Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE Newsletter Archives

Wet saddle, help!

From: Sandy

Dear Jessica, I'm so afraid that I totally ruined my saddle, I'm really upset. I was riding on the road next to our field because the fields are just too muddy to ride in, and of course I was about a mile from home when it started to rain. I couldn't ride fast because we were on the road, so by the time I got back to the barn my saddle was wet, and by the time I got off to undo our sticky gate that sags and is really hard to move, the seat was soaking wet too. My Dad gave me this saddle, and I've always taken good care of it. He told me that I should never let it get wet because a wet saddle was a ruined saddle. I'm just sick about this. I don't even know if it's good to try and dry it out with something like a hairdryer? I remember my Dad saying that it didn't do any good to oil leather after it got wet and dried out. He passed away last year so I can't ask him, and I just can't stand the idea that maybe I ruined the saddle he gave me. I put it in the mudroom yesterday but it's still pretty wet today. Please help me!!!!

Sandy

Hi Sandy! Don't panic, and don't use the hairdryer. As long as that saddle is still damp, you should be able to take care of it. Your Dad was right about not oiling a dried-out saddle, but he was wrong about a wet saddle being a ruined one. That's not necessarily true.

You need to put the lubricating oils back into the leather, and you can't do it by drying the leather and oiling it -- that can make it SOFT, but it won't be STRONG anymore. Instead, get a damp rag and go over your saddle to be sure you've removed any mud and dirt. Damp is GOOD, dirt is BAD. ;-) Then get a leather-care product that is pH-balanced (neutral pH -- not an alkaline one). You'll probably find it under "leather conditioners" at the tack shop. "Leather Therapy" makes a great conditioner, so look for that one first. Then put it on the DAMP leather. The conditioner will penetrate the leather as the water evaporates, so your saddle will dry a little more slowly, but the leather will be reconditioned during the drying process.

When leather is tanned, the tiny interior fibers are "set" by chemical soaking, and then the hides are tumbled with a mixture of fats and oils to lubricate the fibers and keep them from drying out. When the leather gets wet, the water gets into the leather, mixes with the interior oils that lubricate the fibers. Then, as the water evaporates, it brings the oils to the surface -- and the fibers lose their lubrication and become brittle.
This will permanently weaken the leather, no matter what you do to it afterward.

If you get to a wet saddle or bridle while it's still wet/damp, you CAN recondition it. If you wait until it's dry, you can succeed in making it soft again, but there will be a lot of fiber damage, and you'll never be able to trust the strength of the leather. So go re-condition your damp saddle RIGHT NOW.

Good luck!

Jessica

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