Beval
Butet
Close Contact Saddles
Manufacturer: Beval
Model: Butet
Category: Close Contact Saddles
Purchase: I got this saddle new from Beval with the matching leathers for around $4,000.
Likes: I really like this saddle. I'm pretty small, but have a long leg and when I tried other saddles with a long flap the flap was also larger leaving too much leather sticking out behind my leg. This saddle did not, it fits great and looks great. I also chose the flat seat with no blocks of any kind which I love. I feel like I can just wrap my legs right around the horse. My trainer isn't big on choking it up to tack to fix horse or rider problems, but thought that the angles in my hip, knee, etc. gradually improved after riding in this saddle.
Dislikes: The leather on these saddles is VERY fine so it scratches very easily and you have to be very careful with it. Also the seat and panels will wear after a few years because of the same reason, but can be replaced by Beval with the same Butet leather for $450. If you ride in breeches and half chaps or boots versus jeans or full chaps it will last much longer.
Quality: The leather is butter soft and literally breaks in instantly. The new leather that they are using also darkens up better than the older version. Quality and construction are very good.
Summary: This saddle is very well made and can be constructed to fit any horse and rider combo and their preferences well. It's well worth the money and is actually fairly reasonable compared to some other french saddles such as Antares, Devacoux, CWD, etc.
Rating: 5
Author: RiderInAButet
Date: 2007-12-02
Usefulness Rating: 4.42857 out of 5.
7 reader(s) voted.
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