I just bought a “used” Voltaire second skin, all buffalo from the rep Bertrand, who was awesome. he has many saddles that have been recently traded in by trainers and if you want to save $$ over buying a new saddle or ordering one, slightly used (and broken in!) is the way to go. He brought out six for me to try and had more if I needed them. I ended up with the Palm Beach which feel like riding is melted chocolate, great seat placement and so comfy. I tried several other brands first; I have long legs so finding a used saddle was hard. The CWD felt extremely well made but like riding on a tank compared to the Voltaire. Everyone has their preferences, and Voltaire may have started poorly but their saddles and customer service are awesome right now.
Sounds great! I am still a Devoucoux fan, especially with the new panels. I have an older Chiberta with new panels that I hope will last a few more years.
Regarding Devoucoux
[QUOTE=jn4jenny;6631575]
Have not had the experience of ordering one, but I’ll say this: the guy they’ve got doing their orders, Eric Leysalles, is a good egg. For years I thought of him as “the only guy at Devoucoux that I’d actually trust to do a fitting or trust to say that a Devoucoux wasn’t the right choice for a given horse.” I assume he got sick of Devoucoux’s crap because now he’s at Voltaire. I watched him consult with a few clients at a local clinic, and he did a good job: fitted the horses in the panel options I would have chosen for those horses (for what that’s worth) and told one client that he could force a Voltaire to fit her horse but that she’d be better off going with another brand. So at least you’d have a good fitter in your corner who believes in customer service. Whether the brand as a whole will treat you well, I dunno because I only know a few folks who’ve ordered from them–and I don’t know anybody who had to do a return or a refitting.
That said, ordering custom is always a risk. I would personally feel safer doing it with Voltaire or CWD or Delgrange than I would doing it with Antares or Devoucoux. I would also feel safer doing it with a smaller price tag on a British-made saddle–including some of the “British wearing French clothing” saddles like certain options from Frank Baines and Barnsby, that retail closer to about $3000. (For the record, I bought both of my saddles off the rack so have never had to endure the hell of custom ordering.)[/QUOTE]
Regarding Devoucoux, I had ordered a new Chiberta, monoflap with I believe was calfskin. I was in a clinic with Boyd Martin and he referred me to Eric Leysalles. During the clinic, Eric loaned me a saddle, and of course, I loved it. Eric just glanced at my horse, said he’ll need to raise the panels to accommodate the indentation beside his withers (a TB). Other than that, he did no “fitting”. I paid almost $6K, for saddle, girth, leathers & irons. Within months of riding in it, my horse went completely lame; he needed 12 needles injected into his back. I contacted Eric, who was very reluctant to help. He eventually came to my barn when my trainer was there and basically said there was no problem with the saddle. My trainer vigorously disagreed. he became indignant, began yelling at us, and said he’ll send it to NJ to fix. When it returned, it had deep sharp edges on the panels. Eric said that all the top riders use Devoucoux and they are all not wrong, so it must be me. While I personally loved the feel as a rider, I could not do that to my horse. I returned it, and lost a couple of thousand of dollars. So if Eric is now with Voltaire, no matter how wonderful the saddle, I’d pass. He is rude, not a true saddle fitter, and just pushing another french brand. The top riders either get these saddles for free or for 50% discount and they also get true customization for their horses. The average rider gets none of this. I’m not saying the Voltaire isn’t good, but would recommend having an independent saddle fitter there, who has no saddle to sell, and can represent you and your horse.
[QUOTE=fineanddandy;6631240]
Would anyone care to share their experience with purchasing a Voltaire saddle? I’m thinking about ordering one, but a bit reluctant due to all the horror stories about ordering custom saddles from various companies. Saddles are lovely, seem to be well-made and are very comfortable. I would prefer to purchase used, but as the company is only about 3 years old, there aren’t many used ones available. I’m hesitant to order new without knowing if the company actually follows through with fit and any issues there may be once they have their money.[/QUOTE]
Jumping into this thread late–not reading through thread as not in the market myself, unfortunately–but if you’re looking for a used Voltaire ( Antares, Butet, Devacoux, CWD, etc.)–check out www. bluesaddles.com.
Katy is my sister’s next door neighbor in Massachusetts, I thought her stuff looked great and at good prices. Sis got me the Voltaire tote bag, maybe one day I’ll spring for a saddle to go with it 
Mods, delete if not allowed–this is totally a PSA!
I just wanted to clarify that Eric is not with Voltaire.
Their Area II reps are Andy and Brian. I would be happy to put anyone in touch with Voltaire or directly with the rep for your area.
