Sunday, January 22, 2012

Sadle and tack cleaners for my new horses tack?

What I use in my store to keep the saddles I sell nice and supple is a product called Leather CPR. it cleans, conditons and softens the leather. We have florescent lighting in the store and my saddle stans are three tiered so the saddles get pretty close tot he lights. Before I started using this on the saddles when I took over the equine section, all the leather tack was dried out, disclored and in horrible condition. We had to clearance a lot out to get it gone and get all new stuff. i started using the Leather CPR and have noticed not only is there no drying out of the leather but some of the older stuff that had dried out has regained almost 95% of it's suppleness. I personally don't like neatsfoot oil but you can use it and it will darken leather to an extent. For heavens sake though do not soak anything in neatsfoot oil overnight. Yes you will get a nice rich brown color especially if you had light tack and wnated it darker, however exposing it to that much neatsfoot oil for that long of a time will cause the stitching to rot more quickly than regular use. If it is light and you don't like the color of it, rub it every other day with the enatsfoot oil, let it sit for about and hour and then wipe off the excess. Mink oil will also darken leather some and it's a "jelly" type pastey product, you rub it in , let stand 15 minutes and rub off the excess. It also helps to condition and waterproof your tack to an extent. as for silver cleaning (not bits though) i love "mother's mag polis" you can find it at an auto supply store, it is generally used on rims and what not on cars but I have found it works wonders cleaning old silver and maintaing the shine of new silver. Sponges i just use the 12 pack of synthetic sponges you can buy at any tack shop, though some people prefer a natural sponge. It really is a personal choice. Shampoos and conditoner are we talking for the horse? My fave (b/c I have palominos and greys) is white n brite shampoo. it darkesn the dark colors and makes whites sparkle. Conditoner I use the cowboy magic demineralizer conditoner. Boot shine to be honest I am not the one that shines my boots! i'll clean them but my dad who is an ex-marine and now retired police officer shines them for me! lol Having been a marine he can get a hell yeah shine on them that I can't get so about once a month hhe shines my boots up nice:) I deep clean my tack once a month at home and the store tack i do weekly. Everytime I am done riding I try and wipe it all down with a chamois cloth. This method has worked well for me for over 10 years. I have a super nice barrel saddle that cost more than my current horse and it still looks like it's maybe 2 years old instead of 10 even the silver on it!

No comments:

Post a Comment