Most longstanding luxury saddle makers use time to their advantage. Established 20 or 30 or even 50 years ago, they stake their reputations on their legacy. Voltaire does just the opposite. In just five years, the French saddler has used its status as the “new kid on the block” to push the envelope in ways the equestrian space hasn’t seen before—quickly expanding into more than 10 different countries around the world, and becoming the choice of top U.S. hunter/jumper riders including Hope Glynn and Beezie Madden.

So just what is the American rider looking for in a saddle today? Here are four hallmarks of a brand designed with the modern equestrian in mind.

1. "Less Saddle"

Five years ago, in the midst of the American recession, Voltaire launched their first line of saddles at the Menlo Charity Horse Show in California.

“In the beginning, we were looking to improve our leather and the cuts [of the saddle] and everything, and in the first six months, pretty much everything changed in our company,” says Bertrand Ganee, the US Sales Manager for Voltaire Design who’s worked alongside brand founder Brice Goguet from the beginning.

“It was during the economic crisis, and everybody said, ‘You’re crazy, nobody buys stuff now.'”

Surprisingly though, the fragile economy actually made it easier for Voltaire to earn a name among its luxury saddle competitors; brands that were looking to maintain the status quo in tenuous times. What the market was looking for, it turns out, was innovation, and that came in the form of Voltaire’s super-comfortable and easy-to-break-in Palm Beach saddle design, which offered more “feel” than American riders had seen before.

“There’s a European school, there’s a U.S. school. But for sure, one thing in general that American riders look for is less saddle. That’s what we understood from the beginning,” says Ganee.

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2. A Customized Design

Also on the modern rider’s wish list: a range of customization options to get that perfect fit. Today, Voltaire’s close contact saddles come in three seat depths, with the half-deep Palm Beach remaining their most popular model. After selecting that component, however, a saddle can be built out in various ways according to the rider’s specific preferences.

“We can change the thickness of the leather, the thickness of the knee rolls, the block size. When you change all the little parts of the saddle, it’s a new saddle. It’s totally different,” says Ganee, adding that he often spends an hour or more with each client, walking them through the different possibilities to find the best custom combination for the rider and her horse.

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3. A Good Fit for the Horse

As any good horseman will tell you, a well-fitting saddle can have an immediate and positive impact on a horse—a reaction Ganee says he often witnesses first-hand during consultations.

“Just the fact that you put a different panel combination on [a horse]—just putting the saddle on and tightening the girth on the cross ties, the horse will behave very differently, just by doing that. So, that is something we are really thinking about,” he says.

The latest example of the brand’s dedication to the concept? Voltaire’s much buzzed about Blue Wing saddle, slated for release this May. As the first-ever “smart” saddle, Blue Wing contains Fitbit-like technology which, when paired with a special app, can help a rider track and understand her horse’s fitness, symmetry, and day-to-day performance. In addition, Blue Wing incorporates patented, ultralight SmartRideTM technology in its tree, which actually moves with the horse to offer unprecedented flexibility and freedom for the shoulder when jumping.

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4. A Look That Turns Heads

Creating a nice-looking piece of tack was a top priority for the brand from the beginning, but if you’ve seen the underside of a Voltaire Design saddle, you know there’s one aspect you’re not likely to forget anytime soon: that brightly colored tree. So what’s the story behind those blue stripes, anyway?

The wide-banded fabric pattern, Ganee explains, is inspired by a practice that dates to the Middle Ages in the Basque region of southwest France (hometown of Voltaire’s founder, Brice Goguet). In the summer, sheep and cows were turned out to graze in the mountains sporting brightly woven “jackets” of striped linen fabric, which, it’s said, both protected them from sun and insects, and helped the farmers identify their herd when the animals were brought down from their grazing lands.

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The fabrics could only include a limited number of colors, says Ganee, and the thicker the stripes, the more prosperous the farmer’s holdings.

Louboutin shoes. (flickr.com/valeyoshino)

Louboutin shoes. (flickr.com/valeyoshino)

As for the saddlers’ peek-a-boo-blue trademark? That choice alludes to a much more modern fashion statement.

“All women are crazy about Louboutin shoes because of the red soles,” says Ganee, adding that Voltaire set out to adopt a similar marketing strategy. And while the old-school hunter crowd took a while to warm up to the idea of bright blue stripes, the Voltaire gamble has finally paid off.

“We wanted to have a trademark, and to make it different,” says Ganee. “It was one of the smarter things we’ve done.