Saddle Cleaning Time

Betty and I are headed out of town in a couple of days (more about that in tomorrow's post). We'll do some horseback riding at one of the places and, since we're driving our truck, we're taking our saddles.

But, they needed cleaning so that's what I did most of this morning and early afternoon. Both of our saddles are Steele Endurance saddles - just slightly different styles.

Here's a picture of Betty's saddle in process.

Now here's Betty's saddle all done.

My saddle in process.

My saddle all done.

We even cleaned and conditioned our riding boots.

When we lived just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio we often visited an Amish saddle shop about 30 miles from where we lived. The shop was owned by an old Amish gentleman and his two sons. They made saddles and leather tack and goods for their local Amish community. I asked him once what they used to condition their leather goods and he said they used Bickmore Bick 4 Conditioner. I bought some from him and I have been using it ever since as it works very well.

Saddle cleaning and conditioning is not something I enjoy doing but I'm always happy with the way the saddles look when I'm done.

Today is August 11 and if today is your Birthday then you share your day with: Hulk Hogan (pro wrestler), Steve Wozniak (founder, along with Steve Jobs, of Apple Computer), Rev. Jerry Falwell (Liberty College president and minister), Arlene Dahl (actress), Mike Douglas (daytime TV talk show host), Alex Haley (author - "Roots"), Dik Browne (cartoonist - "Hi and Lois" and "Hagar the Horrible"), and Cato M. Guldberg (Norwegian mathematician).