Help - horribly greasy bridle!

[Tronk]

Hi, got a pony on lwvtb who has come with a lovely saddle but disgustingly greasy bridle! My daughter and I tried cleaning and scrubbing with water and also renapur leather cleaner which normally sorts everyday grease and grime. It's slightly better but still vile! Any suggestions please? Fairy liquid has been mentioned but don't want to wreck the bridle. Thanks.

 

[Lolo]

Have you tried literally scraping the grease off with the blunt side of a knife? Also, any washing up liquid in a tiny tiny amount does get the grease off, but you then need to use decent conditioner afterwards because it isn't great for the leather...

 

[Ladyinred]

Hi, got a pony on lwvtb who has come with a lovely saddle but disgustingly greasy bridle! My daughter and I tried cleaning and scrubbing with water and also renapur leather cleaner which normally sorts everyday grease and grime. It's slightly better but still vile! Any suggestions please? Fairy liquid has been mentioned but don't want to wreck the bridle. Thanks.

About to get very old-fashioned, well nearly prehistoric! We used to use a screwed up mass of tail hair, it removed grease like nothing else and never ever scratched. Used to call it a bowser.. no idea why but that's what it was. We would collect all the long hairs from everyday brushing and if we didn't have enough we would scissor a bit from the underside of a thick tail!!

 

[Shysmum]

I have an old bridle I use for winter, and the greasy thing - well i just could not sort it out. I have just invested in a lovely Zilco bridle, so no more worrying about it.

 

[Gloi]

I use one of the nylon skin scrubs you usually use in the shower to get bad grease off my tack.

 

[ejfoster]

one of my horses bridles was in this condition before, in my case it was due to too make tack conditioner being used and being left on! unfortunately we couldnt clean it up as it made the leather weak and unsafe to use! if its just greasy in certain parts it could be worth just replacing that bit of the bridle! hope it helped!

 

[p87]

I was given a bridle and it was vile! After cleaning to no avail I eventually soaked it in hot water, scrubbed it with the rough side of a dish washing sponge then dried it before cleaning it like I would any other piece of tack and conditioning it. I was worried the soaking in hot water and scrubbing with the rough sponge would damage it but to be honest it was so disgusting if it wasn't going to clean up well I would have just thrown it in the bin!
Luckily it looks good as new, it's nice and bendy and no scratches

 

[cremedemonthe]

I've sent you some info on tack cleaning, hope it helps, Oz

 

[pippixox]

wear washing up gloves, then boiling water, using the rough side of washing up sponge and saddle soap. the boiling water helps to break down the oil i think, melting it away

 

[Luci07]

Try a squirt of fairy in the water. We do it when cleaning tack at my yard and it does not dry out the tack.

 

[vanrim]

I will probably get shot down for telling you this but I was given a good quality bridle covered in years of grease. I couldn't get it clean and as a last resort I put it in the washing machine with non biological powder and plenty of fabric conditioner. I put it on a fast wash on a 30 degree temperature. It came out lovely and clean and I let it dry naturally in a warm room in the house. I then oiled it and it looks like new! Incidentally, I have leather chaps that came with instructions that they could be machine washed on low temperature as long as plenty of fabric conditioner was used. They have been washed lots of times and are still in use.

 

[eggs]

I'm another one who used a blunt knife to scrape the grease off.

 

[springtime1331]

Hot water, fairy liquid and my nails.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Hot water, fairy liquid and my nails.

Put leather in warm water use the back of a knife or blunt knife to scrape off grease

 

[Sabre Leather]

I'm horrified to read some of these things that you're doing to your leatherwork!! :-0

BOILING water!!! OMG.... I'm guessing you wouldn't pour boiling water over your hands (which is skin - that's alive - and so your body will repair it) so why on earth would you do that to your bridle??? (which is also skin - but is no longer alive and therefore cannot repair itself) It will just COOK the leather....you might as well pop it in the oven for an hour for good measure to dry it out lol.

Good rule of thumb....treat your leatherwork like you do your own skin; clean it, moisturise it and do not subject it to extremes of heat & cold otherwise (like your own skin) it will get dirty, dry out and get damaged.

WARM water is fine & you should wipe your tack over everytime you ride (takes seconds with a damp cloth), clean with saddle soap as necessary (I ride 5 days a week & clean my tack once a week) and replace the oils lost by the cleaning process.

Just remember....your health & well being are reliant upon your tack; your tack is reliant upon you looking after it properly. Go on, give it some TLC

 

[Goldenstar]

Warm water fairy liquid and a rough towel.

 

[Tronk]

Thanks guys, you've all been really helpful. I'll get scrubbing!

 

[Red-1]

Another vote for Fairy Liquid, been using it in the water for 25 years, and still have the original tack!!! It was good quality to start with, and I always soap afterwards. It is cleaned most days, no problem.