Horse Saddle Care

Taking care of your horse saddle is critical. The leather and metallic parts can quickly deteriorate if not properly maintained. Saddles are a pretty expensive purchase, so in order to protect your investment you want to care for your saddle properly on a regular basis.

A good cleaning every thirty days or so should e adequate. This will be enough to stop build up of dirt and rust on the components of your saddle. If you use your saddle more frequently you may also want to increase the frequency of your cleaning regiment to err on the safe side.

Saddles have a long lifespan in general, but if they are not cared for they can rot and deteriorate rapidly. It is also always important to use some sort of leather oil when caring for your saddle once you have cleaned it. This will help to preserve the leather.

You can straddle your horse saddle over a fence to scrub it. You may use water and a mild soap to begin cleaning, but do not soak or saturate the leather too deeply. You can use a medium soft brush to scrub the leather, but be careful not to shred or tear it.

If you can dismantle the saddle to clean it, that would be ideal. Dirt and molds can build up in nooks and crannies. These can at the worst make you or your horse ill and at best cause quite a foul odor. It is always a good idea to do a thorough job of cleaning your horse’s saddle, rather than saving time by skipping the detail work.

Before you begin working on the leather of your horse saddle, put the metal parts to soak in water. When you are done scrubbing the leather, you can finish cleaning these components. Remember never to soak the leather and don’t forget about the metal parts left in the water when you are done cleaning the rest of the saddle.

Remember that the horse is in contact with the underside of the saddle, so do not forget to clean this part as well. You will also need to clean all straps and harnesses and any metal pieces that are connected to the saddle core. Be sure these are allowed to dry before the saddle is stored to prevent rusting.

Clean parts are now ready for an application of some sort of protectant, both the leather and metal parts. When applying the oils to leather, do so evenly so that it doesn’t leave strange smears and streaks and be sure to clean away any extra drips or pools of oil that accumulate.

Once you have oiled your saddle and thoroughly dried off all of the leather and metallic parts, it is time to reassemble your saddle, Hopefully, you have kept careful track of all the parts that you detached. Do not leave any parts out when putting it back together or the saddle may fall apart or fail during use.

Taking Care Of your horse saddle will prolong it’s usefulness. You are working to keep up it’s looks and it’s functionality. Rust and rot can break down a saddle and have a negative effect on you or your horse’s health. If you tend to your horse saddle on a regular basis, you should have no problems keeping it in great, usable riding condition.