Show me your London tan saddles

little_critter

little_critter

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I've just bought a London tan saddle. Not my favourite colour but for me fit comes first, and this one fits.
So what colour saddle cloths go with London tan? I tried it with a bright blue one and that looked horrid.
Horse is very dark bay if that helps.
 
Goodness, where did you get a London tan saddle? Premier Equine have a range of colours. Perhaps royal blue and navy wool or orange and petrol wool or navy and burgundy wool or just boring brown!
 
Forest green will look nice and try red , brown will go .
You will be able to darken the saddle with time and cleaning we had some London tan bridles at a place I worked in time they went a lovely golden brown .
 
Unless it's that coated type leather, you should be able to darken it to brown with neatsfoot oil, if you want to. I'm in the process of doing one now. They only look good with black or brown, I reckon.
 
It is not advisable to use oil - it weakens the structure of the leather.

I'm a bridle maker and repairer and I get lots of business from people who think oiling is a good thing until the leather rips or stretches excessively.
 
It's a second hand saddle to I recon it's already done all the darkening it's going to do. It's a Jeffries Elite.
I thought dark green would be the answer (thinking back to the "what colours will go on my chestnut?" threads)
 
https://www.equus.co.uk/products/hkm-lauria-garrelli-champagne-saddle-pad

What about something like this? Could be risky if the colours don't quite match up but if you're willing to play into it could be nice :)

I'd also recommend having a look at Western saddles, a lot of them come in similar colours and you may be able to draw inspiration from their colour schemes, although depending on taste you may have to pare it down a couple of (hundred) notches
 
A white pad maybe?
Or blue: I know you said it looked horrible but try different shades. Orange and blue are opposites so it should go well.
Also I might be alone in the world in liking london tan. Any chance of pics of this saddle?
 
I know this sounds a bit wrong but, my friend borrowed a pale pink saddle cloth the other day and it made the brown saddle look fab (not London tan, it would have been a few shades darker but certainly not havanna). It was along the lines of the LeMieux 'blush pink' shade. She was using it on a liver chestnut and it suited the mare and the saddle really well.
 
It's almost yellow in tone, my tan saddle was more orange and I was about to suggest teal and sage green, there are some subtle Mattes colours, sand, taupe etc which would be soft with it, opposite on the colour wheel is purple, so some kind of lilac MIGHT work as a contrast. Then all the traditional colours - white, black, navy, bottle, burgundy.
 
It is possible to dye a saddle yourself - https://the900facebookpony.com/2015/11/19/diy-dyeing-a-saddle/
I tried it once on a dressage saddle I bought very cheaply as it had a forest green seat with black everywhere else. It worked pretty well and I was able to sell it on for a lot more than I'd paid for it :)! The colour match wasn't perfect but you'd only notice if you stood right next to it in direct sunlight.

Here's a link to someone who dyed a tan saddle black - https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/...nge-saddle-or-i-dyed-my-saddle-and-so-can-you
 
I really like London Tan, most of the saddlery when I was young, many moons ago, was London. With care and PLEASE don't oil it, it will mature into a rich chestnut colour. Keep the neatsfoot oil away from it, I can send you an article as to why you shouldn't oil modern hide if you wish to read it, Oz (Saddler )
 
cremedemonthe said:
I really like London Tan, most of the saddlery when I was young, many moons ago, was London. With care and PLEASE don't oil it, it will mature into a rich chestnut colour. Keep the neatsfoot oil away from it, I can send you an article as to why you shouldn't oil modern hide if you wish to read it, Oz (Saddler )
Click to expand...

Oz hijacking thread a bit but could you send me the link to that article please?
 
Another hijacker sorry. What do you think of flexalan Oz? I've a two tone tan/havana saddle that I'd prefer to be havana all over. I bought some flexalan but not tried it yet. Will wait for your thoughts now please 😊
 
cremedemonthe said:
I really like London Tan, most of the saddlery when I was young, many moons ago, was London. With care and PLEASE don't oil it, it will mature into a rich chestnut colour. Keep the neatsfoot oil away from it, I can send you an article as to why you shouldn't oil modern hide if you wish to read it, Oz (Saddler )
Click to expand...

Hi Oz, yes I’d be interested in the article please.
Out of interest my other saddle is an Equipe which had faded badly (I believe they are known for this?). I was told to use Equipe soft oil on it which has helped restore some colour. I assume Equipe soft oil is expensive neats foot oil? Should I stop using the soft oil?
 
little_critter said:
Hi Oz, yes I’d be interested in the article please.
Out of interest my other saddle is an Equipe which had faded badly (I believe they are known for this?). I was told to use Equipe soft oil on it which has helped restore some colour. I assume Equipe soft oil is expensive neats foot oil? Should I stop using the soft oil?
Click to expand...

I'll PM you
 
Thanks Oz, I have some of yours too, fabulous stuff. Wasting my time with this saddle though as the seat has a shiny coating so nothing will go in and I'm not brave enough to start stripping it off. I would like to read the oil article if you have time please.
 
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