Rehabbing an old but high-quality saddle

[starhorse]

Hi! I looked for old threads on this but wanted to hear the most updated products for what works.

I’m borrowing an older (early 90’s) Butet to try it for sizing. It’s been sitting in a basement for many years. It has some mold on it, and the leather is incredibly stiff. Although it’s a temporary borrow, I still want to get into good shape before returning it.

How would you go about getting this baby into (better) shape? Anything I should be doing to check the integrity of the saddle (billets, etc.)?

[NancyM]

You can have it looked at by a saddler, get an opinion on it’s structural safety. The saddles I like and own are usually older than this, my #1 saddle I bought new in 1978, a Courbette Stylist. It has been used hard since then, and it still suits me. I had the billets replaced a couple years ago now. Then I found another one, a Courbette Stylist, available at a used tack store, for $50, just a month or so ago. How could I resist? In practically new condition, and just 1/2 an inch larger than my old one. But VERY dry and unloved, dry and hard like wood (you could not have used it in condition like this impossible). So I was needing to rejuvenate it. It has taken a month or so to do this, but it is now coming back to life, and no longer dried out. I started with as much neatsfoot oil as it would take, soaked it. And let it work it’s way into the leather. Then I went to Koachelin (sp?), the red stuff in the tin. And worked that in as much as possible, then set it out in the sun to warm, and gave it another couple of weeks to sink in. Then glycerin saddle soap to clean off the surface. It is looking good, pliable leather again now. Yours does not sound like it is in as bad shape as this one was, so perhaps not as much emergency care would be needed. Ask the owner if they want you to do this before you go ahead.

[Jackie_Cochran]

I had great success using lard, grocery store lard, on my dried out saddles. WARNING- avoid getting the lard in contact with any rubber or meta, it melts the rubber and corrodes some metal into green gunk, and it seems to “lift” black die out of the leather.

It took three times of working in the lard with my fingers before the leather started to get supple, then I larded the saddle once every week or two for around a month, and now I do it whenever the leather gets to feeling dry.

The BEST thing about conditioning with lard, for me, is that I can not use. soap or condition the saddle for years and the leather still is pliable. All it takes then is another application of the lard to bring the leather back into feeling “alive”.

[soloudinhere]

I would not use an animal product like lard. The old standard for a revival was KoChoLine (comes in a tin.)

I would be inclined to clean off the mold with a weak vinegar solution and condition with Effax lederbalsam. A little olive oil if oil is really needed but creams tend to be better and hold the moisture in longer. A nice sit in the sun to open up the leather pores and drive the conditioner in. Simpler is usually better but if you are giving the saddle back to someone, and they are in a barn wth cats etc, you will find a lard-soaked saddle to not last very long.

[Scribbler]

I would definitely ask the owner before putting anything on the saddle or before having a saddle maker open it up to look at the tree.

You would not put product on a saddle in good condition that you had on trial, except maybe secretly to cover up some scuffs you accidentally made

Put the saddle on the horse as is to see if the tree fits. If no, return.

If the tree fits, you have the question of whether you like riding in it. That’s trickier because it may take several rides at speed and jumping to decide if it really suits. And you can’t do that without some restoration.

I would suggest giving the billets a good tug then sitting on the horse at a halt and maybe brief walk to see if the basic geometry of the saddle works for you. If no, return.

If it does work for you, at this point involve and pay a saddle fitter to check the billets and give the thing a good look over. And to double check the fit in your horse. The saddle fitter will be able to tell you if the foam panels are compromised or if the tree seems broken, etc

At that point if it looks like a keeper, get owner’s permission and go all out on reviving it. I’d suggest a couple of washes with something to inhibit the mold, white vinegar or Lysol solution and a few days in the sun. Make sure to get all the crevices and underneath too.

I wouldn’t soak good condition high end modern tack in neatsfoot but it is excellent for dried out or basically unfinished leather. Make sure to get the underside of the flaps too. Perhaps a couple treatments with neatsfoot especially on the billets, and then finish with a waxier ledersbalm type product on the seat and flaps?

It’s true you will spend some cash on the saddle fitter and time on reviving the saddle but then nothing is free

[Bluey]

I revived and old dried stiff Stubben Siegfried that had spent decades in a dusty barn, thru cold winters and super hot summers, so you can imagine.

After cleaning it as good as I could with warm water, I used Lexol liberally.
It was much softer by next morning, used some more then.
It ended up very soft and pliable and is still in good shape today.

Now, on a really nice and valuable saddle, I would clean it gently and try on some corner where it won’t show whatever I want to use, don’t go whole hog with anything until you know it won’t stain the leather or even hurt it, not knowing what the old saddle may have been treated with.

If the saddle is on trial, you really should not do anything but try it gingerly.
Wait to do other with it after it is yours.

[JenEM]

So long as the tree fits and the billets are in good shape, a saddle from the 90s isn’t old. My sidesaddle is nearly 100 :winkgrin:

First, I’d clean the mold off with Belvoir spray cleaner, as I’ve had very good luck with that on mold. Then, my sidesaddler had me use two different conditioners on the old leather on mine that was exposed while doing some repair work on it this year, and they both worked magic on old leather. Liquid first, in the form of Leather Therapy restorer (I was surprised, I’m usually a neatsfoot person), then a cream, rubbed in by hand, Skidmore’s Restoration Cream. Had old panel leather that hadn’t been treated in years looking gorgeous. I’ve since used that combination on a few other pieces, including an ancient sandwich case, and they were show-ready in no time. And with no leather discoloration