My hunting DH said he’d help clean my tack when I helped clean a deer…well that escalated quickly! :lol:
When you set up the international shipping, you can just have it so that the customer contacts you with their postal code so that the shipping is individual. I know where I’m at (literall almost North of 60… yay subarctic circle…) the shipping will be more when compared to shipping to say Toronto or Calgary.
[QUOTE=Jexa;6936432]
My hunting DH said he’d help clean my tack when I helped clean a deer…well that escalated quickly! :lol:[/QUOTE]
Oh, I don’t think so!!
I’ll clean tack, thanks. At our house, it would more than likely be “ok, so you come and clean fish, then.” No, no, no, no, no.
With that in mind, maybe I’m ok with making and shipping soap all by myself after all . . . :lol:
Libby
Dang, etsy won’t let you place an order if you are all out? How will you know how much more to make? I would like a lavender/vanilla… Hint hint
i got through about half the pages on this thread and didn’t see what i was looking for. do you recommend (or feel comfortable saying so) this for a brand new saddle or bridle? i haven’t really used a soap on my saddles in a long time and i have a brand new saddle that i want to take the best care of possible!
The horse loves vanilla things (that was the shampoo I had to switch because I couldn’t get him out of my hair- seriously, he’d follow me around like a dog, only he’d have his nose in my hair the entire time, just sniffing) as well as citrus and mint, so I just picked a scent at random and we’ll go with it. :lol: Eager to see how it works on the bridle!
I just ordered some in rosemary mint. Can’t wait to try; sounds fabulous!
Ok, Etsy will now let you order! I was watching it and needed to reset it and should have done it earlier today. Fortunately Frugalannie let me know right away that it was having an issue, so I fixed it! 
Horsekrazy, since I am basically making it to order, feel free to choose whichever option you like, as soon as I have my jars (Monday afternoon!!!) I will make all the soaps as ordered! 
Crimsonsky – I have used it on my own new saddle, but since there are so many types and finishes of leather, I’d be very hesitant to say for certain how it would react on different colors and finishes. I can be almost 100% certain it would be fine, but the lawyer in me won’t let me just tell you that. :lol: I know it has been used on french saddles/buffalo leather by other folks, and mine is a very soft finish leather in a dark, dark brown and it has worked well with all of the above. It has no dyes, no colorant and is glycerin and oils based and it should be fine. But, again, that darn lawyer in me makes me be careful of any guarantees and promises. 
I always feel a little incomplete without the whole lawyer disclaimer provided! Apparently the old thing about law school teaching you to think like a lawyer is correct – it becomes something you can’t turn off! :lol:
All these amazing reviews convinced me! I don’t even remember what scent I just ordered, but I’m super excited to give it a shot!
I love this soap.
I am not sure what fragrance the test soap is. To me it smells like a new car with leather seats. I am tempted to leave the container open so the tack room will smell like that, but I don’t want to dry out the soap.
The first thing I cleaned with it was my hackamore bridle. This poor bridle gets used about 2x/year. And it gets stiff and oogy in between uses. I thought I would just wipe it off with the new soap, and then do a really good cleaning job after I rode.
SURPRISE! The quick wipe off I did made the bridle softer and useable right away! I had not expected such an instant change in the leather. It would have taken 3 - 4 soapings with the fancy German saddle soap I have been using.
I am a fan. Anything that saves time AND does a great job is on my “must use” list.
You both have got the Buzz’s Citrus Ginger! LH – I am so pleased that you are pleased! I know you have high standards for your tack, and I hope you continue to like it!
Sammy thinks that he needs his own special edition scent soap!
Thank you guys for having confidence in my tiny little enterprise!!
Libby
OK, now I am curious as to why Bensmom had to leave all those stables. :lol: And apparently now I won’t ever get to read it–the curiosity is killing me!
Oh, that’s easy to answer!
It was only two, which isn’t as bad as it sounds! I had kept my horses at home, first, before I had ever boarded anywhere. And my trainer had trained me to be pretty particular about their care (she was barn manager for Jack LeGoff at the Team in the early 80’s, so she ran a shipshape barn, and had trianed me to do the same.)
The first barn, I worked for the owner 7 days a week. After I arrived there, it came to light that the reason that every horse in the barn had become a wood chewer is because she was stalling them for 17 hours with one flake a hay and no more. And, no shavings. At the time, she had mostly absentee owners – they came out 2x a week or so, and they were puzzled because their horses had never chewed wood before, and gee, isn’t that odd?
