Daily: damp sponge to get sweat off.
Bridle gets a more thorough clean with castile soap ~ weekly. Saddle more like every 2 weeks. Keeping the sweat off and a cover on it to prevent dust from colonizing all the little cracks is better than constantly applying soap.
Once we get a really nice warm day I’ll take everything outside and do a big scrub and follow up with oil which can get soaked up in the nice sunshine.
The point about environment is very important. I have different routines for the leather, depending on the time of year and weather conditions - dunking and wiping the bit is pretty much the same year-round.
In the winter when it is cool and damp I wipe off sweat/grime daily and clean every 1-2 weeks with Higher Standards, which cleans without drying. Probably once during the winter I will do a light condition with Ledersbalsam.
In the summer when it is hot and dry here I still wipe down daily with a damp rag, and use the Higher standards at least once/week and the Ledersbalsam at least every other week. The leather sometimes does get a sticky coating, so maybe I will try to find something with more glycerin, per MVP’s advice, but I love the “hand” of my bridle as is, so I am not too far off.
When I was a kid I didn’t have a lot of money. Luckily I learned to appreciate and take care of the nice things I did have and to make them last (there are a few things in my tack locker that are 40+ years old). As an adult rerider I did years of lessons and leasing before I could get my own horse. I loved spending those few hours a week at the barn, so cleaning tack was a way to spend more time there. And it was a way to show appreciation for the horses, and their owners to respect their property. Now I have my own horse, my own tack. There is something tremendously satisfying about hanging a clean, figure-8’d bridle up after a good ride. And it is a reminder how lucky I am to even have this bridle, this horse on days he is being a doofus.
After I ride, I soak the bits in the tack bucket water to get the scuzz off. i soak a sponge, wring it out so it’s very close to dry. then I use belvoir glycerin soap to clean bridles and saddles. I try no to get them sudsy.
no much detail but that’s my daily routine. apply neatsfoot oil when tack is dry.
Bit is rinsed in hot water to get off any trace of gunk. Leather is at the very least wiped down with a dampish sponge then dried with soft cloth. Special attention is paid to dried sweat areas to assure they are fully cleaned. Depending on how the leather feels I use old school glycerin soap then wipe with damp sponge and dry or follow that with leather balm for conditioning. My tack feels amazing, it never needs a deep cleaning because its never allowed to stay dirty.
My personal pet peeve is stickiness/residue, whether it’s from dirt, from sweat, or from cleaning products. I have favorite cleaners and conditioners, but no matter the product, I always use a clean damp/wet towel to completely remove the soap (aka trapped dirt). Then clean dry towel. Then condition only if the tack feels dry.
I fill a bucket with water, dump my bits in to soak, wipe down elastic with water on my breast plates/girth. Spray Leather New on a sponge and wipe down. Wipe bit off with a rag to clean. Takes less than 5 mins for four bridles.
If Im really being fancy, Ill wipe down bridle with a damp cloth and then wipe it down with saddle soap and lexol conditioner combined on a sponge. I used to do this daily, but Ive gotten lazy.
I oil my stuff a couple times a month or if it feels dry or it got rained on. If I have a clincher on my bridle ill wipe it with polish when it gets gunky. I switched to chrome from brass to cut down on my polishing.
I used to be super anal about my tack, but honestly I dont have as much time anymore and a quick wipe down still keeps my tack looking good.
I clean my bridle and bit every day, but only take it apart to clean it for shows/clinics (2x/mo) and maybe once every 2 months when not in show season. Saddle gets cleaned 1-2x/week. I use Belvoir for the cleaner with a damp honeycomb sponge and Passier leather balsam or leather therapy for conditioning using a dry microfiber cloth. Based on the earlier posts in this thread, I am thinking that I may be doing something wrong here though. :lol:
I’d be interested in hearing everyone’s product recommendations. I, for one, really don’t like cleaners that get super foamy, like Lexol.
Wipe down bridle after every ride, rotating between Effax creme, a Murphy’s/castile/lexol blend, and a Higher Standards-type soap. If rained upon, then also a lederbalsam coating once dry. I prefer the Murphy’s blend on my reins (they’re the Nunn-Finer thin rubber, so the Murphy’s cleans the rubber too). My girth gets wiped down too, horse side with just a damp cloth, outside with the same rotation as the bridle.
Saddle not cleaned as often unless it’s wet, or like Saturday, very dirty from all the dust blown on it from the wind across the sand ring. Then, it’s mostly the Effax creme cleaner, with the lederbalsam added if it’s gotten wet (drenched).
So being a western rider, we use “work bridles” and show headstalls…so my every day one ear headstalls are about 1 inch wide, doubled and stitched and cost about $15. Reins go with the bit from the work bridle to the show headstall and are $37 a pair so I’m not dealing with high dollar leather but I have a particular brand I love and buy them in bulk. When I get a new rig I immediately dunk headstall and reins in a bucket of neatsfoot oil that I keep in the tack room and then hang the leather out in the sun to “bake.” When I bring it back in, I’ll spray it with lexol and wipe it down with a damp towel to wipe off the excess oil and…done. then maybe once a month I will spray spray the headstalls and reins with Lexol and wipe them to get any dust off of them from the arena. They stay clean and the oil stays soft and supple without being a limp dead fish from too much oil.
Once a year I will take apart bridles and redunk everything in oil.
Show headstalls stay in my office away from heat, cold and humidity. I treat them similar…dunk in oil when I buy them as long as I’m okay with a darker leather…then wipe with leather cleaner as needed and polish silver.
