The strange case of the changing saddle!

Auslander

Auslander

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Feel a bit odd! I just went over to collect my dressage saddle, which has been out on loan to someone for ages. I'm very happy to have it back, albeit a bit horrified at how dry and scratched and unloved it's looking.

When I got home, I got straight at it with some leather balm, and when I lifted the flap - it was stamped with Inch's Xenophon. This is very odd, because I bought it as a Stubben Parsifal! First thought was that they had had a little accident with it, and bought a replacement, but it has the engraved nametag that I put on it - and the leather over the pommel has been replaced - which I had done about 10 years ago! I remember this because I was furious that the saddler had used completely different coloured leather!

I'm confused... It's not the saddle I bought 20 years ago, but it's had work done on it that I had done. Really bizarre!
 
ester said:
that is also a possibility, mad instead of the memory :p
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Weeelll- Yes!

Whatever it is, I'm very disappointed in the state it's in. Anyone got any recommendations for really really brilliant leather conditioner? I guess the scrapes and scratches are here to stay, and the suede seat/knee rolls that appear to have been soaped/oiled are unsalvageable - but I'd like to at least make it feel better!
 
Handsome is as handsome does: how is it to ride in? Still the same? A jolly good leather soapind will do wonders, as will a leather dressing on the driest parts. perhaps you have "misremembered" the name/make?
 
Auslander said:
Weeelll- Yes!

Whatever it is, I'm very disappointed in the state it's in. Anyone got any recommendations for really really brilliant leather conditioner?
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I really like Stubben Hamanol for saddles, it's quite greasy and soaks in well. I like Effax too but it makes my saddles squeak against my boots so I tend to reserve that for bridles :D
 
Deseado said:
Handsome is as handsome does: how is it to ride in? Still the same? A jolly good leather soapind will do wonders, as will a leather dressing on the driest parts. perhaps you have "misremembered" the name/make?
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Haven't ridden in it yet. It is a lovely old saddle though - and it's looking a bit better after an attack with copious amounts of leather cream.

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MrsMozart said:
Soak in veg oil?

There was some mentioned on here a couple of weeks or so ago. If I remember right, Carl Hester uses it.

As to the memory... Good luck, y'gonna need it! :D
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I shall investigate. I thought oil rotted the stitching, but I'm prepared to be wrong!
 
Auslander said:
I shall investigate. I thought oil rotted the stitching, but I'm prepared to be wrong!
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Well, the thread will have been waxed and the oil won't be on forever/done frequently :cool:

Have a friend who does this with bridles he gets from the market or when he's left something for too long. Bungs the whole lot into a big vat of (fresh!) oil.

Either the oil, or balsam type leather feed, and then lots and lots of little circles and get it in there :D
 
Deseado said:
TBH, doesn't LOOK like a Stubben......
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It's not! It's an Inch's Xenophon. I'm just wondering why I have thought it was a Stubben for years and years and years!

I reckon it's a ringer. One possibility is when Aus was on loan while I was getting divorced in 2000/2001. It wouldn't surprise me, as the person who had him told me he'd broken/damaged two show bridles, a set of sports medicine boots, two stable rugs, a Witney travel rug, and a Rambo turnout - all virtually new. He arrived back with his work bridle, a crappy old fleece rug and his saddle, after leaving with a full wardrobe. I was in such a state about the whole divorce thing that I didn't say a word!!
 
I'll go along with it being a ringer as well, thats what I thought at the start but then when I read engraved name tag I imagined it was one of those that are tacked on to the back of the cantle and thought it cant be then. But anyone could change that little dog tag.
 
Auslander said:
It's not! It's an Inch's Xenophon. I'm just wondering why I have thought it was a Stubben for years and years and years!

I reckon it's a ringer. One possibility is when Aus was on loan while I was getting divorced in 2000/2001. It wouldn't surprise me, as the person who had him told me he'd broken/damaged two show bridles, a set of sports medicine boots, two stable rugs, a Witney travel rug, and a Rambo turnout - all virtually new. He arrived back with his work bridle, a crappy old fleece rug and his saddle, after leaving with a full wardrobe. I was in such a state about the whole divorce thing that I didn't say a word!!
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Sadly it does sound like a ringer :(

Do you have any photographs from the days before it went on loan? Any paperwork on what went with Aus? Appreciate that things weren't so grand at the time.
 
The suede is salvageable from that condition, my dressage saddle looked worse than that when I got it and with some wire brushes they came up really well. I tried with a proper suede brush but it was to soft so found some stiffer ones and they worked brilliantly even under the stirupps.
 
Well if your horse went out on loan with a full wardrobe and came back with very little and secondhand, I'd say everything good sold on and a name tag easy to remove and put on another saddle.
 
MrsMozart said:
Sadly it does sound like a ringer :(

Do you have any photographs from the days before it went on loan? Any paperwork on what went with Aus? Appreciate that things weren't so grand at the time.
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Sadly not. The only pics I can find are actual photos, most of them out of focus and taken from miles away!

So much water under the bridge now that even if I had conclusive proof, I wouldnt pursue it. This is a very nice saddle, and I obviously rode on it perfectly happily for about 7 years without thinking anything was wrong! The more it soaks up leather dressing, the more like my saddle it looks, so I'm happy enough.
 
dafthoss said:
The suede is salvageable from that condition, my dressage saddle looked worse than that when I got it and with some wire brushes they came up really well. I tried with a proper suede brush but it was to soft so found some stiffer ones and they worked brilliantly even under the stirupps.
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I'll give it a go! Got loads of proper wire brushes out in the garage!
 
Echo Bravo said:
Well if your horse went out on loan with a full wardrobe and came back with very little and secondhand, I'd say everything good sold on and a name tag easy to remove and put on another saddle.
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Sounds a bit like it doesnt it? I was in no fit state to do anything back then. Least I got the horse back!!

Heaven help anyone who tried to do that nowadays!
 
Sounds like it's coming along nicely.

I'd keep at it with leather cream/balsam, better several applications of that than using oil.

I've had good results on a neglected saddle that I bought, using Ko-Cho-Line and Jeffries Leather Balsam (ETA not at the same time, I've alternated). A good application and rubbing in every few days seems to work wonders.
 
Auslander said:
Sadly not. The only pics I can find are actual photos, most of them out of focus and taken from miles away!

So much water under the bridge now that even if I had conclusive proof, I wouldnt pursue it. This is a very nice saddle, and I obviously rode on it perfectly happily for about 7 years without thinking anything was wrong! The more it soaks up leather dressing, the more like my saddle it looks, so I'm happy enough.
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That's alright then :D. So long as you are happy, then you're right to leave the past where it belongs :D
 
Regarding the leather conditioner :
It is unadvisable to oil tack.
Any substance/product (leather conditioner/food) with tallow, beeswax or lanolin or all 3 if possible is by far the best thing for leather. If oil is used it tends to make the fibres of the leather go soggy, it can rot out certain types of thread used in stitching too. IF you must use oil (very lightly), then use it VERY sparingly on the flesh side of the leather (under side) here the fibres of the hide are much more open, allowing the oil to soak in far better than the grain side. Oil will not conditioner leather either, fat does.
Oil tends to darken leather too, another reason you shouldn't use it if you have a lighter coloured leather.
 
My ex-OH had a Xenophon, we picked it up 2nd hand very cheap as I don't think anyone had noticed the make, it did look very scruffy - but I have to say it was the most comfortable saddle I have ever ridden in!
 
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