Um, no. If you lock them up with nothing to eat and nothing to do, it happens! After I went to work for her, feeding and doing stalls 7x a week, her hay and shavings bills doubled. (Well, she wouldn’t admit to starving people’s horses, and when I fed at the levels promised to the owners, all of a sudden, her costs went higher)
So, after about 9 months, she was ready to go back to making a much larger profit margin, and the only way to do that was to convince me to move on. She was NOT happy when a total of 7 horses went with me! The owners had been so impressed with how much healthier and happier their ponies were, that they wanted to keep them with me.
The second one was directly after that – we moved to a co-op barn, where the horses were kept out 24/7 and managed in a very low maintenance way – which is FINE. Don’t get me wrong – mine now live outside 24/7 much the same as these horses did then.
But, three of us had competing show horses, and going in, we told the other members of the co-op that they were stalled at night, and blanketed and etc. Well, that got to be more work that the co-op members wanted to fool with, and they told us we had to find another barn. They did, however, wait until I was done unloading the manure wagon one evening before they told us this, and then later told me that I worked so hard, I could stay, but the other two ladies had to go.
Gee, thanks? Um, no. So, we all moved together again, I found a barn to lease stalls and paddocks, hired someone to feed in the morning, and Higher Standards Farm was born! We have always gotten a big kick out of the fact that our Higher Standards really just included adequate feed/clean water/clean stalls and safe paddocks. :lol: (at the first place, much of the fence was held together with hay twine holding rusty wire together – I was considered difficult because Ben wasn’t allowed out in those paddocks :eek: )
The funny thing about it was that once I found an entire barn for lease a couple of years later, and set it up, if I had been willing to take boarders, I would have been able to charge what my board was actually worth, and would have had a long waiting list. I turned people away all the time. :lol: But, we ran that barn as long as we could (owner sold it to become a subdivision – my boys pasture now has a strip mall in it!!) and I just collected actual expenses. The original group from the first barn pretty much stayed together until the developer got ready to pull the barn down, and I got divorced and moved to my g-g-grandparents farm and brought the ponies back home with me!
During all that time, I once had another owner tell me “if something ever happened to me, I would want my horses to go to you and be in your care.” I believe that may be one of the nicest compliment I have ever had.
So, there you go!
I agree that it is too long and complicated for the product info, and not nearly as interesting as it might sound! :lol:
But, that same trainer that taught me to do things right in taking care of my barn? She also taught me to clean tack, and her decision that my saddle soap is really good stuff was one of the biggest endorsements I could have hoped for
Libby
Oh, that is easy! I had impossible standards such as wanting my horses to have adequate hay, clean water and a relatively safe place to live – from the other stories I’ve read here on COTH, sketchy boarding places seem to be a not-unusual thing!
The same trainer that taught me to take such good care of my horses (she was barn manager for Jack LeGoff at the Team in the early 80’s) also taught me to clean tack – and when she determined that my saddle soap was the best product out there, that is one of the best endorsements I could have received!
Libby
Libby,
I am sure you know how wonderful this is… I am so happy for you!
Years ago, I began my “CoTH” friendship with Libby and followed her struggles with the Buzz Monster. I rejoiced along with her when he got stronger, and went out in the world. This new venture makes me almost as happy! I, of course, had to get the Buzz scent. Waiting for it to arrive!
But I know that I need the Confidence Scent…I KNOW this! next order, okay??
Congrats!
Can someone tell me (or PM) what the main ingredients are? I would LOVE to try this, but my leather peeps (saddle fitter etc.) are very adamant about certain things I shouldn’t use.
hahaha - thank’s Bensmom! i can certainly understand the lawyer disclaimer. i’d also be curious to find out the ingredients just for my own label reading sake.
now to pick a scent…
Annika,
You and Taco were so kind to Buzzy at his very first show! I still have the goodies that he sent in his care package! I miss that little monster every day! :sadsmile: I really like the way the confidence blend smells – I need to decide whether to incorporate the aromatherapy stuff in the soap descriptions?
The best I can do, without listing the recipe here, is to tell you it has glycerin, fats and essential oils – does that help?
Libby
So, here’s MY big question, now that I’ve been using (and loving this stuff)…
What the hell do I do with my almost brand new tub of Tatersall AND my brand new bar of glycerin soap (don’t like the Tatersall on my new saddle…love, love this stuff on it, though!)?!
I know what you mean, YB. I have loved first Stubben Hammanol, then Black Rock for conditioners, and recently discovered (and posted here raving) about the Oakwood soap – well, now I expect I’ll like this stuff even better when I get it, so what do I do with all the Oakwood and Black Rock?