I spray my bits with the yellow colored Listerine after every ride. My bits get swapped amongst horses many times throughout the day and week and I like to keep bits clean and as sanitary as I can.
A splash of Murphy’s oil soap in a small half filled bucket of water, wipe everything down with a sponge moistened in this. Daily. Condition once in a while. Make sure to get all the salty sweat off the leather girths.
@Texarkana by any chance did you go to Hollins? Our setup there was exactly what you described and what got me into the habit of cleaning my tack after every ride. I too have been trying to recreate the setting and have not been able to!
Sweet Briar! IIRC, the tack rooms are a near identical set up. Probably the same barn builder. :lol:
Haha Southern Seminary with that tack room setup, too. And every. single. ride. tack cleaning. :yes:
After every ride, I wipe down my bridle (after dunking the bit in the water trough), breastplate, and the underside and long billets of my saddle. I usually wipe it down with a wet cloth and a little spray glycerine soap or Tattersall. Every third ride or so I’ll skip the soap. I take the bridle apart to clean for a clinic or a show and condition with Stubben Hamanol at those times…a little goes a long way.
About once a week, I clean the top side of my saddle (monoflap, so that makes it easy). If my tack gets good and wet from rain, I use Hydrophane leather conditioner on it. If the forecast is calling for heavy rain and I know beforehand we’re getting wet, I’ll use the Hydrophane ahead of time instead of waiting until afterwards.
After a lesson or clinic, as soon as my horse is taken care of, I clean my tack before it goes back in the trailer. I hate sweat and salt drying on my tack.
I was brought up with the old school idea that cleaning your tack isn’t just about cleaning it, but inspecting it for wear and potential failures. Therefore, it has to be cleaned regularly.
@TheHunterKid90 that is really interesting about dunking your bridles. I actually did that back in highschool with a cheap-o bridle, although I used olive oil because that was all I had :lol: and it made it really soft. I recently read a book about foxhunting and they mentioned doing an oil dip once a year as well, so it has me thinking I may want to try it. My bridle now is nothing fancy. So you just have a bucket full of neatsfoot oil and dip the entire bridle in? Do you take it apart first? How long do you let it sit in the oil? And how long after you dip it do you use it again? I am intrigued!
If bridle and breastplate get too gunky, I’ll hose them and if I want them shiny I’ll throw them in the dishwasher. Reins are heavy rope so no cleaning, girth is mohair so rinsed and hung to dry maybe once a month. Saddle, only thing that’s leather, um maybe once a year I’ll swipe it with some leather new? Leather can’t really stand up to the abuse I put tack through
I keep my routine simple but I do it every single ride:
Whenever I don’t feel like a simple wipe down has the leather feeling clean or I notice any dryness I disassemble, clean with higher standards cleaner, lightly condition with HS conditioner while still damp, hang to dry, gently buff off any excess conditioner with a clean rag.
If only I could feel as passionate about scrubbing my floors as I do about putting away clean tack…
I’ve seen on this forum many times to let a bridle sit in a gallon bag full of oil out in the sun. I tried it once with a bridle I couldn’t darken and it ruined the leather.
I normally try to oil bridles the traditional way. You know, with a sponge :lol:. But if I have something really dry ( especially near the buckles, under the keepers, etc) I still like to dip it. I just fill a small Tupperware with oil, take the bridle apart, and dip each piece in one by one for just a few seconds. For higher quality leather or leather I’m trying to darken I worry about it getting spotty if it sits too long, so as soon as I see some areas start to soak in all the oil I wipe it clean. For lower quality leather that isn’t going to get any darker I let it sit for a few hours/all night. Then I clean it with glycerin and use it. Some leather will need another oiling, in which case I use it for a few days or weeks, clean regularly (not picky on what I use in this case), and oil again. I think the time and use in between oiling is important - it allows the newly oiled leather to break in so you can decide if you need another oil or not. It also prevents from oiling too much in one sitting.
For tack that does feel a little over oiled, I clean with water and Effax Leder Combi only until it feels nice again.
Edit: I would not recommend for high quality leather. Maybe if you found a nice older bridle you forgot about that needs some serious TLC, but nothing in good condition. Leather like Edgewood bridles take oil very well with just a sponge so there would be no need to dip that. I normally only do this after I’ve oiled with a sponge and it still feels very dry.
I am of the Less is More, school of tack cleaning.
Once a season (winter, spring, summer, fall) I bring my tack home, take everything apart, and clean and oil it. I use Higher Standards soap (or castille) and then Neats Foot Oil–the pure stuff, not the compound. Occasionally, I will bring something home “out of rotation” and clean it and use either the HS balm or Effax instead of the oil (I actually don’t like how either smells, TBH). Occasionally, I will also wipe down tack at the barn with a wet microfiber cloth. Especially my mare’s flash, as she has a dirty mouth and it’s often gross after a ride.
The exceptions are my hunt tack, which gets cleaned weekly during formal season and then treated with Effax (or the HS balm). If the tack gets soaked from rain, I will oil it instead.
My schooling saddle and bridle are both 15+ years old and have lived their lives like this–they’re in great shape. My hunt saddle is younger, and the bridle is younger still, but are also looking and feeling good.
I have never had problems with mold until this past summer when a fellow boarder let her tack develop a nice, thick patina of it and the whole tackroom suffered. I’ve also never had a problem with rot from the oil. I DID have a saddle that had a split under the gullet once because I overdid it with the glycerine soap and though it looked pretty, it was sealed like a drum and no moisture ever got through to the innards of the leather.
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