Henri de Rivel Pro Buffalo Leather Dressage Saddle, 2017

Ordered a 17.5"/med tree on the trial program. Rode for an hour. The pros - this is the first saddle that has fit my young, narrow, high-withered, short-backed American Saddlebred. He is not flat backed and this conformed well to his back. It is also a nice looking saddle and was well balanced and fairly comfortable to sit. The cons - My biggest complaint right out of the box was the flocking. It was lumpy and not even on both sides - one shoulder area was more padded than another. Made in India. Some of the leather work is a bit wonky and the seat seemed faded. Once in the saddle it felt small for my 5'10" height. I normally ride a 17.5" with no problem so I taped the saddle. The seat is padded and sits more like a 16.5/17" unless you measure to the very, very back of the rolled cantle. Additionally, the leather flap covering the stirrup bars is thick, padded, and has a rolled seam which added a fair amount of bulk. It made posting uncomfortable. It might have been ok if I used less bulky stirrup leathers than the ones I own. Overall, it's not a bad saddle for the price. For dinging around on trails on a green horse it would've worked fine but needed too many tweeks to make it comfortable for me. The horse liked it.

I tried this saddle out for my Azteca mare and my Friesian cross mare. Got the wide tree, as both horses are very wide, and the Friesian has a short back. The saddle bridged on both horses. It was significant bridging. The buffalo leather is nice, no doubt, but the panels felt bumpy, as if the flocking was not well done. The saddle was not balanced correctly for my horses. Hey, I tried a cheaper saddle. It didn't work for me.

I tried a few saddles on my guy and this was the only one he did not buck in. And when they don't buck in a saddle it usually means it works for them! It has a nice wide channel so I don't need to worry about it sitting on his spin or too near it. (which is why I think he bucked in other saddles) The saddle is comfy, which I can very much appreciate. The leather is awesome and seems saddle itself seems to be quality. Would highly recommend trying this saddle out!