Overhead view of a horse being lunged beneath the glass dome of the Grand Palais, diamond-pattern shadows cast across the sand

Saut
Hermès

Name: Saut Hermès au Grand Palais
Start: 2026-03-20
End: 2026-03-22
Location: Grand Palais

au Grand Palais Jumping International CSI 5*
20, 21, 22 mars 2026

L'événement

Au petit galop !

En 2026, le Saut Hermès accueille, pour sa seizième édition, les meilleurs cavaliers du monde et leurs montures à bord de la nef du Grand Palais pour un concours international 5* d'exception.

Le fleuve s'étire vers l'ouest, les oiseaux survolent la verrière. Sous la coupole du Grand Palais, au cœur de Paris, le sable a recouvert la piste et le sol des galeries. Entre élégance des épreuves, créativité des mises en scène et moments de partage avec le public, le Saut Hermès au Grand Palais devient un univers à part entière, un espace où l'excellence sportive dialogue avec l'art et l'imaginaire.

The Event

Off at a canter!

In 2026, for its sixteenth edition, the Saut Hermès once again welcomes the world's finest riders and their mounts beneath the immense nave of the Grand Palais for a 5-star international showjumping competition of the highest level.

The river stretches towards the west, birds fly over the glass roof, while under the dome of the Grand Palais, in the heart of Paris, sand has covered the arena and floors of the galleries. Between the elegance of the events, the creativity of the staging and the moments shared with the public, the Saut Hermès at the Grand Palais becomes a world of its own — a space where sporting excellence enters into dialogue with art and imagination.

“The call to venture beyond is everything that draws us out of ourselves towards the unknown — that beautiful risk to be taken.”
Pierre-Alexis Dumas, Artistic Director of Hermès

Hermès silk scarves display against a painted backdrop of red and blue stripes

Scott Brash on Hello Chadora Lady clearing a fence at the Grand Prix Hermès

Stratified painterly landscape — coral, pink, burgundy, yellow, amber layers

Le concours

The competition

The Interview

Behind the Scenes
at the Saut Hermès

Hermès’ equestrian métier director Ugo Borao on the magic of the Maison’s horse show at the Grand Palais.

Words by Susanne Madsen · Photography by Christophe Tanière

If you’ve never been to a showjumping competition before, the Saut Hermès in Paris is a spectacular place to start. Be warned, though: it will make you think all horse shows come with curated equestrian bookshops, live saddle-making, colour-coordinated ponies for children to practice brushing on, and obstacles that look like oversize decorative objects. So apologies if at some point you get dragged to watch a novice class in a field outside Woking and it’s not quite the same thing.

“The Saut Hermès is a celebration of the horse and all the ways in which the horse inspires the Maison,” says Ugo Borao, equestrian métier director at Hermès. The event is three days of undiluted horse worship at the pinnacle of the sport, gathering the world’s top international riders for a CSI5* showjumping event under the Belle Epoque glass roof of the Grand Palais. The venue is intrinsically linked to the horse. Built in 1900, it began hosting horse shows the following year, putting up its four-legged guests in stables below the building. Today, they check in to white tent hotels outside, complete with shower rooms and on-call vets, physiotherapists and farriers.

The Saut features seasoned Olympians with a side of upcoming talent, in Grand Prix classes at a dizzying 1.60 metres and Under-25 classes bringing together the best young riders. This weekend, world number one Scott Brash from Great Britain and his nimble mare Hello Chadora Lady took home the winning trophy and €400,000 in prize money in the prestigious Grand Prix du Saut Hermès. For riders, the Grand Palais is an exciting technical challenge. Partnerships are tested with challenging courses designed by master course designer Santiago Varela, in a narrow 70x30 metre arena where the glass roof casts beautiful but tricky light and shadows, something which affects how the horses see the jumps.

“This is why the riders that we have here must be real good ones, with good horses. And we are lucky to have almost, I think, 30% of the top 100 here,” Borao comments. From the young riders, rising star Mathieu Guery from Belgium made quite the splash in the U25s. The son of Hermès’ partner rider Jerome Guery, he won the 1.40m opening class on Friday, came second in the 1.45m Saturday class, and third in Sunday’s 1.45m team competition. “He’s a very talented young rider,” Borao says, noting how his riding style mimics his father’s. “He looks the same when he rides. I love it.”

