So I ended up trying the aachen today, unfortunately it was not a good fit for me :[ My trainer rode in it first, as soon as she sat down she said she didn't even want to move just sit there since it was comfortable as a couch, and she told me Im not sending it back (before I tried it ) lol! She rides in a wintec since her county is custom fitted to her horse, and she said "Forget the wintecs!" haha! It truly was nice and soft and comfortable, but I believe my problem was the medium twist (or some people call it a wide twist but the website states medium). When I sat down it did feel really nice, but when I started to trot was where the problem was. My horse is not a sensitive horse, he takes A LOT of leg and contact to get going, and with the bigger kneeblocks, and deep seat, it was hard for me to get him going because he does take a lot of leg and some whip. Once I got going when i posted my crotch kept hitting the pommel area, when I sat the trot it rubbed bad at the top of my crotch on the pommel, very uncomfortable and annoying feeling. I did order the 18 inch, I have always ridden in 17.5inch so I really dont think it was the seat size per se, Im thinking it was that wider twist, since Im used to a narrow twist.
We finished our lesson in my AP wintec 500 saddle, it was like going from a nice luxury car to a low quality car lol. I HATE my wintec now, after seeing what true comfort feels like, now I realize how my wintec tips me forward and feels so uncomfortable. I just wish the Aachen had worked for me, it was so nice, but since I just started dressage I do mostly posting trot. I will get some pics up soon, I forgot to take pics of how it fit my horse, but I did get one pic of his back, the medium fit him decently, we thought it might be a little snug but not too bad. I will put it on a chair and get some pics of how it looks. I already called smartpak and now waiting on my return tag :[ So for anyone looking at the aachen, very nice and comfortable saddle for the price, did stain my new white dressage pad though lol after a 15 min ride but thats okay, deep seat (my trainer said it wasnt the deepest one she has seen of course, but to me it was deep haha), keeps you nice and snug, but definitely not a saddle that fits anybody. My friend is opening up her tack store at our barn next month, and today my trainer told me shes having a saddle fitter come. So what Im going to do is just hold off on buying another saddle and wait until the saddle fitter comes, by then my guy will be more muscled and filled out anyways. Hope this review helped some!