Hey everyone! I am thinking of getting a devoucoux for myself. I am very confused by the sizing. I was wondering if anyone had any tips or suggestions on the sizing or saddle brand itself. I know saddles are never a universal fit but I do ride OTTBS with pretty standard backs except my horse. He gets back sore from my old beval now. Also I am NOT wanting a custom saddle due to my variation in horses I ride. I also would strongly prefer a used one (or my bank account will hurt badly LOL). Is this brand a good pick for my lifestyle? If not, send some good suggestions! If it is, sizing tips for my lifestyle would be amazing. Thanks so much!!
I am going through saddle fitting hell trying to find something for my guy used and not going the custom made route so I’ll share what I’ve found in my lengthy saddle search. I know devoucoux has some new technology, but I had one from 2020 for a bit and it fit very few horses I rode well when I was riding a variety of horses. I got an Antares after the Devoucoux and it definitely fit more than the devoucoux I found but definitely not a universal fit as you said. I would opt for something with pro type panels and a M-MW tree if you’re riding a lot of different horses and the have some half pads to try to vary the fit when needed. I have found CWDs fit well when they fit well, but if your horse has any width to it they’re generally not designed for a stouter horse like many warmbloods are these days, definitely a more narrow type which may work well if you’re riding mostly thoroughbreds. Voltaires I have found fit a lot of wider warmbloods well as they tend to be wider trees and paneling as their default. Amerigo/Equipe/Prestige/Renaissance are nice saddles (on par with the big French brands in my opinion even though a lot of people don’t love Italian saddles I’ve had good experiences) and tend to be fairly customizable and even adjustable depending on the brand/model. I have an amerigo currently that has fit a variety of horses moderately well so worth looking into the Italian brands for sure I would say. Newer butets have a lot more options for paneling and tree sizes than the older ones so can fit a larger variety than they used to. My old trainer was sponsored by butet so have seen their saddles configured to fit a wide variety of horses and her saddles tended to fit everything she rode well enough, so butet might be worth looking into for someone in your position as well. Overall, you should choose something that fits you and your horse well regardless of brand, so whatever you get make sure you can trial it to see the fit for you and all the horses you’re riding. You can also have brand reps or independent saddle fitters out to try a bunch of different saddles and see what you like size, seat, flap, etc wise and what would be ideal for the horses you’re riding. Sorry this became such a novel, I hope you find it helpful and good luck on your search!
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I would NOT recommend a Devoucoux here. They’re very comfy for riders, but less horse friendly in my experience. I’ve found the foam to be very unforgiving and much more likely to cause back soreness in a horse that it’s not perfectly fit for. I spent months dealing with a backsore horse for this exact reason. In order for them to be adjusted they need to be sent to the Wellington shop to have the panels laser cut at $500+ a time, which I’ve done twice and was without a saddle for almost 2 months between the 2 times.
If you’re regularly using this saddle on multiple horses, a wool-flocked saddle will be much more forgiving when going on a variety of similar but not exactly the same backs. It’s also much cheaper/easier to get adjusted as needed. I just paid $275 for a fitter to adjust my wool flocked dressage saddle at the farm last weekend for my new guy and was only without said saddle for about an hour while she worked.
Use a professional independent saddle fitter - some of them sell / consign used saddles.
I only ended up in a Devoucoux because it fits me and my primary riding horses at this time super well. I got barely used one for under $4k.
Every human / horse combination is different.