[QUOTE=mofb;8243570]
Regarding Devoucoux, I had ordered a new Chiberta, monoflap with I believe was calfskin. I was in a clinic with Boyd Martin and he referred me to Eric Leysalles. During the clinic, Eric loaned me a saddle, and of course, I loved it. Eric just glanced at my horse, said he’ll need to raise the panels to accommodate the indentation beside his withers (a TB). Other than that, he did no “fitting”. I paid almost $6K, for saddle, girth, leathers & irons. Within months of riding in it, my horse went completely lame; he needed 12 needles injected into his back. I contacted Eric, who was very reluctant to help. He eventually came to my barn when my trainer was there and basically said there was no problem with the saddle. My trainer vigorously disagreed. he became indignant, began yelling at us, and said he’ll send it to NJ to fix. When it returned, it had deep sharp edges on the panels. Eric said that all the top riders use Devoucoux and they are all not wrong, so it must be me. While I personally loved the feel as a rider, I could not do that to my horse. I returned it, and lost a couple of thousand of dollars. So if Eric is now with Voltaire, no matter how wonderful the saddle, I’d pass. He is rude, not a true saddle fitter, and just pushing another french brand. The top riders either get these saddles for free or for 50% discount and they also get true customization for their horses. The average rider gets none of this. I’m not saying the Voltaire isn’t good, but would recommend having an independent saddle fitter there, who has no saddle to sell, and can represent you and your horse.[/QUOTE]
I just wanted to clarify that Eric is not with Voltaire.
Their Area II reps are Andy and Brian. I would be happy to put anyone in touch with Voltaire or directly with the rep for your area.
Eric went from Voltaire to Antares and has since dropped off the saddle selling route…
[QUOTE=judybigredpony;8245860]
Eric went from Voltaire to Antares and has since dropped off the saddle selling route…[/QUOTE]
Good to know. To be honest, I regret ever chiming in on this thread. I gather that it’s become a top hit on Google for Eric’s name. And as a result, random people find it and want to add to it. Which I understand, but it means my positive report from 2013 is still circulating. And I have no idea what Eric is up to these days or the quality of his recent work. I can only speak to what I saw two years ago on a single day.
I think it’s great that people share their experiences with reps, good and bad. I also wish people would be more fastidious about giving the approximate date of the events in question. That will help people figure out where the rep has been, and when, and what the general word on the street was. French brand reps move all the time. Ask me about the time a former Antares rep–one that I have never had good experiences with, nor have I ever heard a good story about–showed up at a local client’s fitting for a Devoucoux. Totally out of the blue, and I thought this dude had fallen off the saddle-fitting radar. This guy put every single saddle in his truck on this horse, then used that to identify the right panel codes by process of elimination. (!!!) And this horse was, IMO, a pretty clear-cut case. I had written down the panel codes I thought were right before the appointment, and mine were super close to what the rep chose by process of elimination. It truly did not require putting every single saddle in the car on the horse.
Now before I sound like a huge whiner, I’m in the process of setting up a saddle-fitting blog that I hope will be a cross-brand, third-party hub for saddle shopping and fitting info. Which, I hope, will slowly start to eliminate tragic stories like the ones we’ve read here. If buyers have a better place to share info with each other and get better reconaissance, we’ll all be in better shape than “bumping random COTH threads because someone Googled a rep’s name.”
Bumping this up again. Any new information regarding how well a Voltaire or Devoucoux monoflap hold up after a couple years?
Re: Voltaire – can anyone tell me what the 1A/2AA etc means in terms of flaps? The higher the number, more forward the flap?
From what I gather it’s the flap size, not forwardness. I believe 1 is a short flap, 2 is standard, 3 is long, etc.
A is forward, AA is extra forward, etc.
[QUOTE=runNjump86;8589582]
From what I gather it’s the flap size, not forwardness. I believe 1 is a short flap, 2 is standard, 3 is long, etc.
A is forward, AA is extra forward, etc.[/QUOTE]
runNjump86 is right. The number is the length of flap. 1 is is short, 2 is standard, 3 is long. The letter defines the forwardness. A is forward, AA is more forward, etc.
runNjump, my Voltaires (Adelaide and Lexington) are 2 and 1.5 years old respectively, and they are holding up beautifully. I generally use each of them on several horses each day, so they get a lot of hard use, and they look good as new after a cleaning. I am pretty good about cleaning them frequently, so I suspect that may have something to do with it, but I have been impressed by their durability so far.
I just bought a used 2012 Lexington with full buffalo leather and its in gorgeous condition. My horse LOVES it!
If anyone on this thread is still looking for a nice monoflap, PM me! I’ve got a lovely WisAir xc saddle for sale.
