Recado

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The Recado is a traditional Argentine folk saddle . It was originally used for daily work with cattle.

The specialty of the saddle is its flexibility, which makes it suitable for all horse backs. The Recado does not have a fixed saddle tree, but is divided in the middle, whereby the saddle parts are connected by lacing with leather straps and can thus be individually adjusted.

The Recado consists of several parts that are attached one after the other:

  1. Sudadero. This blanket forms the base and serves as a sweat cloth.
  2. Matra (trama cerrada). A saddlecloth is placed over it, which has felt mats for padding on the front and back. The blanket is usually made of sheep's wool , in earlier times guanaco fur was common.
  3. Basto. This is followed by the actual saddle, which consists of two leather mats that are filled with straw and formed into leather beads and connected to one another with leather straps (raw skin).
  4. A rawhide plate is strapped to the saddle, to which the stirrups and waist belt are attached.
  5. Finally, a thick sheepskin serves as a seat pad , which is strapped to a belt over the saddle.

Matra and seat cushions were used by the gaucho to sleep in large cattle drives.

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