Soap Your Saddle
September 19, 2008
Use these tips to get your tack in tip-top shape.
Rainy days present the perfect opportunity to clean your saddle. You’ll need saddle soap, neatsfoot oil, several rags and sponges, and lots of elbow grease. Because it’s a messy chore, it’s best to put down a sheet of plastic and get to work in the garage or barn aisle.
Here are a few tips:
- Remove all saddle parts: latigo, cinch, back cinch, stirrups, conchos and other silver pieces.
- Scrub the entire saddle – all but the sheepskin on the flipside – under the fenders and in all the nooks and crannies with saddle soap.
- Remove stains from leather with cleaning fluids (or cleaning fluid mixed with cornstarch for stubborn stains).
- Rinse
- Use neatsfoot oil to condition the leather. Do not over-oil the saddle because this will soften it too much.
- When the oil is dry, buff the leather with a soft cloth.
- Use sandpaper to raise the nap of roughouts.
- Straighten out the kinks in saddle strings by pulling them through a leather conditioner-treated cloth held between your thumb and forefinger.
- Use a circular motion to brush suede or roughout seats with a wire, bristle or rubber brush.
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More Tack Tips
- Use toothpaste and a toothbrush to clean grime off bits.
- Hang your bridles from old saddle soap tins nailed to the tack room wall to help them keep their rounded shape.
- When trimming your horse’s ears, place cotton inside them to reduce clipper noise.
- Use the dish-washing tool with the sponge at the end of a hollow tube to clean tack. Fill it with liquid saddle soap instead of dish soap.
- Use a chamois to rub down your horse after a bath.
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Comments
15 Comments on “Soap Your Saddle”
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September 24th, 2008 at 12:26 am
Hello
To much neat’s-foot oil makes the saddle dark. For New and fresh cleaned show saddles we use Talk (Baby powder to keep the saddle light and smooth. It also prevents the scratching and peeping noise when you ride. Best way to handle is to lay the saddle upside down lift the fenders and scatter a lot of powder between all the splits. When all is done sweep the surplus away with a brush or a rag
Regards
Frans
September 24th, 2008 at 7:37 am
My husband was a professional saddle builder for years. He does not recommend saddle soap for leather as it dry’s the leather and often is not rinsed off enough. A damp sponge and a light coat of oil is what he used for restoration etc. They cleaned up just fine.
September 24th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Does anyone have remedy for mold on leather? Used some products but mold re-appeared…..HELP. (I know – careless, but won’t happen again)
September 24th, 2008 at 9:18 am
The University of Florida recommends a 50/50 solution of alcohol and water to remove mold from leather followed by good cleaning and oiling. Don’t saturage the leather and keep using a clean cloth. I have been using this method for a number of years and it works fine but the mold will reappear in time, especially in humid climates. The best thing we have found is to bring our tack in the house in the hot summer months. Not real convienient but it helps.
September 24th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I recently bought a new saddle from a custom saddle maker. He recommended using Olive Oil Spray. One thing I have to say is that any spray sounds like it sure would be handy to use and would reach those hard to reach places. I have not done this yet as the saddle is new, has anyone ever heard of this?
Also what brand of saddle soap would you recommend if someone were to use saddle soap?
I have always used Murphys (for saddle soap) and Neatsfoot (for the oil). All my saddles look great, though the Neatsfoot will darken the saddle. I think any oil would for that matter.
September 24th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
I place our horses bits in the dish washer for a good cleaning. Afterwards I take them out and run them under warm water, and dry off. They are really clean, and less work for me!
September 26th, 2008 at 6:48 am
I have a roughout saddle that got covered with mold ,I tried to clean it with a leather cleaner. but it just absorbed into the saddle. i then tried to scrub it wiht some cleaner that i have, then sprayed it with vniegar and water. i can still smell the mold. any suggestions.
September 28th, 2008 at 9:08 am
We have used olive oil in the past and it seems to work just fine. Many people say neatsfoot oil will rot stitching over long periods of time. They will both darken the leather. I try to oil the saddle from the roughout side from underneath and use very little on the top side. But the best products I have used and prefer are the line from Leather Therapy. They offer cleaners and conditioners.
December 28th, 2008 at 1:49 am
Great web-site!!! You did an amazing job!!! I enjoyed watching the videos!!! You guys are great!
Talking about ideas, there\s this really good show, which I like a lot, and I\m sure you\ve heared about it. It\s called STOMP. What these guys do is so cool, I saw them live in NY. I\m sure you can do the same and even better. It really turns people on. Just an idea, hope it could be any helpful.
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April 29th, 2009 at 7:07 am
Try listerine mouthwash to clean mould off leather…..the alcohol will kill the mould spores, and will give it a nice fresh smell, test on a small area, cheaper saddles with chrome tan hides could have color damage, i would use it on the underside on a small area first and see the results before proceeding, but if the saddle has ben ruined by mould, you probably can’t make it any worse.
Good luck
September 2nd, 2010 at 10:25 am
[...] as you put it on your horse to make sure it isn’t too worn or cracked. A periodic cleaning with saddle soap, followed by a good leather conditioner, will keep your tack supple. Dry leather is more likely to [...]
March 2nd, 2011 at 7:40 am
I have tried baby shampoo for cleaning the saddles reason being the same logical thing that baby products do not have harmful chemicals so it works in favor of me also it solves my purpose of cleaning. I assume using strong chemical product will deteriorate the smooth surface of the saddle.
March 14th, 2011 at 10:35 am
An incredibly post surely!
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April 18th, 2012 at 11:38 am
Skidmore’s leather cream is my choice for oiling and conditioning leather. It will not darken it and has great preserving ingredients. Never use anything else–altho, I did just use olive oil on some reins which is what the maker of the reins used when they were cut. Worked well. Still like Skidsmore’s best and the folks at Skidmore’s are very nice people!
May 22nd, 2012 at 12:00 pm
May 22 2012 I have used LEXOL cleaner and conditioner for 40 plus years and it only darkens slightly.