I’m curious if anyone here has had the opportunity to ride in a gaucho saddle (also called recado criollo I think). I’m very intrigued by them but can’t seem to find a lot of info about them on the internet. Anyone here own one or even just ride in one? What were your thoughts on fit, comfort, etc? Also, if you own one, where did you get it?
I rode in a Chilean Huaso (their term for Gaucho) saddle once. Think of the widest seat saddle you have ridden in and add some. Of course I was just 8 years old and my legs were not very long. I was SO SORE after that ride! I never got to ride in an Uruguayan Gaucho saddle, but I think they were similar to the Chilean ones.
The sheepskin cover was quite soft to sit in, but these saddles often have several layers that can add up on a roly-poly horse. If I remember correctly the stirrup leathers were hooked around the saddle tree (which was a separate piece of the saddle). The Chilenos back then used hand carved toe closed wooden stirrups, very heavy and I do not ever remember seeing stirrups run up on a gaucho saddle. I would not really want to use any non-safety or open stirrup irons on them. The solid closed toe stirrups–you could not get hung up on them if you fall unlike regular stirrups that do not have a tapadero on the stirrup.
Sorry I do not remember more, that ride was almost 60 years ago.
I have. They somehow remind me of a fancy bareback pad with stirrups. You can buy them from the Argentine polo outfitters if you look hard enough. From what I have seen they all seem to be handmade.
http://www.aleleder.com.ar/gauchoingles.htm
There are a bunch of good pics on that page of the saddles and different parts etc
Thank you for the responses everyone! Aleleder and Arandu are some of the shops I’m looking at but I just wanted to hear first hand what it was like before I shell out any money for something I’ve never sat in.
I have a nice jump saddle I like but I want a kick around saddle for sorting and trail riding. These saddles piqued my interest as they seem to perform a lot of the same functions as a western saddle but are lighter and cheaper (and will hopefully fit my Argentinian horse!).
It is definitely different. I am pretty sure they are a lot like polo saddles in that they are meant to fit basically any polo-type horse- especially if they are Argentine. I say go for it and if you don’t like the saddle you can sell it pretty quickly to some polo person. My only reservation would be the cleaning. Looks like it would be a real pain to clean the traditional rawhide stirrups and whatnot. I have a couple of horses who go in rawhide caveson or drop noseband and they are absolutely foul, with no hope of ever being truly clean.
Interesting saddles, they look like McClellan saddles. Are they treeless? For some reason they look like they are.
Looking at the models at aleleder, I think they look not nearly as comfortable as the Spanish/Portuguese saddles - Vaquera, Portrera, etc. The wooly one looks interesting, but as mentioned there are other saddles that look like that. (Christ Lammerfell, etc.). Or you can throw a big sheepskin over whatever saddle you own! 
(I noticed the Queen’s Guard and various mounted police do this - throw a huge sheepskin over the whole works. So much easier to sit for however many hours they have to sit their horses per day). :winkgrin:
(The Vaquera is sheepskin over a tree made of various fibers, the end result being something softer than a wooden tree, which molds gradually to the rider’s shape).
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Yes they are. I think the channel is supposed to keep you off the horse’s spine and the panels redistribute the rider’s weight, but the “tree” is flexible.
The sheepskin is actually considered the last “layer” of the saddle. On Arandu they sell the pieces individually, but I don’t believe anyone rides without the sheepskin top layer. You are right that they share a lot of DNA with the vaquero saddles of Spain (I think the gaucho saddles also mold to the horse) but I think the Spanish saddles have a more of an actual tree. I was looking at those too at Zaldi etc. but it sounds like they fit a more Iberian back which my horse definitely does not have.
I actually already have a Christ sheepskin for my English saddle, but you can never have too many right? 
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Thank you for telling me this! I was looking at the matching rawhide bridles but now I’m reconsidering if they smell.
I think it would be possible to put regular stirrups on these saddles if the raw hide is icky right? It looks like there is a lady online who resells the Aleledor saddles with regular leather/iron stirrups.
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I bet there’s a way to make just about any modification work on the gaucho saddles. They are certainly beautiful, but for ease of use and maintenance I might go with a more modern version using a combo of this: https://www.statelinetack.com/item/king-series-classic-distance-rider-saddle/AKA08%20DKOIL%20165W/?srccode=GPSLT&gclid=CjwKCAiA8rnfBRB3EiwAhrhBGqe0s0vL-I1MCqdCGn3lg6_bD2ymF_RXEWprjmt5V1eC-QUuWEtUKhoC6nUQAvD_BwE
and a sheepskin mat from Ikea on top. The ikea sheepskins are so cheap and useful. You could get some leather lacing and find a way to secure it to the saddle. You could even get one of the dark gray Ikea skins, so it won’t get as dirty-looking. Darn it now I want to make one of these!
Oh I forgot to add- the rawhide doesn’t exactly smell, but it just gets really gross. Think of a rawhide dog toy. When it’s wet it’s slimy. When it’s dry it’s hard. The dirt and sweat gets all up in the folds and crevices and you just have to live with it until you replace that part and start over again. I have one braided rawhide caveson and rawhide-enforced standing martingale set that really gives off a campy vibe, but is the only thing that works on a certain super strong horse of mine. I am a little OCD about tack cleaning, so the fact that it cannot be totally scrubbed and oiled to perfection irritates me to no end.
I know what you mean about soggy dog toys! Yuck, I think I’ll stick with my polo bridle hahaha
My mare is almost 26 so we’re not really playing polo any more but part of me just can’t seem to let go and grow out her mane and buy a western saddle…That King saddle you linked looks very sensible for what I want to do, but part of me still wants to live out my pillowy gaucho fantasy…
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In the pampas and other non-forested areas of South America they could not make big hulking saddle trees.
So the “tree”, if I remember correctly, was two leather covered wooden cylinders, joined over the horse’s back with rawhide strips?
Both the girth and stirrup straps went around these wooden tree cylinders, above several other layers, and then covered with other layers and the sheepskin.
If the gauchos/huasos wanted to rope a critter the end of the rope was often tied to the horse’s tail. On the pampas they used bolos (sp?) two rawhide stone (or was it wood) spheres, connected around two feet from the balls. These were thrown to entangle the animals’ legs. I never saw this happen but it must be effective since they have done it for centuries.
