I've wondered about them myself. I knew a lady that used to trail ride in one and I took a close look at it, it was just a bunch of foam! I didn't sit in it though so can't say how secure it feels. I would think it's a false sense of security though, without a tree there is always a risk of it rolling to the side and I wouldn't want my feet caught in stirrups in that situation.
It is like sitting in a bowl of jello mounted on the back of a drunk.
Seeing as how my horse actually DOES enjoy beer from time to time, I'd be even more hesitant to try the SoftSaddle!
From what I could see, it's basically like a bareback pad made out of wetsuit material. I wasn't interested enough in it to check out the underside, so I didn't see how "grippy" it was under there.
Well, I bought one. It does look like wet suit material and I got the pad that goes with it. It does mold to their backs nicely but I agree without a tree it could slip. The stirrups that come with it are plastic:(. I can use it on my very healthy(round) mini for kiddy rides as no saddle fits him well. Not much more secure than a bareback pad.
I had thought about getting one, but they had gotten really poor reviews on horsetackreviews. Most people's complaints was that the pad was too thick and put your leg too far off the horse's side. And that they layers fell apart after a lot of use.
