resin including layers of glass fiber cloth, and layers of carbon fiber cloth, and wherein the flexible zones of the tree are defined, relative to the rigid zones to which they are connected, by reducing the number of layers of base fiber, optionally by giving a particular orientation to the base fibers, and by omitting the reinforcing fibers.

A riding saddle having a tree including a rigid arch which is mounted between two thicknesses of flexible plastic material, one of which constitutes the seat of the saddle and the other of which constitutes the underside of the saddle and includes saddle flaps, said tree being formed in one piece by a thin strip of composite material which is rigid and substantially undeformable over the major portion of the tree, in particular at the arch, and which has controlled flexibility in predetermined zones in order to adapt to the morphology of a horse, said tree further including a rear portion integrally formed with the arch and substantially in the form of rigid curved U-shaped elongated branches and wherein the rear end of the tree constitutes the base of the curved U-shaped elongated branches and includes a middle zone of predetermined flexibility about the longitudinal axis of the tree in order to conform to the width of the horse's back.

A riding saddle having a tree including a rigid arch which is mounted between two thicknesses of flexible plastic material, one of which constitutes the seat of the saddle and the other of which constitutes the underside of the saddle and includes saddle flaps, said tree being formed in one piece by a thin strip of composite material which is rigid and substantially undeformable over the major portion of the tree, in particular at the arch, and which has controlled flexibility along predetermined bending axes in predetermined zones in order to adapt to the morphology of a horse, and wherein the tree is constituted by superposing layers of fibers which are assembled and bonded together by a polymerizable resin including layers of glass fiber cloth, and wherein the flexible zones of the tree are obtained, relative to the rigid zones to which they are connected, by reducing the number of layers of fibers, and by giving a particular orientation to the fibers in the vicinity of 45.degree. relative to the axis of the flexible zones.