Has anyone tried one? Reviews? Good or bad?
If you are talking about the saddles that the huasos in Chile and the gauchos in Uruguay and Argentina use I rode in one once. I was so saddle sore afterwards because the thick layers of sheepskin spread my legs WIDE (I was around 8 years old.) It did feel a lot softer than an English saddle.
These saddles have no real tree, they have two wooden cylinders with straps across the back to which they attach the girth and stirrups.
Jackie- Pampas saddles are an endurance type saddle with a kevlar/flexible tree. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i8nocyjbqsk
Thank you 4horses, it was very interesting.
It looks like an interesting saddle though it is not like the old type gaucho saddles of Argentina. If I was in the market for an endurance saddle I would certainly be interested.
Down in the Argentine pampas there used to be a lot of area to ride in and the cattle horses had to cover a lot of ground, so there is an excellent chance that this saddle has been thoroughly checked out on horses’ backs.
I decided to pass. The girth is rigged too far back. While the rigging might be fixable by a leather worker, not sure it is worth the effort. The girth falls behind the stirrups. That won’t work for my horses.
