Détente Isis Dressage Saddle Price: $2,495 Leather: Premium Supplex, Hydro, or Memel; $500 for Calf seat and pads Colors: Black (dark brown by special order) Panels: Détente Enhanced Panel; 100% British wool with wool felt lining for enhanced support and stability; Leather Panels (serge available by special order); Panels gusseted front and rear Tree choices: Sporthorse Tree M, MW, W; Haven tree for flatter, broader backs (M, MW, W, XW); FWB tree for the fantastically wide back Seat sizes: 16, 16.5, 17, 17.5, 18, 18.5

Détente Isis Dressage Saddle

The Détente Isis dressage saddle is food for the soul of the saddle fitter. Like its sister saddles in the Détente range, the Isis is built upon a variety of tree shapes and panels to provide optimum fit solutions for different horses. Every detail has been carefully considered for the horse's maximum comfort, then paired with the features riders ask for most in a dressage saddle.

The fairly deep-seated Isis is designed with careful attention to the bearing area under the rider's seat, allowing the rider to sit deeply, securely, and comfortably. For the majority of riders, the leg hang is brilliant. The flap is eased very slightly forward to allow the femur to hang naturally in its socket without putting the rider's hip ligaments under strain, and the modern thigh block is an extremely popular feature for stabilizing the rider's leg on big-moving horses. (Riders who require a very straight-cut flap, take a look at the Détente Cleo and the Détente Athena.)

For the horse, all of the Détente saddles have an inviting, supportive, wool-filled panel lined with wool felt for extra comfort. The panel on the Isis has a particularly massive bearing surface for optimum distribution of weight over the horse's back. We have yet to see its equal for providing crucial panel support where it's needed most for the high-withered or hollow-withered horse, and it does very well on the sort of modern warmbloods who has withers that quickly flatten into a broad back.