de Cross Equitation Luneville Home Contacts & Links Saddle Woes Testimonials Technology + fitting Knowledge Horze Products Esprit de Cross ... performance enhanced, for the serious competitor. Designed especially for going over large obstacles & across country at speed. Very light in weight with reduced flexibility in the tree to perform its best while being ridden on the stirrups. Our promise for 2009 was our purpose made jumping saddle - a performance enhanced masterpiece! The Strada Esprit de Cross Saddle’s unique design, offers a seamless interface between horse and rider. The Esprit de Cross is designed for riding on the stirrups - two point, cross country and all jumping phases. The tree in the Esprit de Cross has a more stablised tree to combat the demands of weight distribution and pressure, ensuring that comfort for the horse is paramount during the demands of the jumping disciplines. The de Cross saddle enables enhanced performance by remaining completely balanced throughout the motion of jumping, daring the horse to jump uninhibited, to the best of their ability. 
Unlike most other manufacturers, we design and make our own trees, on which we construct our saddles. The importance of fit and shape can never be over emphasised. The frame within the saddle, most importantly, must be the same shape as your horses back - which ulitmately means perfect balance & evenly distributed pressure. The Strada Esprit de Cross has our Absorboflex© tree, which comes in 5 tree shapes to fit all types of horses. The absorboflex© tree is less flexible than the superflex® tree in our dressage & equitation saddles, giving better longitudinal stability to accommodate the jumping disciplines. The cantle angle is acute and low giving the rider more room to get back in the saddle if necessary. The five tree types are identical in fit to our dressage saddles apart from a slight curve at the rear to accommodate the horses back shape during some cross country obstacles e.g. Steep descent into a water complex. Each tree is made from high quality birch ply, kevlar and carbon fibre. There are no metal components apart from the stainless steel stirrup bar. It is extremely light in weight. Next, our panels, made from heat sensitive materials, that at body temperature, automatically adjust with pressure and release - much like the feeling of firm, unflexed muscle. For example, sit relaxed in a chair - push on your thigh muscle - the way this compresses and releases under pressure is much the same as our panels. Allowing the movements of the horses back to have continuous and correct panel contact, keeps the horses back muscles health and strong and gives a great feeling to the horse and rider. The panels will never require alteration or re-packing and are specially designed and made by Strada Saddles. On all Strada saddles the stirrup bar position, girth attachments, design and weight of our saddles provide comfort and freedom-of-movement for the horse. This allows the rider to sit easily and effectively apply riding aids. The Esprit de Cross is the newest saddle to our range, and we are proud to say, a world class performance saddle. “We must never allow mindless tradition to stand between logic and progress” NZD * $5,060 (all inclusive within NZ) & includes stirrup leathers
 
The fitting system of Strada Saddles, is based on shape - not size. We’ve identified that particular shapes and characteristics are specific to breeds - and reflected in 5 different tree types to suit these shapes - below is listed as a guide. Requesting a fitting session, best determines the exact type for your horse:
S tree fits a typical Thoroughbred shape with a high steep wither pitch & straight back on profile.
W tree fits very small/fine TB's, lite endurance Arabs or Anglo-Arabs 
I tree fits straight shaped backs of  Iberians, Andalusions and some warmbloods
C tree fits wide barrel type rib cage with characteristically short back, mounded shoulders & curve in the middle of the back
IC tree fits muscular shouldered breeds (Warmbloods, Stationbred) with a sloping ribcage & short coupled.
Once the tree shape is determined for your horse - a saddle is made.  We don’t hold stock - saddles are made to specification. Varying leather types, and a variety of leather colours, piping & stitching are all available at the same price. You have the choice of a dressage, jumping, multi-purpose or endurance saddle - each have elements that are specific to their requirements.