I am going to say, with black suede to NOT get it wet at all. If leather is smoothed from use, a wire bristle brush will “rough up” the suede again if you don’t want the smooth seat. A newly roughened suede seat really will GRIP you, hold you in place rather firmly. Some folks like to move in the seat, others do not, so you have to choose how “grippy” you want the seat. If you rough it, the suede will smooth out again with use, should you decide you prefer less grip.
Black leather suede usually will bleed black forever, if wetted and ridden on. You also get any padding wet, which can take forever and a day to dry. Might warp a wooden tree if kept wet for a long time in drying.
I have always used Lexol Cleaner and Conditioner for my saddle, but over the MANY years of use, Lexol Conditoner will darken light oil to a brownish color, which I like. I know fashion calls for lighter color in Pleasure use, so you might want to check for other products to keep your saddle as light as possible.
I clean the saddle with warmish water, a large natural bristle brush (might be found in car wash stuff) and the Lexol Cleaner. Small amounts of the Cleaner, rubbed onto leather with wetted brush to get suds, then suds rinsed off. I do clean both sides of the fenders, but only the top on other hard leather parts of the saddle. Rinse and wipe the hard leather on saddle itself off quickly, so water doesn’t soak in much. I TRY not to get any rawhide parts wet with water or Conditioner, not good for them. Might take a day or two to let saddle totally dry, though you are NOT trying to soak saddle while cleaning it. Then I apply the Conditioner on all those hard leather places of the saddle. Again, I put Conditioner on both sides of the fenders, maybe a couple coats especially on the underside that gets sweaty, salty from a working horse. I really like my fenders soft and flexible, so I tend to use lots of Conditioner on the fenders, until they don’t soak up any more. I let the saddle sit 24 hours to dry, see if Conditoner has soaked in well. Might need more than one Conditioner coat to help dried leather get feeling good again. May take two days drying to get saddle back to the lighter, regular color again. But well conditioned, the saddle does take abuse, rain, sweat, dirt well. Stays nice feeling until you do another cleaning and conditioning in a couple months. If saddle gets real dusty, I blow dusty saddle off (vacuum, leaf blower) and wipe down with a damp rag. I don’t want dusty dirt working down into leather, stitching since dirt is pretty abrasive in wear on leather, so dirt needs removal from saddle fairly soon after landing. Arena use seems to get more dirt on saddle than Trail Rides.
I never use any kind of oil on my Western Saddle. Not Neatsfoot or Harness oils, they just keep oozing oil onto your clothing forever. Leather is NOT meant to be oiled, light or heavy, turns your leather limp as well as darkening it.
Glad you found a nice saddle. Do regularly check the wear on leather anchoring D-rings, your cinch straps, so you are not surprised with a break during hard work.
