Well this is what happens when you move to fast and try to do things before your morning coffee! Meant to delete another post and accidentally deleted this one! Sorry for the confusion. I don’t remember exactly what I wrote here, but the long story short is I was looking for some tips to darken a high end bridle that I received as a gift recently.
How much darkening does it need? If more than just a little, hydrophane or mink oil will likely be more effective than neatsfoot oil.
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I have used warmed olive oil for a few bridles and two girths, and it worked great. Zap a bowl of oil for a few seconds in the microwave, wipe or brush it on, let it soak in, and then do it again. I like it much better than Hydrophane.
ETA: everything I’ve used olive oil on has been high-end tack, and I am confident in suggesting it.
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It’s a Devoucoux bridle and is light brown/red right now, so I’d say a couple shades darker probably.
Get some Walsh or Blue Ribbon oil. It is neatsfoot oil with a small amount of stain in it. I just purchased a similar bridle and it darkened it up nicely. I left it a little on the light side and it is darkening to the perfect color with use and saddle soap.
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I will second the olive oil method. Warm in the microwave, put very very very THIN layers on the bridle, let the previous layer soak in and dry before putting on any more oil. Otherwise you’ll end up with a mess on your hands (literally). I’ve used this method on everything from my cheap SmartPak bridle to my expensive Vespucci bridle and it darkens and conditions the leather nicely each time.
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Update - Used neatsfoot oil and the bridle darkened beautifully. The reins on the other hand are determined to stay a shade of light redish brown. I’ve tried both neatsfoot and hydrophane darkening oil on them. They are getting darker…just very VERY slowly. Is this a case of me needing to continue to oil them until they get to the right shade (which at this rate might be when I’m 60 lol) or have I messed it up and they’re not absorbing the oil correctly?
Just keep using them and they will darken… Nothing like horse sweat!
Sometimes there is a protective coating on them and you can use water and saddle soap if you want to work to remove the coating…
I second this- they more you use them the more they will darken!
Would love the see photos! Nothing better then high end tack 
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Why the heck did OP delete the first post?
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That was my question too. Seems like a strange topic to remove the original post on, unless the OP gave too many details about the tack they are really wanting to change the color on and their reason for wanting to change the color is not a very ethical one.
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No nefarious reason - just me moving to fast and not realizing that I deleted the wrong post! Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
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I need to darken a pony bridle so I was definitely interested
