Cob Jockey

My husband, who is in Miami for work this week, texted me Monday afternoon to ask if I'd clean and condition his Sperrys while he was gone.

I must explain, the pantyhose in the upper right has everything to do with tack shoe cleaning.

I'd explain that this isn't a sexist request, but you're all equestrians.  You get it.  We get really good at cleaning, conditioning and polishing leather for our horses, it's only fair that our husbands and wives get to benefit from those skills too, right?  Luckily for mine, I like taking care of leather.

Chillin' with Lederbalsam

My "A Team" of tack cleaning supplies was at the barn 50 minutes away, so I used the "B Team": a really old jar of Higher Standards and Passier Lederbalsam.  Plus a pile of boot cleaning stuff I don't keep at the barn.

But...I couldn't just stop at the Sperrys once I got my kit out.  So...

From left to right: Ariat Bromont H20 winter boots, Ariat Heritage field boots, Ariat ProBaby cowboy boots (yes, I wear them!), Ariat Performer IV paddock boots, and Ariat Contour half chaps

Everybody got cleaned, first with a damp rag and then with Higher Standards.  Then those that needed it got shoe polish (paddock boots due to excessive wear, show boots because I like a healthy glow there), and the polish got polished vigorously with pantyhose to give it that nice luster.  

I've written before about how much I love the CWD conditioner (although the CWD soap is terrible):

"Product Review: CWD Tack Cleaning Kit (But Really Just the Conditioner!)"

I've tried a lot of different conditioners, including Lederbalsam, and this one is my favorite.  It's more oily than Lederbalsam, and seems to soak in more thoroughly.

I ran out a while back, and couldn't find any stateside ways to order it.  Buying it direct from CWD would cost over $60 including shipping from France.  I never thought I'd be this picky about a conditioner, but damn, this stuff is good.

Last week, I noticed Mary's Tack and Feed had it back in stock.  I know there are a couple of other fans of it out there, so I thought I'd pass the news along!

One of the extras Mary gave me was a CWD tack cleaning kit.

It's sitting on a wine rack, if that helps with scale at all.

It's designed to hang on a stall when open, but I found that it also hangs nicely on a wine rack, for anyone who may be interested in combining their imbibing with their tack cleaning (cough cough Austen):

Elastic bands keep everything in place.

Inside is their cleaning soap (shown here open), a sponge, their conditioner, and a soft, velvety mitt for applying the conditioner.


I used the soap to clean my saddle, Micklem, and girth, and was not impressed.  It just didn't do that good of a job, coming from Higher Standards Leather Care as I do.  It appears to be glycerine based.  It did okay on the not-dirty saddle, but was fairly ineffective against my dirty girth.  I'll probably use it on the saddle because I should, but stick to Higher Standards for everything else.

Freshly cleaned saddle wearing its protective leather CWD hat.  I find the hat hilarious for some reason.

However.

The conditioner.

Oh my gosh.

I texted Mary and I was like "Where has the CWD conditioner been all my life?" and she was like "One of our best kept secrets!"

Not sure why this is a secret.  My tack has never felt this good.

In the can, it's a solid, soft and oily, and that's in a 64 degree house.  It would probably be liquid in a warm barn in the summer.  If you are familiar with Lederbalsam, it's softer and more wet, rather than waxy.


It comes with a an applicator mitt, which is awesome, because you can get conditioner all over the hand and work a large area on the saddle, or put it on the thumb and fingers and get both sides of your strapgoods at once.  Way faster than my paintbrush method with the Lederbalsam.


I swiped the mitt gently across the conditioner and swiped it gently across my tack to apply.  It glistened like it was wet.  Depending on the tack, between 10-60 minutes, it was completely absorbed, leaving even my cracked Micklem bit straps feeling soft and with a well-cared for gleam.  Plus no requirement to wipe off excess like the Lederbalsam, which leaves my tack feeling tacky.

Right after applying the oil.  This Nunn Finer bridle that I got used was not well taken care of in its previous life.  It started soaking up the conditioner immediately, you can already see it going in this picture.

Nunn Finer figure 8 in various stages of conditioner absorption.

Browband still soaking, but the bridle has absorbed it fully.

At $28.99 for a 200g tub, it's pretty pricey, but it also takes a lot less of this (and a lot less effort in applying it) to condition compared to my Lederbalsam, and I only condition once every 1-3 months, so I feel like it's a good value.  I'll definitely be buying this again when this tub runs out.

Two thumbs up!

Hillary's latest blog hop comes at a great time, since I recently changed up my tack cleaning routine, and it had a totally unexpected benefit.


