had never thought of it. Totally agree though. Lord knows I hide in the tack room when I can!!
Hehehe
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I wipe my saddle down with the lexol wipes after just about every ride. I love the convince of them. A few times a month I will take my saddle home and clean it with the Stubben cleaner and conditioner that came with it.
I drive & leather harness absolutely has to be cleaned after every drive. Sweat left to dry can compromise safety.
Harness has a LOT more parts to clean, so saving time w/o compromising is important.
For daily use I find Armorall leather wipes do a perfectly good job of cleaning harness, or any tack.
I use them to wipe down my saddles & (riding) bridles too.
Deep cleaning for all tack means Murphy’s Oil soap or glycerine bar applied with a damp sponge, wiped off while still wet & followed with Black Rock conditioner applied with hands & a soft cloth.
Of course, since switching to brahma biothane harness none of the above is necessary.
I do use Murphy’s wipes to clean when showing, or after a particularly sweaty drive.
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I only wipe down daily if the tack is muddy or sweaty. Damp sponge to clean it, followed by Lexol if needed.
Wow, so much love for Combi, but I’ve got to dissent. I hate the stuff. Found it drying and made my tack sticky, and it smells bad. Three strikes!
I’ve really been liking Emerald Valley’s leather soap, which has tea tree (so ticks the scent box) and tallow, so conditions nicely without being too much. It also leaves a nice shine and isn’t sticky once dry.
I also like Oakwood conditioner, but if the leather’s not really clean (thanks, castile soap), it makes it sticky.
OK, this has been my experience with the Combi too (although it’s been a couple years and I haven’t wanted to try it again on my custom). All the comments on this thread were making me think I should give it a go again, but you’ve convinced me to stick to my guns on this one! I’ll definitely check out the Emerald Valley though! That’s the only other one in this thread I haven’t tried previously.
Also, to everyone chiming in about differing cleaning schedules etc, and not needing to clean after every ride… I guess I just really prefer the feel and grip factor I get while riding in clean/conditioned saddle & boots every ride. I also pinched my pennies and saved up for a long time to afford my custom, so I want to make sure I’m doing everything possible to make it last for years to come. Totally respect and understand the rationales behind not cleaning religiously so no judgement there either.
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Ledercombi is a cleaner, so it won’t condition, unfortunately. Not in the sense that balsam or conditioners do. Like castile soap, it’s good to follow up with a very light conditioner after a couple of uses.
I like it on some leathers better than others. It won’t make your tack less thirsty, but it is great at stripping away the accumulation of “old products” which is what makes tack sticky - it pulls it to the surface. If your tack is really gunky after using it, I think that means it did its job of stripping the leather and bringing the dirt/gunk to the surface. Or at least that’s been my experience – wipe the tack with a dry white rag and see if it leaves a black streak.
I wouldn’t use it every day on a saddle, but I do use it every couple of rides or so for my bridles. I am OCD about my tack looking clean and I find I am compelled to clean my tack way less when I am using the ledercombi… Because it does a much better job of keeping that “clean bridle” look going than soap/oil do.
Hijacking OP’s thread to go off on a tangent about some products being better than others with multiple uses: I think the ledercombi gets better and better each time I use it. Maybe it’s because there is now a “base” layer of it within the leather fibers?
I mentioned up thread, but Bickmore BICK 5 is also great for getting that ‘clean bridle’ sheen to stay put for more than a couple of rides… but it smells nasty. I think there’s vinegar in it. It looks gross, too.
I get why OP is doing what she’s doing - I did the same thing with my Stubben Zaria too… only cost me an arm and a leg, why not spoil it?
P.S I use Belharra Leather soap on my Zaria most of the time, wipe down with baby wipes as needed, condition with Hammanol occasionally. You’re welcome to try it sometime if you ever are driving by my area. You just have to promise to give it back, I had to beg a Devoucoux rep to get it for me and it was not easy – but worth the money!! :lol:
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Interesting about the Combi, Beowulf. I’m a little OCD about cleaning my tack and removing all residue before conditioning, so am not quite ready to buy into the “bringing gunk to the surface” theory, but maybe. Also maybe the formula has changed. I use castile soap all the time and love it - have never found it drying, but I do a light conditioning afterward. Anyway, another tangent. Sorry OP!
