Homemade saddle soap???

[michelle.stiman]

does anyone have any easy recipes for making homemade saddlesoap? Someone told me you can mix milk and a bar of saddle soap to make a paste?

I would love to hear your tips

Thanks

Michelle

[Tangle]

I'll be interested to see what comes back :).

However, I'm concerned that this might be a false economy - leather care products are a pretty minor expense in the general scheme of horse ownership, certainly compared to a decent saddle or bridle. I'd rather use a good quality product to try and maintain my investment as well as I could - good leather should literally last you a life time if it's well looked after ;)

[sidesaddlelady1]

does anyone have any easy recipes for making homemade saddlesoap? Someone told me you can mix milk and a bar of saddle soap to make a paste?

I would love to hear your tips

Thanks

Michelle

A bath-sized bar of glycerine soap (to grandmother's fury grandfather used the children's Pears Soap so I do too) grated into 1/2pint of milk (I have found by experience that full cream sterilised milk keeps best and does the best job) and melted over a low heat or in the micro wave but watch it as it will boil over very easily in the m/wave. Add a large tablespoon of olive oil and mix well. Tip into a plastic container with a tight fitting lid, cool and store in the fridge. It can go off and/or mouldy if you use ordinary or semi-skimmed milk or if you keep it somewhere too warm and not very dry. You can reduce the quantities if you don't have a lot of tack to clean at a sitting. It does not keep indefinitely so don't run mad and make huge quantities.

I use it when renovating old leather (such as the side saddles) and it does a really good job. Don't wet it too much or you will end up with a lot of foam which defeats the object because the ingredients don't get into the leather properly. I damp my sponge in tepid water, squeeze it out & then wring it out in a towel to dry as much water out of it as possible. Work the saddle soap well into the leather and let it dry. (When you are putting it on the leather it seems quite greasy but this is absorbed as it dries).

A good side effect is that it leaves your hands beautifully soft as well.

Among the "bought" products I prefer "Wilf White's" saddle soap or, for everyday cleaning, the Belvoir Step One Spray Cleaner and and Step Two Spray Conditioner. The Stage One spray cleaner is especially good as it takes a lot of the hard work out of the pre-saddle-soap cleaning off of sweat and mud.The wipes you can buy are good for a quick last-minute clean up at a show or in an emergency but they aren't a good everyday option - and they are expensive.

Remember that the more often you clean your tack properly the longer it will last. You'll also be safer as stirrup leathers, reins, etc., will be less likely to break if you keep them clean and therefore in good condition and your horse will be more comfortable and so less likely to make his displeasure felt by bucking or bolting. Don't forget to give your girths a spin in the washing machine too. So often, on the yard, I see fabric girths which are stiff with sweat and mud when the rest of the tack is reasonably clean.