Cleaning Tack

I find cleaning tack relaxing (well, cleaning saddles, that is. Bridles and halters, not so much. Too many pieces to put back together like a puzzle!) I'd been wanting to clean my saddles for a while but just had not had the time to do so. Today was the day.

My English saddle is a very high quality one - a German Sommer. It puts your seat right where it belongs and is so easy to ride in.

 Sadly, it had patches of silver mold growing on it from the humidity.

 A closeup of the mold. Fortunately, the mold washed right off when I applied the saddle soap.

I smiled when I saw these random holes in my stirrup leathers as I cleaned them.

See how they're not evenly spaced or sized? That's because someone punched them in there, not the saddlemaker.

Saddlemaker holes are evenly spaced, beautifully punched, and numbered so you can remember which stirrup length you need even if someone has borrowed your saddle and changed the stirrup length. Those holes are from when my horse, Indy, was used by the Champaign Park District for their therapeutic riding program and he had a variety of adults and children riding him and the stirrups had to be adjusted to accommodate all those riders.

(At this point I wondered if I would have to shorten my right leather a bit now that my right leg is shorter than the other due to my hip replacement. Hmmmm.)

 Here's my saddle, all cleaned, conditioned, and polished. I love the soft gleam of newly cleaned, well worn leather!

Then I tackled my western saddle. It's a good saddle, too. I began saving for a horse when I was in elementary school - I had a mason jar on my dresser and I would put my allowance and babysitting money in it. I even had a note inside to any potential thieves who might break in and take it, telling them that I was saving for a horse and to please not take my money!! When I got Amy, my parents bought her and I bought this saddle with the money in that mason jar.

My western saddle did not have any mold, but it was dusty and the leather a bit dry. See that tooling? That is SO hard to clean. I needed a toothbrush to get into the nooks and crannies, but had not brought one with me. So, I did my best.

The cleaned saddle. Not bad for one that is 45+ years old! While it doesn't gleam quite like the English saddle does, clearly you can see it looks much better now that I've given it some attention.

I am home now and all the rags I used to clean, condition, and polish are in the washer. I hope to head back out later this evening or tomorrow and do a couple of Tim's saddles.