Review of PDS Dressage Saddle (Corto panels)

Since I couldn’t find much about this saddle, and particularly this model, when I was looking, I thought I’d post a brief review for others looking in future. On this horse, I was coming out of a Passier Grand Gilbert, which I love for me, but she had widened out of it. We don’t have saddlefitters nearby, so while I know I can send off the GG for widening, getting that adjustment right would be tricky. Plus, this mare changes size multiple times a year, depending on feed and work and season, so the changeable gullets were an attractive option.

A little over a month ago I received the PDS Dressage saddle I’d bought on sale, and then had to order a couple of gullets. With the Corto panels, apparently it comes with a MW gullet in it. I bought a Wide and an XW gullet and first installed the XW, then after a couple of weeks of work the tank mare slimmed down a bit and I switched to the Wide.

Overall, the saddle works well for us and for my Morgan-shaped TB mare. The quality is pretty good, though I’m not sure I would pay full price for it, as for a bit more I could get a custom Black Country, for instance. I’m very happy with the quality for the sale price I paid, though!! :wink: It’s nice grippy covered leather–so grippy, in fact, I don’t wear my full seats with it or I can’t move, ha!

It has front and rear gussets, so when I can get a saddlefitter out to look at it, there will be options for tweaking. However, it seems to work well for my mare and she’s comfortable in it (she loudly tells me if she doesn’t like a saddle). She’s 15.2 and I’m 5’10", so the upswept panels allow me to have an 18" seat. The external blocks work well for me–they don’t seem to get in the way but are just a soft reminder about my thigh. With the XW or the W gullet in, it is of course wide, so I’m still working on getting my legs to drape softly down. Probably not doable for those riders who can’t do a wide twist. One of my trainers, who is used to riding Iberians and Friesians, rode in it a couple of weeks ago and liked it quite a bit.

Mare has a back that is slightly curvy front to back, but quite flat side to side. Big, long shoulders, but no dips behind the withers. Moderate, not very big withers–there is plenty of clearance with this saddle. The panels are cut back a bit and I do feel like she has better shoulder freedom. (Which means she’s moving bigger–making it even harder for me to drape softly and follow her in the wider saddle, but that is not a bad problem to have and I just need to keep working on me!)

It comes set up to install a point billet, but that would require a saddlefitter or leather working person. For now it’s working well for us with the out-of-the-box configuration, though.

Overall, I think if you have an Iberian-shaped horse, it’s a handy option. The gullet is not super easy or quick to change, so I wouldn’t count on changing it frequently for multiple horses, but it’s nice to be able to accommodate a horse in flux.

Hope this helps someone. :slight_smile:

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Really helpful! Is this the Carl Hester Grande, or…? Looking to try one on my freind’s Lusitano and my fairly short backe Dutch mare.

Sounds like all of the things I like about my Fairfax Gareth, but cheaper. I use the Fairfax on my P.R.E. This saddle sounds like an interesting and not so over priced option. I too like adjustability as I am usually putting saddles on young horses that change shape.

I love this saddle for my close coupled deep shouldered Appendix mare. My coach has one as well and it works on a lot of horses including her WB mare.

My horse loves it and my chiro is happy with the fit.