Devoucoux dressage saddles - your experience

[chardo84]

I am looking into a custom dressage saddle. The Devoucoux rep said if I ordered and the saddle wasn’t exactly right for me, they would fix it no matter what with no extra cost. It would just be the time to make a new one.

Would love to hear from those who have ordered a Devoucoux and had good AND bad experiences (specifics on the latter would be great).

If you had great experiences with other brands as well, feel free to pass those along too. Not 100% set on Devoucoux at this point.

*Might cross post in dressage, but since I am an eventer, I thought I would start here.

Thanks!

[BAC]

A friend loved hers until she tried a Schleese a couple of years ago. She said her horse definitely makes it clear that he prefers the Schleese in fact I think she said he refuses to work in any other saddle.

BTW have you checked out the complaints about Devecoux’s miserable customer service? There are numerous threads about it. I wouldn’t have much confidence in them making the saddle fit properly if it’s not a good fit. Once they have your money they can’t be bothered with you.

[ZIL]

I have a difficult to fit horse. I could not find anything that fit my mare (or me, but I would have bought something that only fit her but not me). I tried other people’s saddles, used saddles, and new saddles. Nothing worked and the saddles often left raised skin/welts/ridges.

Devoucoux worked with me and I sent it back at least 4 times to get the panels redone at their cost with no hassle. The rep (and then her manager) came in person a couple of times. I took pictures and emailed them to the saddle maker. It did take a long time. However, they also gave me an almost new loaner to use, which worked with a Beval pad. In the end I gave up on the custom fit and kept the loaner. It fit me well and worked well for my horse. And, I had no options in the alternative. (I rode her in a western saddle for the first year and bareback was not doable.) Sure, I wish that I could have had a custom saddle that fit like a glove, but I am happy with what I have and happy with the service.

I can’t really comment on other brands. I know someone with a Voltaire and she’s happy, and one with a Trilogy, also happy. It’s always a good idea to shop around and see what fits you, not just your horse.

[chardo84]

BAC and ZIL - thanks for your input!

My coach is sponsored by them, so I would hope excellent customer service would extend to me as well, but one can never be sure.

I searched Devoucoux and didn’t see the threads, but I didn’t dig past the first four to five pages (mostly mentions in H/J). I’ll go back through and look, thanks!

Definitely looking for a saddle that fits me. My horse is the easy one. My main issue is, companies never have what I need in a demo (I am 6’+ with long thighs), which makes it hard to really tell what I love. That’s why a company that will work to make it “right” is important.

[GotSpots]

I know there are some folks who have not had good experiences with them, but I really love my Chiberta and the experience in working with the rep. Depending on who your rep is, it may be a better/worse experience, but they definitely got me what I wanted and a year plus later, I still adore the saddle. I also have very long legs for my height (and particularly long knee-to-thigh), and their saddles are some of the few that allow me to get my leg in the right place. Some horses do not like the saddles at all; both of my TBs are fine in it.

[bambam]

My trainer absolutely loves her devoucoux dressage saddle (I am afraid to ride in it because I don’t want to love it so much, I buy one so I cannot say whether I agree). The first one they sent, they had messed up the colors so they replaced it without issue (she is a sponsored rider though). I love my chiberta

[eventer_mi]

My entire barn is switching/has switched from both Voltaire (who was sponsoring them) and Devoucoux to Black Country. Seems that the horses unanimously prefer the BCs. Sore backs all around with the Voltaires, and the rep has been around several times to “make them fit”, and finally we just gave up.

[flyingchange]

Lots of people rave about them, including some very respectable professional ULRs. I rode in a couple of them several years ago and while I liked them a lot for me, my horse reacted quite poorly to them. And I noticed that the **** horses that I was grooming at the time had very sore backs. Now, the sore backs could obviously be from other stuff, so without examining the saddle fit with a proper fitter, one can’t just blame the saddles. The one saddler maker who I have talked to about them (fairly if not very high profile) despises them for what he says they do to the horses’ backs. And they have the foam panels, which makes adjusting them a bit of an ordeal as you can’t just reflock them as you can with wool panels. As far as the local rep being nice to you because your trainer is sponsored - well, I didn’t get that treatment but I was just a working student so maybe he knew (or thought) there was no way in hell I could afford one. Anyway, I love my County Connection dressage saddle - horses go well in it and it fits them and fits me too. Like our local northern/central VA rep too.

[rothmpp]

I am not fond of foam panel dressage saddles. They are a pain in the butt to adjust for a changing shape horse.

Part of the reason, for me, is that your dressage saddle has to fit the horse better than your jumping saddle. You spend the whole time in the dressage saddle with your butt in the saddle (hopefully) rather than hovering above the saddle in your jumping saddle.

I went over to the dark side years ago and only ride dressage now. The whole concept of custom saddles never entered my world until then. Before it was about finding a saddle that fit the rider and making it work for the horse with a variety of pads.