Tack Cleaning

[hellybelly6]

I had a lovely Jeffries IR bridle for my birthday and now horse is well enough to be ridden and I am well enough to ride now. I have been riding in it and cleaned it today for the 2nd time.

I usually clean mine on a friday night with a nice bottle of Merlot.

I was wondering how often others clean their tack and do your enjoy it?

 

[katie_southwest]

I clean it quickly after every ride, but properly about once every 2 weeks/3weeks

 

[Persephone]

I enjoy the end result, can;t say getting there is much fun!

I clean mine a couple of times a week generally. My horse works quite hard so it gets a bit of abuse!

Jojo x

 

[dressager]

Mine gets cleaned for me every day as part of my livery package

I never minded cleaning tack really, its just the time. Used to think it could wait another day, and what a pain if it got wet and you were in a rush. Although your method of cleaning does sound appealing

 

[lucym]

everytime i ride, im a bit of a freak

i love clean supple tack

 

[hellybelly6]

Opps - dont clean your tack with a bottle of Merlot, it helps greatly with the application of saddle soap!

 

[jesterfaerie]

I used to be rather lazy at cleaning tack, a quick wipe over every now and again and that was that.
But now I have recently bought a new (well second hand but new to me) saddle which cost a fair bit so I clean it after each ride.

 

[rara007]

I clean my leather riding stuff after every ride as it was previously really abused

, and not touched for about 5 years. I like it clean too. I am lazy with the bit though, I tend only to do it when I looks grimey :embarrassed:
The synthetic stuff only get cleaned before a tack check though, or when the mud is visable :embarrassed:

 

[BethandHenry]

Recently I've been good, but sometimes my tack doesn't get a proper clean for far too long

I clean the bit after every ride especially as its a Happy Mouth bit so goes really grimy

It just seems to be one of those jobs that I put off!

 

[RachelB]

My mum nicked her Renapur back so my current excuse is that I have nothing to clean my bridle with! My saddle is 1) synthetic and 2) currently not in use anyway

 

[GreyConnemara]

I clean my tack every fortnight or so, whenever I have time really but it only gets used 2 or 3 times a week. I actually enjoy cleaning tack plus I love the smell of the cleaning stuff!

 

[merlinsquest]

I cleaned mine on the 13 june for a show..... and meant to clean it before I went on holiday to stay with Ravenwood..... but didnt have time.

Since then I have been meaning to clean it..... so you can imagine what a state it is in

I WILL clean it before the kids go back to school though.... or rather they will.

Sad really, as I do actually enjoy doing it..... but always have something a bit more interesting to do

Runs off to hide from the abuse

 

[FestiveFuzz]

Erm probably nowhere near as much as I should, but we had our tack stolen at the beginning of the year and now have a hand me down saddle and cheapish bridle so I'm not so concerned about their treatment.

I always wash the bit after riding though and usually give everything a wipe over too. About every 3 weeks (or sooner if we have a show) I will take everything apart and clean and oil it properly.

However when we get our new tack I will take much better care of it!

 

[ickelshadow]

i used to ride 3-4 times a week in summer and 2-3 times in winter, so it probably got done one a week or fortnight. however, it was always immaculate, she was never that sweaty. i was anal about it when i first got it, so was oiled most days and cleaned daily to get it into a nice condition. i think this helped later in its life as the dirt would literally slide off!

i'm also a manic tack collector
1 made to measure saddle (cost of one was enough and she never needed a new one!) - sold the saddle she came with as it didn't fit
bridle 1 - the one she arrived with, which i turned into her double
bridle 2 - new one when she arrived to be her snaffle bridle
bridle 3 - brought a v cheapy one off ebay to be her pelham bridle for xcountry/sponsored rides, but only used it a few times as it was a bad fit and very crappy
bridle 4 - show bridle that pretty much became her every day one as we didnt do any shows!
bridle 5!! - i bought this for my previous loan horse, full sized, so never fitted shadow (14.1hh)

and then i have 2 leather head collars as well!!!

lets hope some of this stuff fits my next horse when i get to that stage!