The 5 Lightest Horse Saddle Brands (One Weighs Less Than Your Boots)

Setzi lists its Contact Carbon endurance saddle at 800 grams. That is 1.76 pounds, less than a pair of tall riding boots. A conventional western saddle with a published weight of 25 to 28 pounds weighs around fifteen times that, and every one of those pounds rides on the horse’s back for every mile, every hill and every hour of the ride, on top of the rider.

Very few saddle makers put weight on the product page. The ones that do tend to be the small makers who built a saddle specifically to be light, and most of them sell into the endurance world rather than through the big tack catalogs. This article goes through five of them and checks every weight against what the maker or its dealers actually publish.

The result: five brands, from TW Saddlery’s 17-pound Trail Light down to Setzi’s 1.76-pound Contact Carbon. Four of the five publish the weight on their own product page. The fifth, Freeform, is documented here from dealer listings, and those listings don’t fully agree with each other.

The scorecard

One row per brand, using the lightest model each maker sells in the category covered here. The last column answers the question this article was built around: can you check the weight yourself on the maker’s own site?

For context on why a single number on a product page matters: in our breakdown of how much weight your horse is really carrying, almost none of the equipment on the horse had a published weight at all. The brands below are the exception.

Where a normal saddle sits

Before the five, a baseline. These are published weights for heavier, conventional saddles, so you have something to measure the light ones against.

A limit worth stating plainly: you will often see western saddles described as weighing 30 to 40 pounds or more. We could not find a manufacturer specification that pins that range down, and retailer figures for the category contradict each other. What the published numbers above do show is that even a maker’s “classic” western saddle sits in the mid-twenties, and most of the five below come in at well under half of that.

5. TW Saddlery: the western saddle that cut the weight

TW Saddlery’s Trail Light is listed at approximately 17 pounds, and the maker describes it as a lightweight western trail saddle built for long miles and close contact. The Western Dressage Lt comes in at approximately 20 pounds. Dealer price lists show the Trail Light available in either English or Western rigging, with an interchangeable padded seat.

The more useful feature for the horse is the fitting system. TW’s published terms describe a patented adjustable system that ships with fitting cushions and a full shim kit, so each side of the saddle can be adjusted independently as the horse gains or loses condition. That is the part to set up before the first long ride.

One relationship readers should know about: TW Saddlery is the western sister brand of Specialized Saddles, number two on this list. Specialized’s own site routes its “Western Saddles” menu to TW, and TW states that its saddles were developed from Specialized’s saddle-fitting experience. Two entries on this list therefore share a fitting philosophy, if not a weight class.

• Trail Light: approx. 17 lb, English or Western rigging
• Featherweight Trail: 18 lb (dealer price list)
• Western Dressage Lt: approx. 20 lb

4. Bob Marshall Sports Saddle: treeless since the early nineties

The Bob Marshall Sports Saddle is covered by U.S. patents 5,018,340 and 5,187,924, granted in the early 1990s. The Basic Endurance model is listed at approximately 15 pounds, with fenders adding roughly another pound. The Deluxe Endurance is listed at approximately 20 pounds.

“Treeless” needs some precision here. Sports Saddle’s own description says the front part of the tree is independent of the cantle section, which lets it conform to different shoulder widths and wither heights. So there is structure at the front, but no single rigid tree running pommel to cantle. That is where the weight saving comes from, and it is also where the trade-off sits: without bars spreading the load, the pad does much of the weight-distribution work. Budget for a structured treeless pad, and read the five levels of saddle pad before choosing one.

Treeless saddles commonly carry rider-weight guidance. We could not find a published rider limit from Sports Saddle itself, so we have not stated one. Ask the maker for your situation before buying.

3. Freeform: Italian treeless at around ten pounds

Freeform saddles are sold by their dealers as handmade in Italy, built in two parts: a flexible base for the horse and a removable, interchangeable seat for the rider. The base uses a breathable foam core, and a flexible aluminum arch sits in the pommel section of the seat to give wither clearance without a tree.

The weights need a caveat. A UK dealer’s published table lists:

One US dealer lists a Freeform Classic configuration at 11.5 pounds, and a Classic Trail is listed elsewhere at 12 pounds. The spread most likely comes from base length and seat choice, but we could not confirm any of these figures on Freeform’s own pages, which is why this entry fails the scorecard’s last column.

• Bases: Standard, Short and Extra Short
• Seats: 15 to 20 inches
• Price: around $3,100 for a Classic at one US dealer

Freeform’s dealers describe the pommel area as non weight-bearing, leaving the shoulders free to move. That is a maker and dealer claim, not something we have seen measured independently.

2. Specialized Saddles Ultralight: nine pounds of bridle leather

Specialized Saddles describes the Ultralight as its lightest saddle, at approximately 9 pounds, handcrafted in the USA from English bridle leather and listed at $2,195 (checked October 2026). The weight comes from removing the skirting leather that normally covers the saddle bars. What remains is a close-contact saddle with standard billet rigging and an interchangeable seat that takes padded leather or fleece.