Overhead view of horse and rider walking beneath the Grand Palais glass dome, diamond-pattern shadows cast across the sand

You can always immediately spot Hermès partner riders. The jockeys will be in streamlined Hermès tailoring and technical fabrics with Hermès leather-strap helmets, matched by their horses wearing quilted saddlepads and crochet ears worn to muffle audience sounds. And, of course, their Hermès saddles and bridles – the pieces that remain at the heart of Hermès. Long before Birkin bags and deerskin leather jackets, this is where it all began in 1837, when Thierry Hermès opened a harness-maker workshop and soon added made to measure saddles to his offerings.

“Once the car arrived in the streets of Paris, equestrian always remained a very dynamic métier for us. You know, it’s not a story that we tell. It’s really something we live,” Borao notes, adding: “The horse is the DNA of Hermès. Hermès has always had a key role in the evolution of the relationship between the human being and the horse.” In fact, the saddlery under the roof at 24 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré is so busy that the Maison has opened an additional one in Normandy.

Horse and rider glimpsed through the dark archway entrance of the Grand Palais, silhouetted against the sunlit arena

Saut Hermès ambience — detail of Hermès craftsmanship

“We had a very famous saddle in the 70s called the Steinkraus, which was the saddle at the time, very close contact,” Borao explains. Many models have followed since, and always close-contact, the latest being the Vivace, which has extra spine clearance. “We are developing and producing saddles that really get the rider closer to the horse and facilitate free movement.”

One craftsman makes his or her own saddle from beginning to end, which takes more than 35 hours, of course using the secure Hermès saddle stitch done with one thread and two needles. “You have to master wood for the tree, which is the skeleton of the saddle, you have to master canvas, you have to master leather, all at once in something very thin.” And, Borao adds, your client isn’t just the rider, but also the horse. “And the horse is a difficult client because he doesn’t speak. So you need to be extremely cautious, precise and humble to create something that fits him perfectly.”

Partner riders are often part of developing new saddles, bringing their feedback to the Maison. Hermès works closely with UK showjumper and current world number three, Ben Maher, who rides in the Vivace. “It’s a light saddle, a pure saddle. It’s really the idea of form following function. You can really ride standing up, going forward. It’s quite modern in the riding style,” Borao says.

The saddlery often gets Hermès saddles in for a refresh, and it’s not unusual to see one from the 1920s. “One month ago, at the craft shop, we had a saddle belonging to the grandfather of one of our partner riders. It was a Steinkrauss from the 50s, I think, perfect. And we said, ‘We have to be careful’. And they said, ‘No, don’t worry. I ride with it every weekend’. The grandfather continues to use it, just to go for a walk in the woods with his horse. We have a lot of stories like that. We have artisans who work in the Maison for a long time, 30, 40 years, and sometimes we have a saddle coming back for repair, and he discovers that actually this is a saddle he did the first year he was an artisan. It’s beautiful.”

Jeanne Sadran on Dexter de Kerglenn at the Grand Prix Hermès

Jeanne Sadran & Dexter de Kerglenn — Grand Prix Hermès, Sunday

Julien Epaillard on Easy Up de Grandry at Le Saut Hermès

Julien Epaillard & Easy Up de Grandry — Le Saut Hermès, Saturday

Scott Brash & Hello Chadora Lady — Grand Prix Hermès, Sunday

Pieter Devos on Jarina J at Le Saut Hermès

Pieter Devos & Jarina J — Le Saut Hermès, Saturday

Martin Fuchs on Conner Jei at the Grand Prix Hermès

Martin Fuchs & Conner Jei — Grand Prix Hermès, Sunday

Malin Baryard-Johnsson on Hennessy at Le Saut Hermès

Malin Baryard-Johnsson & Hennessy — Le Saut Hermès, Saturday

Voices

From the Arena

“The Saut Hermès is a celebration of the horse and all the ways in which the horse inspires the Maison.”
Ugo BoraoHermès Equestrian Métier Director

“The horse is a difficult client because he doesn’t speak. So you need to be extremely cautious, precise and humble to create something that fits him perfectly.”
Ugo BoraoOn the craft of saddle-making

“It’s a light saddle, a pure saddle. It’s really the idea of form following function. You can really ride standing up, going forward. It’s quite modern in the riding style.”
Ugo BoraoOn the Vivace saddle & Ben Maher

Percussive Harmonies

Ten horses, ten riders,
ten musicians

Each day, horses, riders, and musicians engage in a subtle dialogue beneath the emblematic glass roof of the Grand Palais — a poetic fusion of equestrian art and percussive music by Les Percussions de Strasbourg.

Key Figures