Oh, because why not 2 tangents, I found Belharra online somewhere - forgot where - so you’re not stuck getting it from a Dev rep. 
Ah, and of course in the 19th century most horses were used in harness. And they could potentially be out with the carriage every day. And that could be four horses. So that’s probably where the time consuming clean your tack every day standard came from.
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What used to be a labor of love (cleaning tack when I was young) has now become just labor…have switched to beta bridles and ss bits–dunk in the water tank, swish, and hang to dry. Works for me.
We’re just tangenting it up here :lol: Can you spill the tea on where you saw it? I’m half-way done with my Belharra and would love to not have to pay crazy shipping. I found it on the Devoucoux website but it’s ~$15 to ship it! The bad news is, the Devoucoux rep I bullied into getting it is now… a Stubben rep… lol!
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I read somewhere about Western riders with synthetic saddles saying they just power washed the horse with the saddle on after a dirty ride in hot weather.
I’m a fan of pretty much any effax or belvoir product, in any form. (glycerine bar, spray, conditioner, liquid, cream, etc.) For general daily wipe downs I have been using the basic Fiebings saddle soap in the yellow tin.
Most recently, however, I got turned on to Tack Butter. It’s very conditioning, so I just swipe a bit on my tack cleaning sponge. I LOVE how it makes my tack feel, it’s my new favorite, hands down. Although I could see it being a bit too conditioning for other’s tastes, so ymmv.
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Oo I love the combi! I like the weird, tacky feel it leaves behind! I always go over it with a conditioner. It’s hot and dry here. I like the leather CPR stuff, reminds me of horseman’s one step when horseman’s one step was good!
I do all my riding outside in the dust, my horses all live outside as well and I always have to deep clean my bridles after every ride.
I have never been able to get the damp sponge/ smidge of glycerin soap down to a science… I do have the Stubben glycerin soap (soo expensive, so is the leathercombi)
@beowulf I swear I got it from Redwood Tack but they don’t seem to have it on the website now. Maybe worth asking Leah? It was someplace normal. Lucky me to have gotten a tub from the Devoucoux rep who tried unsuccessfully to sell me the ugliest saddle I’ve ever seen! hahaha.
For the quickie-after-every-ride: slightly damp sponge and a bit of Linseed Soap over bridle and saddle, then wipe off with a dry microfibre cloth. There’s always a tub of it by the sink in our tack room.
If I want to have “sticky” tack (as in, will hopefully help me stay in the saddle what ever my loopy mare throws at me) I just wipe my saddle with Lexol BEFORE riding and I wear my full-seat “pimpled” breeches
I love Mad Cow!
Anyway, it has come to my attention in the last few years that specific saddlers, girthers, bridlers make products that have their own specific tanning process and require their own specific products that work with the tanning process. For example, my Fairfax girth’s warranty is voided if I don’t use a specific product that they don’t sell but if ideal for their process. My saddler tells me that different saddles made in different countries benefit from care specific to that tanning process.
Yes, I live in NC and the tack has to be wiped down/cleaned after every ride because of sweat. I use a damp facecloth much of the time but regularly use the Hammanol (I think that’s it - DON’T quote me, internet!!!) regularly on my girth. I use Mad Cow on my bridle and saddle. REALLY? You noticed a change in it??? Do tell!!
Yeah, I think it was either with this current tub I’m almost through or the one before it, which would mean the change happened in the last year or two. The smell is totally different and I find it’s less…creamy? If that makes sense. It just feels more water based I guess, so the actual layer I’m applying to the leather is thinner. The product itself is more translucent rather than opaque, and I go through it faster. But the smell was the biggest difference I noticed.
I will never understand this. Hubby ropes competitively. There was one day that I was swapping his tack out of the trailer to swap my tack into the trailer for a show. I was appalled at how dirty his tack was. I gave everything a serious wipe down. The leather drank up the conditioner like crazy. I proudly showed the hubby what I had done and how his saddles seemed much happier, and he just shrugged it off. Jerk. :lol: The only thing I can figure is that english saddles are not made of the same thick leather that western saddles are, and thus they can hold up to the abuse of rarely seeing any care.
