How do you measure a dressage saddle tree width?

[Dressage Queen]

I have a Collegiate saddle that I know is too narrow for my QH. It is not stamped with the tree size, I have looked everywhere for it. I also have a Duett Dressage saddle that used to fit him and it is a 36. Now that we are out of shape and starting up again, the Duett is too wide for him so I need something a little smaller. I want to meaure the Collegiate to see how narrow it is for two reasons, to help me figure out a new size for my horse, and also so I can sell or trade the Collegiate.

I have searched the internet to no avail. Anyone here know how to measure the tree on a Dressage saddle?

Thanks!

[ChillyPony]

Hahaha, good luck with that! Tree width depends on so many factors with English saddles. The tree points are all different lengths. Width is actually measured tree point to tree point on the bare tree...which is nearly impossible because of the panels. One makers narrow may be anothers medium.

You can measure D ring to D ring to give you an approximate estimate.
7" is medium, 8" is medium wide, 9" is wide, 10" x wide, 11" xxwide etc. but that's on the saddle's I've had so like I say...it's all different.
36 is pretty darn wide...that's like a x wide.

[walkonaire]

Often the tree width is stamped on the saddle somewhere. If you sell it on ebay or something, include a photo that shows the front of the saddle, dead on, not tilted to show the seat.. just a photo that shows the angle of those panels, kind of like this:

http://www.airedales.org/forsale/pages/DK31front.htm

Sold that one a LONG time ago, but keep it to show what kind of photo I need, to see how wide a saddle is if I'm interested in buying it. It's a 31 cm, which in an old DeKunffy dressage saddle is a medium or m/w. The CM measurement of the tree was stamped on the billet-flaps of most of the old Courbettes.. so it was easy to find.

Other companies use slightly different systems of measurement.

You could maybe get a wintec gullet guage, and match the angle of the guage with the angle of the tree, as well.

[Bavaria]

Yeah, good luck with that. lol
Like someone already said, what's one's medium might be another one's large or narrow.
I am not sure if Collegiate stamps serial numbers on their saddles, but if they do, the tree size could be incorporated in there. You can e-mail them and have them look up the # with what tree size it was sold.
But also keep in mind, on certain saddles a saddler could have changed that tree width afterwards for a customer...