Padd, Art équestre, Decathlon or La Sellerie Française: what to compare before you buy

When a rider looks for tack, four names come up quickly: Padd, Art équestre, Decathlon and La Sellerie Française. They do not sell the same thing, and that is what makes the comparison worth doing. Before looking at prices, know what you are buying: a mass-produced item taken off a shelf, or a piece made for you by the person whose name is on it.

Four ways to buy, in one table

Padd

Padd is a specialist retailer of horse and rider equipment with a network of shops and an online store. It carries the sector's major brands, from care products to clothing, with a distributor's depth of range: several models per use, in stock, to try on in the aisle. It is the practical address for everyday gear, when you want to compare several brands in one place.

Art équestre

Art équestre is also a specialist retailer, leaning towards the rider: clothing, safety and comfort, with a full horse department. Its strength is the shop, where you try a pair of boots or a hat with a salesperson who knows the sizes. As at Padd, the pieces come from third-party brands; the retailer distributes, it does not make.

Decathlon

Decathlon treats riding like its other sports: products from its own brands, designed for the widest audience and made in volume, at entry-level prices. To start out, stock up on consumables or dress a child who is still growing, it is often the cheapest choice. Made to measure and repairs do not exist there; a piece that does not fit is exchanged, not altered.

La Sellerie Française

La Sellerie Française is not a retailer but a marketplace: 74 workshops of saddlers, harness makers and leather craftsmen sell directly what they make, 734 pieces on sale today, from a saddle to a halter engraved with your horse's name. The difference is not the catalogue, it is the relationship. Every listing is written by the workshop; the price is the workshop's, with no distributor between them and you; the piece is made to order, within the lead time the workshop states, and shipped from its bench.

In practice that changes three things. First, fit: a halter, a bridle or a saddle is ordered to your horse's measurements, following the workshop's measuring guide, rather than in a standard size you will have to make do with. Then personalisation: leather, thread colour, buckles, engraving are manufacturing options, not catalogue extras. Finally, longevity: a hand-stitched leather piece can be repaired, and the person who made it is best placed to do so. Each workshop states on its page what it makes itself and where; "made in France" there is a verifiable fact, not a slogan.

To see what a workshop order asks of you, measurements, lead times, questions to ask, read our guide to preparing an order from an artisan saddler, and browse the workshops to see who makes what.

So, where to buy?

The four are not mutually exclusive. Consumables, everyday clothing and a child's first kit are well served by a retailer or a generalist, in stock and at the best price. A piece you will keep for fifteen years, that has to fit your horse rather than an average size, or that you want with your name on it, is ordered from someone who makes it. That piece is what La Sellerie Française exists for.