I was never a regular tack cleaner, but then Nick lost his job and I couldn't afford to re-buy anything, ever, especially the stuff for which I paid a lot (for me).  It changed my perspective, and now I want to do everything in my power to make it last forever, and part of that is keeping it cleaned and conditioned.

Based on a tip from the CoTH forums, a few weeks ago I started wiping down my tack after every ride with a sponge lightly misted in a 10:1 water:ammonia mixture:

Labeled, just in case I leave it out and someone mistakes it for fly spray.  'A' sponge is for ammonia, other sponge is for bit wiping.

This is where it gets interesting.  These past two weeks it got hot and humid for the first time in two years, and many peoples' tack started getting moldy within a day of being cleaned.

The bridle on the hooks next to mine.

...except mine.

The bridle I use daily, and the bridle I rarely use, on the hook next to the bridle above.

Yes, I am a bit of a slob, but to be fair, I'm so short that I can barely reach those hooks.  It's all I can do to throw my bridle high enough to catch on the hook.

Definitely didn't think about ammonia's disinfecting/mold spore killing properties when I started this routine, but it's making a difference.  I actually missed a strap of the Micklem initially, and it turned green with mold while the rest of the bridle stayed black, so it's definitely the ammonia preventing the mold growth.

The rest of my routine is pretty standard (pun intended!).  I clean with Higher Standards about once or twice a month (the ammonia wipe-down helps last longer between real cleans), Peppermint in my tack trunk at the barn and Viva Carlos Sweet Lemon at home.  I reviewed my first jar here.


Then as-needed I condition with Passier Lederbalsam:

Unintentional ad for RidingWarehouse.com (incidentally, they are often the cheapest of the online retailers for a given product).

I paint it on with a paintbrush and let it sit overnight before wiping it off in the morning.  This, again, was a CoTH find, it was voted #1 by most people in a thread on conditioners.  I bought this jar three years ago, and I still have about 1/3 left.

I do my paddock boots, half chaps and tack all at once, and my boots and chaps get the same treatment as the tack, except they get polished with shoe polish, buffed with pantyhose, and an overnight treatment with solidified mink oil instead of Lederbalsam, so that they're more water-resistant.  That's about it.  I hope my leather stuff lasts a good long time!

I've been reading the "Bensmom's saddle soap - the review thread (if that's okay with Bensmom)" thread on the Eventing  forum since it started (on April 8th).  It's still going strong, and is 55 pages long.  I knew people loved this soap, (Higher Standards Leather Care on Etsy) and I wanted to try it, but I expected it to just be regular saddle soap that smelled good.

I was wrong.

This stuff is awesome.  It blows everything I've ever used before away.  I think my husband is tired of me going "This is AMAZING!  And someone is making this in her kitchen!"

The arrival:

It arrived two days after Hillary told me I won her contest (thank you again, Hillary!!), with candy, typed instructions, and a handwritten thank-you, along with a sponge in the soap

The smell:

Tucker approves.

Bitsy is interested.

I got the limited edition cinnamint scent, and it's really lovely.  More minty than cinnamony, not overpowering, and a very nice scent to smell for an hour while you're cleaning tack

The candidates:

Foreground, Micklem with cheapo rubber/leather reins.  Used daily, cleaned semi-regularly.  Background, $30 painted India leather bridle that's been stored in the pile formation seen above since I got the Micklem in April.

2002 County Competitor, before being cleaned

The process: 
The instructions say to get the sponge wet, wring it out so it's not dripping, and swirl it around in the soap but not to expect any foam or lather.  This is the first amazing thing about this soap: no lather means it didn't get stuck in the buckle holes or in the braids of the braided reins.  It also meant that I could really get the rubber reins clean without them turning white and then sticky with lather.


Amazing thing #2: it took dirt off effortlessly.  No scrubbing, and the dirt seemed to just fall off of my tack.  Even the gunk on the stirrup bars came off almost in a single swipe.  Dirt that I thought couldn't come off with my regular saddle soap, or that I didn't know was dirt, was coming off.  Like:

The "Rambo Micklem" logo and the "Front" directive.  They nearly disappeared when I cleaned it with Higher Standards, but were always very visible after cleaning with my normal saddle soap.

Third amazing thing: dirt.  So much dirt.  On tack that is cleaned pretty often.  I was stunned that my normal soap left this much behind.

Rinse...

Squeeze and watch the dirt disappear down the drain, then back to the soap!

Here are the "after" photos.

Clean, supple, and not tacky in the least.  No need to go over it later with a rag like with the normal saddle soap I usually use.  This is my favorite part, besides the fact that it magically removes dirt.

