I’ve been looking for a dressage saddle for a few years. I was a jumper rider for a long time and it’s rare to find a dressage saddle that I don’t find myself cursing the entire ride, and the next day. I rode someone else’s horse last week in an Hermes Corlandus that fit me perfectly. I’m just beginning a search for a used one online.
However, there are only two tree sizes. Looking at ebay ad photos, the wide & medium wide don’t really look any different from one another. I see many references to the medium tree as more of a medium wide, but then I see that the Hermes jumping saddles run narrow, so it’s confusing. Scouring past COTH threads, these seem to be love-it-or-hate-it saddles, so for those that have them, what was your experience with fitting the horse? What size did you find that fit, and which did not (and what is your horse built like)? Do you find them to be true to size, or to run wide/narrow?
I see a used Corlandus in my size at a consignment shop online so I may take it on trial and see how it fits my horses. My horses are usually a medium-wide with average withers, both are short-coupled and one has a large, sloping shoulder. They tend to do better with broad, flat panels.
I have a Corlandus and you would have to pry it from my cold, dead hands!! My mare was very hard to fit…or so I thought. She is a dutch homebred with very little wither, a broad shortish back and very long, laid back shoulders. I am 5’8", 130-135 lbs with long legs, especialy my thigh. My Corlandus is a 17.5 wide. It fits me like a glove. I don’t have to fight to sit. The saddle just allows me to relax into position without dictating how to sit or where my leg should fall. The seat is supportive, yet allows me to adjust my position/leg as needed. My knee nestles into the soft kneeblock.
When I tried the saddle initially, I rode in the saddle belonging to the person I take lessons from. Initially, I did not think the saddle fit, but when girthed up, the flaps wrap around the horse and the shoulder area opens up. It sits just over the edge of her shoulders and her shoulders slide freely under the front of the saddle. When sitting on her standing, it seems like the tree would be tight, but as soon as she moves, the biomechanics kick in and the saddle opens for her shoulders. It I were to put the saddle behind her shoulder blades it it too far back, digs into her back in the front. This has been the problem with all of the other saddles I’ve had for her.
I have had or tried: Albion (2, one of them was “custom”), Amerigo (6 in different styles/tree sizes), Stubben (3), DT Saddlery, Hastilow, Fairfax, Black Country (3), Prestige (2), Neidersuiss (3), County, CWD, Roosli, Verhan, …The Hermes is the only saddle she has liked and continues to like. If you PM me I can give you the number of the Hermes rep and he may be able to help you determine what it is youu need. There are quite a few that come up on Ebay in all sorts of tree/seat sizes. Stay away from the 18" listed on Heritage Saddlery. It is ancient and beat to death. When you try one be sure to allow it to sit a tad more forward than where you have placed most saddles and be sure it is level. French/italian saddles are supposed to sit a bit more forward on the horses back placing the rider a bit more forward. My horse can’t stand anything digging into the area behind the withers. I’ve never had tacking up issues since I’ve started riding in the Corlandus! Good luck! I can never ride in anything else now. I’d like a jumping/AP saddle to hack in, but it would have to be a french or italian design and a monoflap. The monos fit differently, even if it is the same model saddle.
I have a Corlandus and you would have to pry it from my cold, dead hands!! My mare was very hard to fit…or so I thought. She is a dutch homebred with very little wither, a broad shortish back and very long, laid back shoulders. I am 5’8", 130-135 lbs with long legs, especialy my thigh. My Corlandus is a 17.5 wide. It fits me like a glove. I don’t have to fight to sit. The saddle just allows me to relax into position without dictating how to sit or where my leg should fall. The seat is supportive, yet allows me to adjust my position/leg as needed. My knee nestles into the soft kneeblock.
When I tried the saddle initially, I rode in the saddle belonging to the person I take lessons from. Initially, I did not think the saddle fit, but when girthed up, the flaps wrap around the horse and the shoulder area opens up. It sits just over the edge of her shoulders and her shoulders slide freely under the front of the saddle. When sitting on her standing, it seems like the tree would be tight, but as soon as she moves, the biomechanics kick in and the saddle opens for her shoulders. It I were to put the saddle behind her shoulder blades it it too far back, digs into her back in the front. This has been the problem with all of the other saddles I’ve had for her.
I have had or tried: Albion (2, one of them was “custom”), Amerigo (6 in different styles/tree sizes), Stubben (3), DT Saddlery, Hastilow, Fairfax, Black Country (3), Prestige (2), Neidersuiss (3), County, CWD, Roosli, Verhan, …The Hermes is the only saddle she has liked and continues to like. If you PM me I can give you the number of the Hermes rep and he may be able to help you determine what it is youu need. There are quite a few that come up on Ebay in all sorts of tree/seat sizes. Stay away from the 18" listed on Heritage Saddlery. It is ancient and beat to death. When you try one be sure to allow it to sit a tad more forward than where you have placed most saddles and be sure it is level. French/italian saddles are supposed to sit a bit more forward on the horses back placing the rider a bit more forward. My horse can’t stand anything digging into the area behind the withers. I’ve never had tacking up issues since I’ve started riding in the Corlandus! Good luck! I can never ride in anything else now. I’d like a jumping/AP saddle to hack in, but it would have to be a french or italian design and a monoflap. The monos fit differently, even if it is the same model saddle.
My friend had a Corlandus that she used on her Selle Francais for years. It was a monoflap and I think it was a medium tree. It seemed to fit a lot of horses. Her husband used it on a bunch of school horses and it fit every one of them. Her horse has fairly high withers. Not a shark fin by any means, but they were pronounced. Her son and I thought it fit fine, but she thought it hindered the horse’s shoulders. She wound up selling it and bought a Devoucoux instead.
I don’t really have an opinion about riding in it. I rode in it loads of times and I thought it was unremarkable. But I am pretty critical of saddles, so it isn’t a bad thing that I didn’t think much of it. I wasn’t impressed with the leather quality compared to an old Hermes Steinkraus I came across once. That saddle had the nicest, most grippy leather ever, and I was expecting my butt to be just as happy in the Corlandus, but it wasn’t. But perhaps that is due to the black dye. It also needed a repair to the flap at one point.
