My one diva thing is the fact that I need a cleaning hook. (Unless I’m taking the whole bridle apart, obviously.)
I just can’t deal if I don’t have a secure place to hang my bridle on as I start scrubbing. LOL.
I feel like I’m being mistreated, otherwise. :lol:
Apparently I’m a diva, too, because the thought of cleaning a bridle without a hook makes me cringe. How would that even be done?
@CPL713 & @gertie06 Relax your grip on the pearls. A gate has the capability to hold your bridle & holds my entire harness very handily.
I suppose you could add one of those hooks made to hang on a stall wall.
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Count me in the group who’s never used a sink to clean tack…ever! And I’ve cleaned a LOT of tack.
I do prefer to have a tack-cleaning hook, but there’s plenty of hooks strewn throughout a barn that’ll do the job. Halter hook on stall door, bridle hook in the tack room, fence post…even a cross tie eye ring will do the job.
I’d say if your water’s getting that dirty, you need to clean your tack more frequently! I do change my water when it gets dirty, but then again I also tend to use the damp washcloth method these days more than a wet sponge. I think the texture of the washcloth cleans better and less water on the leather is a good thing.
If you do it every time then you are wiping the foam off the bit, cleaning any areas like the noseband and browband that can attract sebum, and then giving everything else a light wipe to remove arena dust. If I’m near the horse’s stall I’ll even dunk the bit in their water bucket and use the bucket to dunk a clean rag. As long as it is kept to the same horse, they aren’t going to be adversely impacted by a clean rag or their own bit foam. It takes me maybe 2 minutes if I’m moving slowly and I rarely need to dunk the rag more than once.
If I had a filthy piece of tack I would probably clean the item by the washrack and then give my rag a quick rinse sporadically. Honestly, if I had a bridle that filthy I’d just hose it down, soap it up, hose it down again, give it a good condition, and then pick up a normal routine from there. Soaking leather isn’t a great regular practice but if you were riding in the rain it would get just as soaked so one time shouldn’t do any lasting damage to good leather.
Soaking leather with water can strip the leather of its oils and once dry, the leather can crack as the fibers in the leather dry out and lose their pliability. If leather is soaked with water (intentional or not), the key is the aftercare. You’ll want to deep condition the leather. It may require multiple applications to replace the oils that have been lost and preserve the leather’s pliability. Having shown in the rain more times than I can count and being studious about providing the proper aftercare, I wouldn’t purposely soak leather tack.
If a bridle cracks and dries out from being hosed down once, you’ve got much larger issues.
I worked at a hunt barn that regular rode in heavy rain. Some bridles and girths were so muddy coming off the horse that protocol was to hose them down again before cleaning. The leather was then toweled off, we would toss on a light layer of conditioner, and they were as good as new. I hosed the same bridle down dozens of times and the leather was just as supple and strong the next time I grabbed it off the hook.
If the OP is dealing with tack it is so filthy that it is discoloring an entire bucket of water, the dirt and sebum sitting on the leather is arguably more damaging than spraying a bridle down with a hose for a quick rinse.
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Agreed.
I worked as a hot walker for two years for a local polo team. The ONLY way to get a match worth of sweat off the bridles, girths, breast plates, etc. was to dunk them or hose them off, dry with a towel, then condition. The leather was just as supple and normal looking when we were done.
However, “cheap” leather or leather that isn’t properly conditioned, will not hold up to regular washing. I have bridles and other leather items I’ve had since the 1970s. They still look new. Its all in how you care for them.
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I almost always take my tack home to clean and have only ever used the sink for the bit! Otherwise I use two buckets, one with a little soap to dunk and one with clean water to rinse (also dunk). I didn’t even know cleaning hooks existed until this thread. I use a soft rag and scrub with one hand while holding in the other, if I need to hang something it goes on the porch rail. I prefer to clean my tack on my front steps to make the neighbors really wonder about me, am I twisted…probably :lol: Once cleaned I lay all tack out across the porch rails, my porch is covered, to dry. I then hit it all with a dose of conditioner and take it inside until I return it to the barn. My saddle is synthetic so when it gets dirty I hose it off and leave it to dry.
The only leather item I have had crack was the halter that was left on in the field for an extended period of time. It has now been somewhat restored but it was not cleaned properly and damage occurred.
So I have recently discovered Leather New and other spray-on tack cleaners. They have been a game changer for me. I now clean my tack every few days instead of every couple months – I used to be a little rigid in my routine, involving the soap, bucket, sponge, etc, and it was time and energy prohibitive. My routine now is to wipe everything down with a damp cloth after every ride or every other ride (more so the strap goods than the saddle). Then once or twice a week, I clean with Leather New. Just spray on, wipe off, voila. Every third week-ish, I’ll add some conditioner on there. Barely any water needed, let alone a sink! Oh, and I dip the bit in the water bucket after riding so it is always clean. I am riding in my saddle 10-12 rides a week but only using my bridle, etc. about 5x/week. I only have one pair of boots and they get wiped down daily and stored in a boot bag.
If it’s something I really need to scrub, like a girth or breastplate, then the bucket method works best. I’ve actually taken to soaking my breastplate for 1 hr+ as the elastic is getting super gross. I lather the elastic with dish soap or Orvus and let it soak, then scrub with a bucket brush, then dry the leather and condition it.