Soft and clean - yes, I still don't have black leathers for this saddle.  Sorry.

Micklem

Not going to turn the $30 painted India leather bridle into an Antares, but it does feel very clean and supple now, especially the braided reins.

I've not been able to get those rubber reins that clean the whole time I've owned them.

Conclusions:
- The best at dirt removal - it's almost magical.
- Doesn't leave tack sticky
- Tack feels SO GOOD when you're done - it feels silky, almost.  I couldn't stop running my hands over my bridle and saddle when I was done.
- Doesn't clog buckle holes
- Makes cleaning braided reins easy instead of annoying
- Smells awesome
- Will last a long time - you can't even tell that I used any after cleaning one saddle and two bridles

You can't go wrong supporting a fellow equestrian who is an entrepreneur and putting out a seriously amazing product.  I wish her all the success in the world, and will be buying some of these as Christmas gifts!

Despite the fact that this week last year we had a massive tornado outbreak, and I was in the process of replacing my air conditioner after having to USE IT IN MARCH on the first 80 degree day of the year, we are currently under a Winter Storm Warning and getting 4-8 inches of snow tonight.  Uhh...?  At any rate, I learned my lesson last time and will be staying home and cleaning tack instead of getting my Tuesday night ride in.

Sad, wet pony would like it to be summer now, please.

So, since I'm stuck inside, I want to hear from you guys again!  My last "Five Questions for You" was so much fun, probably one of the most fun things I've done on this blog, and it's time to repeat it, 2013 Show Season style:

1. What is going to be/was your first event or clinic of 2013?
2. How many separate disciplines will you be competing in in 2013, and what are they?
3. Are you aiming for a move up in any of them this year?
4. What will be the most difficult challenge or movement for you in your discipline this year?
5. And for the tack sluts (Ha!  Amy!) and tack ho's out there: what is something you absolutely must purchase before this show season or else everything is ruined forever?





Connor and I will go first!

1. First show was the Majestic Farms schooling show in January, but our first event (ever!) will be Heartland in April.  I guess you could also count our non-competitive appearance at the Hoosier Horse Fair the first weekend in April.
2. We will be competing in eventing, Dressage, and WPCSA breed shows.
3. We are aiming first to survive starter together, then move up to BN sometime in the second half.
4. Our most difficult challenge will be figuring it all out together, since I've never really shown over fences at all or evented before.
5. I have never owned a stock tie before, and have no show shirt acceptable for jackets-waived Dressage shows, so those must get addressed ASAP.  I would love suggestions on both, if you have opinions.

Your turn!

I'm a leather tack addict.  I love the entire process of caring for leather, love how it can be renewed and revived, and of course, I love the smell and the look.  My Ariat paddock boots are a prime example of why good leather can last forever, I can shine them up to where they look brand new, but broken in, after six years of constant use, thanks to a roughly quarterly regiment of cleaning, polishing and mink-oiling.  Synthetics have their place, but not in my tack trunk. 

Despite loving tack cleaning, I haven't always been the best about tack conditioning.  Because my "temporary" $35 cheapo bridle is not the best quality to begin with, my stirrup leathers from the early 90's are about the same quality as the bridle, and my beloved saddle needs a lot of TLC if I'm going to keep it going, conditioning needs to be more of a priority for me.

The scene of the crime, after I was finished.  All of my tack is either handed down, or was purchased used on eBay.

My usual routine for anything but shoes involves cleaning, but not conditioning.  In the past, before I became a lazy tack owner, I let the leather tell me when it needed conditioned rather than doing it on a schedule so that it didn't get overconditioned.  Last week, I purchased neatsfoot oil for the first time since college, and boy, did it make a difference when used prior to the lederbalsam I typically use.  It's not something to use on a regular basis, but my tack was calling 911 and begging for some moisture.

My tack cleaning and conditioning routine isn't anything special, but I've carefully crafted and perfected my routine for paddock boots and tall boots over the past six years, based on research and talking to military folks. 

Paddock and Tall Boots Cleaning Routine
1. Soap-free clean with just water to remove mud and dirt
2. Shoe polish in coordinating color, applied with soft applicator in circular motion, without pressing down
3. Buff with buffing cloth
4. Buff with pantyhose (for that extra deep shine, especially great for tall boots)
5. Waterproof with mink oil, brush applicator (paddock boots only, typically)
6. Let dry overnight in a warm room
7. Buff with buffing cloth
8. Buff with pantyhose

Does your routine differ?  Are you like my good friend Mary who'd just rather replace the boots than keep up the maintenance?  If you are, I offer free boot cleaning services...