What to do with wet leather saddle?

[Dubsie]

Wondering on best way to care for our new-ish leather saddle which got saturated in the rain (!) today? From new I've put plenty of neatsfoot oil etc and I clean and condition with the CDM tack cleaner and conditioner, but today it looks decidedly soggy, being the first time it's got rained on (and the first time it's rained for more than 10 minutes for months!), so wondering what the best thing to do with it is?

Thanks - and I'll pass bag of cornish fudge round..

 

[timefort]

Not sure I'm the most knowledgeable here, but happy to relate my stories in return for fudge...

When I lived in Glasgow (if you didn't ride in the rain there you didn't ride) I used to wrap my saddle in old towels to dry it out, replacing the towels as soon as they started to get damp. Then once more-or-less dry give it a good soaping and oiling. I'm not sure that's the *best* way to look after the saddle, but it seemed to work well enough - no discolouration, cracking etc. Whatever you do, don't try to dry it with heat!

Now off to contemplate own ride in rain...

 

[blitznbobs]

dry it slowly in a warm but dry place (no direct heat). Then clean it well with good old fashioned saddle soap. Then once clean re oil it and voila it should be fine.

Blitz

 

[Dubsie]

Fabulous thank you, knew someone would know!

 

[Maesfen]

Having cleaned more wet dirty saddles than had hot dinners, I recommend the first idea if it is 'wringing wet' as it will soak up the surplus water easily enough. If just mildly damp, clean off with warm water (much easier to do it while wet than wait for it to dry IME), put on a saddle rack/horse but preferably a metal one which has bars to allow the air to circulate better. Make sure it's not in direct contact with heat and allow to dry naturally before you use old fashioned glycerine saddle soap and rub it well in. Don't be tempted to oil it too often either, you don't want the heart of the saddle going out of it. If you want to use it before it's dry, do as above but put some protective jodh's on else you'll get a wet bum!