# Anyone heard of Strada saddles?



## Oldred (23 December 2008)

Anyone know anything about these saddles? Be grateful for anyone's opinion good or bad as looking to investigate their dressage saddle for my cob.


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## RachelB (23 December 2008)

Strada are the only saddles that fitted both my shared horse (Anglo Arab with back issues) and my friend's horse (also Anglo Arab with back issues!) The memory foam type panels are good but take a long while to warm up in winter (it comes out of the tack cupboard rock solid and needs 10 minutes min to warm up enough for me to sit on without Berlin getting sensitive). It's an ok saddle as things go (dressage one), a bit big for me in the seat so I find it hard to ride in.
Both my friends have had numerous problems with both their horses until they used the Strada saddles. They just seem to suit their (very similar conformation) horses!


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## HLB (23 December 2008)

Yes i do, i knew them when they were bringing the saddle out but i never liked them as the foam takes so long to heat up, plus once heated they seem to still be hard and difficult to remold, so i dont think that they would mould to the horse while he was moving??  i also used one and i hated it but thats me


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## Happytohack (23 December 2008)

I had a look at these saddles for my difficult to fit Clydesdale x.  Candy Cameron, who is an advanced endurance rider and has done the Golden Horseshoe many times, swears by these saddles - when I was at Exmoor this year I had a long talk to her about the saddles and yes, in cold weather, they do take a bit of warming up, but that said - she told me she hasn't had any back problems with any of her endurance horses since using these saddles and she does many, many miles in them.  She also uses them on her Highlands in her trekking centre.  TBH it was the price that put me off - my horse was just a happy hack and I couldn't justify spending £1500 on a saddle for her, so carried on in my old faithful Torsion treeless.  However, I was quite impressed with the Strada saddle as it was fairly light.  The only drawback is that it doesn't come in different seat sizes and as I am tall and no long svelte 
	
	
		
		
	


	




, I needed a 17.5 inch minimum and it wasn't really big enough for me.


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## Ali2 (24 December 2008)

We tried one for our fella.  It was a nice saddle but only coming in one seat size it was too small for my OH!  Also I didn't like how long it took to warm up and my horse didn't seem that impressed with that aspect of it either.  Having said that quite a lot of people seem to love them and I must say that the lady who sells them was very helpful and gave us a free loan for a week so the service was good.

We've now got a WOW which we all like.

Horses for courses!


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## Oldred (24 December 2008)

Thanks for comments. All very helpful. Looks like I'll just have to try them on the horse although its yet more saddlers call out fees to cough up. Must have spent £££'s on this already!


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## RachelB (24 December 2008)

[ QUOTE ]
Yes i do, i knew them when they were bringing the saddle out but i never liked them as the foam takes so long to heat up, plus once heated they seem to still be hard and difficult to remold

[/ QUOTE ]
My instructor tested a prototype and told them they'd have to sort the panels out as they were rock solid in winter. She had a good look at my share horse's one and is sure it's much better. All I do is stick the saddle on at least 10 minutes before I want to ride, then it's soft enough to sit on. It's perfecftly mouldable once soft - you can stick your fingers right in it and it will stay there for a while once you've taken them away. It "freezes" flat though (hence why it needs re-heating before sitting on).
My two friends love theirs but TBH I wouldn't buy one. If I had that sort of money I'd be buying a Wow anyway!


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