Leather care is really important!

The purchase of a horse already eases the purse enormously. Now you still need all the equipment. Here, too, you have to dig deep into your pocket. Especially the leather products, such as saddle, bridle and breastplate, are very expensive. The good thing about it: If you take good care of your leather equipment, you will enjoy it for a long time. You do not know exactly how? No problem, we have summarized a few tips and tricks for you!

How often you have to take care of your leather equipment depends on various factors. On the one hand from the storage and on the other hand from the use. Is the leather often exposed to moisture or humidity? Is it heavily used? No matter how you answer these questions, a basic cleaning every 3-4 months makes sense in any case.

Step 1:

First you should disassemble your saddle and also your bridle.

Take off the saddle pad, the stirrups with the stirrup leathers and possibly also the saddle strap. You should also take the bridle completely apart. All this is necessary so that you can reach everywhere with your cloth or brush.

Step 2:

Before you start with your leather care, it is important to first clean all objects with leather soap, because there is a lot of dust, dirt and sweat. This must first be removed, otherwise even the best care can not penetrate into your leather and keep it supple.

Especially the sweat can be harmful. Even though it is 90% water, the remaining 10% is salt, urea and various fatty acids. The leather soap is applied with a soft damp sponge or cloth with circular movements. Then you can remove the excess, also with a soft cloth, and let the leather dry. Please make sure that you do not put it in the direct sun, because there is a risk that it quickly becomes brittle.

Step 3:

There are many different products on the market to assist you with your leather care needs:

• Leather grease - usually somewhat firmer consistency
• Leather cream - slightly smoother consistency
• Leather oil - liquid consistency

Basically, you can choose whatever you want to use to care for your equipment. Leather grease and leather cream are usually applied with a sponge or lint-free cloth (microfiber). The leather oil usually has a brush right there. Many like to use an oil because it goes everywhere without any problems and you don't have to do much polishing afterwards because it doesn't leave any visible residue. However, you should be very sparing with the oil, otherwise the leather can be easily overgroomed. Go very sparingly with the product of your choice. If the care is absorbed immediately into the leather and appears immediately dry again, you can apply care again. If you take care of your leather regularly, a second application is usually not necessary. After you have cared for everything, you should let the care soak in for about 24 hours. After that, you can reassemble everything and enjoy a supple and well-maintained leather equipment.

Leather care is also very important from a sustainable point of view. Because if you take good care of your leather equipment, you can use it much longer.

You want to make the whole thing even more sustainable as a #royalrider? Then you can also make your own leather soap and leather care. You can find many recipes for this on the social networks. However, you should be very careful when making saddle soap, because you have to work with lye, which is highly corrosive and not harmless. Making leather conditioner is much less complicated, but again, we would recommend applying your own creation to a small piece of leather to test the effect first. If it works, all the better!

What is your experience with leather care? Do you know any good tips and tricks? Let us know in the comments!