I just bought an equipe saddle with the carbon tree and I’m totally in love, but I’m wondering if anyone knows how well they hold up? The leather is beautiful but soft, and I haven’t seen much older models for sale(but that could just be lack of popularity)
My trainer has the carbon tree equipe. Never covers it, rarely cleans it. Its still beautiful and no noticeable tree twisting. This on top of being used on multiple horses daily. You chose well. Definitely will be purchasing equipe once I’m due for a new saddle.
I have one of the dressage saddles in calfskin with a carbon tree. So far so good. I think it’s just not a widely popular brand here so not much of a used market. I sat in a number of well-used Equipes in Europe and they were all nice saddles and less beat up looking than many other brands I sat in. I think honestly the new ones are being made with much better leather than is coming on a lot of the French brands these days.
They seem to be growing in popularity around here. I never saw them used and now see them fairly often. The quality looks really nice and the used ones appear to be in good condition. The foam panels are just tricky for some backs. I see a lot of people selling essentially new saddles because their horses back changed. I haven’t sat in one but seeing them in person they look lovely.
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My trainer rides in Equipe and my horse uses the EVO carbon tree. They have had it for a year and a half. He’s ridden in the saddle 3-5x a week ( the other days he schools dressage in an Equipe Viktoria). The saddle is also used on all the other hunters in training, so overall it gets several rides a day. It looks brand new. It’s really gorgeous - you’d never know it’s over a year old. I’ve never seen a saddle hold up like this.
And it’s soooo lightweight!!! Even compared to my Voltaire, which I always thought was light. My horse loves it!
I bought an Equipe Emporio with the calfskin for my dressage and the regular leather for jump. Like stated above, not only is the leather luxurious but also quite hardy. I just wipe down after every use. It it a very lightweight saddle and my horse loves it!
