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Well my qualifications are that I worked in a high end dressage training
barn and this is what we did, saddles and bridles looked great, felt great
and where used hard daily.  But we cleaned them every repeat every day and
I don't do that any more so first is what we did for daily cleaning and
what I do now.  First we only used bar gylcerine soap and if we oiled,
which was very very rare, we used pure neatsfoot oil, not a compound.  So I
am assuming the tack you have is dirty or has not had regular cleaning.

We would wipe the dirt off as much as possible with a wet rag.  Then we
would soap up a clean rag with the glycerine soap rub it in and wipe it
off. If the leather was damp we would wait for it to dry.  If at the point
it seemed dry enough that it needed oil (we would give it a very very light
coating of oil).  Let it soak in for several hours if not over night.  We
would then wipe off any excess oil (usually wasn't any excess) and then
take a barely moisten sponge (ok we would spit on the bar of soap and have
a dry sponge because you really don't want much liquid) and wipe it on the
glycerine soap and just rub it on the saddle and leave it on as it forms a
protective coating.  (Hey also gives a little stickiness which is nice with
those bigggg warm blood trots).  Then the next day assuming it was used, at
the end of the day we would take a damp cloth wipe the tack off and do the
light (with the spit or little bit of water) glycerine soap routine.  That
way the glycerine protects the leather against sweat (which is bad for
leather) and dirt.

Ok with that said my current routine is:  When the saddle is so dirty I
can't stand it any more, I soap it up with glycerine soap, wipe off excess
soap, check to see if it needs oil, if so on goes the light coat of oil and
I let it sit for hey maybe 30 minutes while I go do something else.  Wipe
off excess, and put a light coat of  glycerine soap on.  Promise myself
that I will wipe off the saddle and bridle every time I use it with Leather
New spray I actually go out and buy the Leather New, put it in my tack room
where it promply disappears and I never see it again.  Then sometime in the
future I look at my saddle and think mmm it needs to be cleaned and I do it
again.


When I use real stirrup leathers (I tend to use Wintec ones) I rarely oil
them but I do buy the no stretch kind.  Oiling stirrup leathers is
controversial because oil can stretch the leather.  Same with billets, if
you feel the need to oil the billets do it judiciously.  One is a safety
reason, there is nothing worse than pulling up the billet and losing your
grip on a lightly oiled billet and hitting your nose.  Let me tell you one
pulls on the billets more than one might think LOLOL. Too much oiling can
also stretch your billets.

Some people say that oiling rots the stitching but I have not seen that
with real neatsfoot oil. and you shouldn't oil your tack very often.


For the leather bridles on the part that comes in contact with the ring of
the snaffle we would use a toothbrush with glycerine soap and give it a
good scrubbing (remember this is for dirty tack), wipe if off and continue
until it was clean.  Then do the oil and glycerine thing.








And Allah took a handful of southerly wind, blew His breath over it, and
created the horse.... Thou shall fly without wings, and conquer without any
sword.  Oh, horse.  ~Bedouin Legend


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