Oil

Week before last I took the girls saddles in to be repaired. S’s was a new/used saddle I picked up on Ebay before Christmas. It came with a slight tear in one of the fenders. N’s was wearing around the blevin buckles. They are both Circle Y Barrel saddles. N’s has a square skirt and S’s has a rounded skirt.

I also took three other saddles that belonged to friends. All of the saddles were very very dry. S’s saddle had to have a fender replaced because when they tried to fix the tear, the dry rot in the leather ripped it in two.

Friday I went and picked up the saddles and bought a gallon of oil. We have fallen off a bit on the cleaning of our saddles. We do a good thorough cleaning about once a year, but it should really be done twice or three times. I usually clean them with saddle soap and then rub a paste in real well. After visiting with the saddle repair woman, I learned we need to OIL the saddles. A LOT! The gallon of oil is just about gone. N’s saddle has turned a much deeper brown and is starting to shine like new. S’s will likely take another half a gallon of oil before it’s good to go.

In January I sold my older trail Circle Y saddle because I just wasn’t happy with it. While at the saddle repair shop I fell in love with a newer version of the same saddle. It has a deeper suede seat and more silver. I have a seven day return policy on it so on Saturday N and I saddled up Keo and took the saddle and Keo for a spin.

Keo just love N. It’s so heart warming to see. She was out grooming and loving on her while I carried the tack outside. I then worked on saddling her as N ran in the house and got her helmet and riding boots. Keo watched her the whole way – in and out. She didn’t care what I was doing, she just wanted to know where N was going. It was very sweet. N has a very deep soft heart, so it’s very refreshing to see her bond with this horse so quickly.