Specialized did not give up its fitting system to get there. Every Ultralight ships with the patented 3-D Adjustable Fit System: one pair of three-quarter-inch fitting cushions and a complete shim kit, which Specialized says lets you adjust width, arch and angle independently on each side. For riders who want the saddle pre-fitted, the maker also sells a fit kit to measure the horse before the saddle is built.

1. Setzi: the saddle lighter than your boots

Setzi lists the Contact Carbon at 800 grams. The frame is carbon fiber, the seat and pommel are covered in Italian leather, the hardware is stainless steel, and Setzi recommends it for experienced endurance athletes. Its sibling, the Anima Carbon, is also listed at 800 grams, and Setzi’s own FAQ names the Anima Carbon as its lightest saddle. The two are tied on published weight.

Setzi is a family company. Its own history credits founder Antonio Sardo with the original design, and his son Marco, an endurance rider and trainer, tests the saddles. Retailer descriptions credit Marco with development work on several models, including the Balente, Mezzo Reale and Narami.

Setzi’s store prices in euros. We have not converted them, because the dollar figure would depend on the exchange rate on the day you buy plus shipping and import costs.

Why riders pay to make it heavier

Setzi sells extra saddle weight, up to 10 kilograms, built into the saddle at a price per kilogram. Its listing for the option states that it is available on all its saddles except the carbon models.

The reason is in the rulebook. Under the FEI Endurance Rules (2025 edition, Article 805), senior athletes must meet a minimum weight that includes all riding equipment except the bridle: 70 kg at CEI 1* and 2*, and 75 kg at CEI 3* and championships. An athlete who fails to make weight is disqualified. A light rider on a 1.5-kilogram saddle can come in under that line, and ballast built into the saddle is one way to make it up.

Before you buy a lightweight saddle

1. Weigh the saddle you have now. Stand on a bathroom scale holding it and subtract your own weight. The method is set out step by step in our rider-to-horse weight ratio guide.
2. Decide between treed and treeless. A treed saddle with an adjustable system (TW, Specialized) spreads load along the bars. A treeless saddle (Bob Marshall, Freeform) hands most of that job to the pad.
3. Check fit before weight. A light saddle that bridges or pinches does more harm than a heavy one that fits. The five levels of saddle fit covers what to look for.
4. Ask about rider weight. None of the five publishes a rider limit we could verify, so ask the maker directly, especially for treeless designs.
5. If you compete in FEI endurance, check your total weight. Riders who are already light may need ballast with an ultralight saddle.

What we could not verify

• The 30-to-40-pound western saddle range. It is widely repeated, but we found no manufacturer specification that establishes it.
• Freeform weights. They come from dealer listings only, and those listings disagree by up to two pounds.
• Where Setzi saddles are manufactured. Retailer copy says they are handmade with Italian leather produced in Italy. Setzi Srl is an Italian company, but we did not find a factory location stated on its own site.
• Rider weight limits. A widely circulated figure for Freeform traces to a forum post rather than the maker, so we have left it out.
• Effect on the horse. We did not find a study isolating saddle weight alone as a cause of back soreness. The argument for a lighter saddle here is arithmetic: less total load. It is not a measured welfare outcome.

If your search started with brand trust rather than weight, see the six western saddle brands that document their tree construction.

Disclosure

Hoof & Honest was not paid for this article, and no brand named here was given advance sight of it. This article carries no affiliate links. Every weight and price above comes from a manufacturer’s or dealer’s published listing; claims we could not trace to a published source were left out or are flagged in the section above.

References

• Setzi. Contact Carbon product page (weight, materials, price). setzisaddles.com
• Setzi. Frequently Asked Questions (Anima Carbon as lightest model; sizes). setzisaddles.com
• Setzi. Extra Saddle Weight option (up to 10 kg, not available on carbon saddles). setzisaddles.com
• Setzi. Balente B, Mezzo Reale A, Contact and Bonora Carbon product pages. setzisaddles.com
• Setzi. About us (Antonio and Marco Sardo). setzisaddles.com
• Specialized Saddles. Ultralight product page (weight, materials, 3-D Adjustable Fit System, price; checked October 2026). specializedsaddles.com
• TW Saddlery. Trail Light and Western Dressage Lt product pages; gaited saddles page (relationship to Specialized Saddles). twsaddlery.com
• Custom Equine. TW Saddlery and Specialized Saddles dealer price lists. customequine.com
• Sports Saddle, Inc. Endurance models (weights) and company history. sportssaddle.com
• U.S. Patents 5,018,340 and 5,187,924 (Sports Saddle), as cited by Savvy Sport Saddle. savvysaddle.com
• Better Saddles UK. Freeform model weight table. bettersaddles.co.uk
• Saddle Up Treeless Saddles. Freeform product listings (US price and weight). treelesssaddle.com
• The Trainer’s Loft. Freeform Treeless Classic Trail Saddle listing (weight). thetrainersloft.com
• Becidor. Freeform base and seat sizes. boomlooszadelbecidor.nl
• Fédération Équestre Internationale. Endurance Rules, edition effective 1 January 2025, Article 805 (minimum weights). inside.fei.org
• Contour Saddlery / Natural Horseman Saddles. Western Dressage published weight. naturalhorsemansaddles.com

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