We are, in fact, considering gift sets for Christmas!! Wait for that announcement, maybe sometime in October? 
And, as far as a stored saddle, in a climate controlled area, hmmm ā this is where I would again defer to Kitt or Kate Wooten ā as in this case, it would be a ādo as I recommend, not as I doā situation 
:lol:
Hold it, what did I miss? What is this BALM talk? I donāt know about any BALM. (āWho told you to put the balm on?ā)
Iām just checking in here with an update. Yesterday I was getting ready to ship to my first dressage lesson in 3 weeks. To start the morning, the truck battery was dead. Got that going. Next my bridle was filthy, next my boots were moldy! Horrorsā¦I whipped out my Bensmom soap and went to town as only I can in a 4 minute tack-cleaning frenzy. Holy saddle soap, Batman, my stuff looked SO good, my DQ teacher had no complaints and my horse was a saint!
Specializing in making yāall and your tack look good. Itās what we do!
Pol ā you gotta check out the Balm ā it is good stuff!!
yea to anyone who is wondering about the balmā¦GET THE BALM. It is hands down my favorite for regular conditioning. Doesnāt get your stuff sticky or over oiled (like some ledersbalsam can do). And, it totally rubs into your hands nicely when youāre done.
The soap is still rocking my world too. It just does such a fabulous job with so little effort on my part.
Canāt wait for the gift sets, that is an EXCELLENT idea!
Hahaa, just ordered me some balm!
Yay! Hope you will like it ā your note made my day!
The ingredients are all ok and also good for people body balm, so it is a great way to condition your leather and your hands at the same time! 
Libby, can I make a small suggestion for your website? The header has your information with 4 gray starsā¦ to me, it looks like youāre waiting to get results back to know how many stars out of 4 you get, if that makes senseā¦ In my very humble opinion, it would look a wee bit better to have them colored, even if just black. Not something that really matters, just wanted to throw it out there, but feel free to tell me to stick my unasked-for opinions where the sun donāt shine :).
I just found 2 tupperware bins of old leather strap goodsā¦bridles, stirrup leathers, a few girths, haltersā¦guess what color they all are? Right! Greeeeeen! And furry. Yuck. Now weāll put Bensmom to the test! Actually, it is I who will be testedā¦Will I clean the stuff or put the lids back on and pretend I never saw those boxes?
Any thoughts to giving a volume discount for buying, say, 6 tubs at a time?
Thank you amastrike! That is a good point ā I am in the middle of emailing my design guy, and we can look at a different color!
And Pol, you KNOW you want to clean all that leather, so that you can use your new balm on it!!
Badger ā Iāve wondered about it ā and I think it is a good idea! Iām not sure how to set Etsy up to do it automatically. What I have done is where someone has had a coupon, but couldnāt figure out how to use it, I went go back in and refunded a percentage to them. But, there would have to be a better way to do that!
Iāll talk with my finance guy tonight and see what his thoughts are!
Happy Monday, yāall!!
Good for more than tack, too!
I have a new Volvo C70 and the leather interior is off white. This was a bad color choice for someone who drives to the ranch and interacts with a horse daily.
The arm rest was quite dirty and since the leather was treated with Xzilon (that cost a bloody fortune) I didnāt want to ruin it.
So I used the Higher Standards Leather Cleaner on it and even the stitching on the arm rest came out perfect. This stuff is the bomb. Itās now my go to cleaner for my automobile interior, too.
Iāve been sitting thinking about how lovely the vanilla mint smells and started to reminisce about my favorite smells. Hands down my favorite smell on the planet is orange blossom. Since youāre in Florida, I think it should be considered for a springtime special scent
Oooohhhh ā my five way orange essential oil is just lovely too!!
Libby ā (Can I tell you just how cool it is to get to āchatā with another Libby?!!) I am so glad it did well for the car too! I have beige āleatherā interior in my Jetta TDI (I think it may be closer to pleather, but anymore you just canāt tell!) and took the dogs to the vet last week. I cringed to see the muddy footprints across the back seat. Grabbed a container of the vanilla mint and they scrubbed right up! I was pretty happy myself!
[QUOTE=Desert Topaz;7174854]
Hands down my favorite smell on the planet is orange blossom. Since youāre in Florida, I think it should be considered for a springtime special scent :)[/QUOTE]
YES! I would buy this. And I would buy some āfor my friendsā to justify it and then keep it for myself. And then I might buy more.
[QUOTE=Bensmom;7175575]
Libby ā (Can I tell you just how cool it is to get to āchatā with another Libby?!!) I am so glad it did well for the car too! :D[/QUOTE]
My sentiments exactly!
Brace yourself - I will be purchasing a boat load of this stuff as Holiday gifts for my horsey friends!
Bensmom, I think you ought prepare yourself for the Holiday onslaught!
What are you thinking for an Autumn scent? I still love pumpkin spice, it makes me hungry every time.
Way to go, Libby, you have really transformed tack cleaning as we know it!!
Yet another positive review here: I ordered a can of Citrus Ginger soap and Rosemary Mint soap. I told my trainer to smell both and keep whichever one she liked better, and Iād keep the other one. She liked them both but she kept the citrus one, remarking that it smelled like āreal citrusā (versus fakey artificial orange-soda smell). I like my minty soap, too! Itās minty without being punch-you-in-the-nose minty, and the rosemary is just a very faint overtone. I kept picking up the soap and sniffing it. I probably looked like an addict, but thatās okay.
This soap really gets the nasties off. I had to clean a saddle (not my own) that was covered in dirt jockies and had subtle, accumulated, ground-in dirt along many of the stitch lines. I had already done one strafing run with castile soap + a toothbrush along the stitch lines, but I could still see crud along the stitch lines. I did a second cleaning round with Higher Standards Soap, including more interrogation with the toothbrush, and the crud was much more forthcoming. Yet the soap didnāt seem abrasive or harsh, and my hands felt great after I used it. Iām a fan!
Some other general comments:
āI love the size of this container. Itās a good size to hold in your hand. I also REALLY appreciate that itās a plastic container. Metal containers + sponges + water = asking for rust and trouble.
āI like the sharp, clean smells of the citrus ginger and rosemary mintā¦so my vote for a Christmas scent is something pine-like. Like a Christmas tree.
āThis would make a great gift of its own, but for Mme Trainerās birthday, I paired a can of Higher Standards soap with a pair of Gary Mundy stirrup leathers. Think of all the clever leather + soap pairings you could do for a gift!
Wheeee! So glad it is still making people happy!! The orange blossom scent is written down for Spring!
The Fall scent will be named after the horse that belongs to the person that bought the HSLC items in the CANTER auction, and Iām thinking of a fall spice scent.
The only way you can get a āpumpkin pieā scent is to order a fragrance oil, rather than an essential oil ā and at this point, Iām sticking with the essential oils, so Iām working on making my own blend. I have to order a couple of choices for that from an online supplier, as my local source didnāt have several of the ones I was looking for, so I should know more about it by the first of next week!!
I need to have āaddicted to tack cleaningā t-shirts made, or something
Thank you for all of the ideas!!
Libby
[QUOTE=Bensmom;7177188]
I need to have āaddicted to tack cleaningā t-shirts made, or something
Libby[/QUOTE]
Super easy to do with CustomInk; I just ordered some for our GMOās final show of the season.
Love how the balm revitalized my Ariat clogs.
Any luck with figuring out the Etsy end of a volume discount?
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
