Next to your horse, your saddle is likely the most expensive part of your equine gear. For this reason alone, it pays to take care of it and do everything you can to preserve it.When you clean your saddle, you don’t need to throw the entire arsenal of products at it each time. Many times a dusting will do.
While bath soaps and shower gels might be good for your own hide, they’re not so good for the hide used to make saddles. In addition, grease, fats, and heavy oils also leave a coating that clogs leather pores. Plus, the now-sticky surface can attract and hold dirt that you will grind in the next time you ride. Stick with basic, pure,cleaning.
Simply a towel with water,to remove any sweat, dust, dirt, mud, hair, or other debris.
Extra virgin Olive oil of good quality when needed on dry spots.
Don’t store your saddle standing up on its fork, lying on its side, or hanging by the horn on a rope. Over time, these positions can put the wrong kind of pressure on the tree or cause the skirts to become misshapen. It’s best to keep your saddle on a saddle stand or saddle rack whenever it isn’t on a horse.
Failure to care for your gear and specially your Girth correctly,and allowing sweat to build up in the Fabric,will cause the material to become hard and eventually crack,clean with water after every ride,little oliveoil on dry places..
Stirrup leather and Saddle girth straps hardly need any moisturizer,but gets often the most moisturized.
certain times when I’m around I don’t understand riders’ handling of the equipment … and I’m not stuffy … but … very shocked in some cases.
For those riders who do not care for the equipment that much, I simply suggest single Calf leather that is more hardy.
Check your wear,especially the stitching ,as you clean the tack. If it breaks while riding,it could cause an accident and injure both you and your horse.
Give your tack a wipe down after every use,it will take high 5 min.
Take care not to use too much Humidity,water is particularly hard on leather as wet leather will stretch,steel work and rivets inside the saddle could rust.
Also ,if leather is dried too quickly,by a radiator for example,it can get very hard and worst crack.
Use a towel to mop up excess water,but do not rub,than leave the saddle to dry naturally is my advise.
You can irreparably damage saddle leather by over-cleaning, over-conditioning, or over-oiling it, so be careful only moisturize your gear when needed and thats not often.
Humidity is particularly hard on leather.
Oiled flaps can soften the leather, making them too flexible.
Treat your saddle with respect and as your nicest leather shoes.
I hope this could help you to a healthy saddle.
Thank you for reading.
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