How to clean old horse tack from old barn easiest way?

I'm sure many people will give me TD but if your'e not 'horsey', I know you don't have the patience for traditional tack cleaning. So here's my advice:

Pick a warm, sunny day and start in the morning. Put the saddles on a split rail or plank fence. Lightly hose the saddles down with a garden hose on a very fine mist, but strong enough so you'll power out any grime from any tooling or stitching. Avoid saturating any of the saddles, and try to avoid wetting any suede or fleece. Wipe down with a terry cloth towel and let dry in the sun.

Do the same with any bridles. You can saturate them a bit more, but be sure to dry with a terry towel. Be sure to let all dry thoroughly in the sun.

Next, take a cup of olive oil and a 1" paint brush. Lightly coat the tack with olive oil. Use your hands to rub the oil in any spot where it's not soaking in. Now, remove the tack to a clean, dry area. Like a dry cement floored-garage.

You should be able to examine the tack for any brand logos. On english tack you want to look for Crosby, or Crump or Pessoa, or other popular brand names. On western tack look for Circle Y, or Simco. Point is, if you google any of the brand/ logos you find, you should get a good idea of the baseline quality of the tack you have. However, you'll be at a disadvantage because it's been neglected for so long. Just be honest about how you came to own this tack when you sell it. Old tack can be dangerous if it's not reconditioned properly.

Best of luck.

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BA: Let me know what you've got once you get it all cleaned up. Always in the market for bridles & saddles. Thanks :)

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How to clean old horse tack from old barn easiest way?

I have lots of leather horse tack equipment I ended up with. It had been sitting in an old barn for a long time. I know nothing about horses and horse tack. Its full of caked on dust and who knows what. I would like to clean it up and sell it. I am hoping for a method that involves putting it all...

Antique Horse Tack

I vote for Starlight's answer! She is right on the money! :-) Additionally - When I was 12-13, I was working full time at a cutting horse ranch in the summer in exchange for lessons. On top of that, the clients had the choice to pay me to keep their horses in shape (mind you, these are very well off customers who don't want to ride every day in the heat ;-). I made 10 bucks a horse for a 30-45 minute ride and could get to about 3 horses a day in between stall cleaning, watering, and working cattle. Some people do not like young people riding, but some people don't mind as long as there is supervision by the trainer. Good luck!

Water is not good for leather, so you should refrain from using it. Go buy a little bottle of leather cleaner and a bottle of leather conditioner. Put a lot of the cleaner on a sponge and wipe down the tack. Make sure you get in all the little crevices. After you finish that, rinse out your sponge with water. Get as much water out as you can. Then put some leather conditioner on your sponge and wipe down the tack, this will keep it in better condition.

soaking is not good for leather. theres no fast way of cleaning tack, if you want it done correctly. you can use a damp sponge with a little soap and wipe it down. if its caked with dirt try a small brush, like the one on the back of a hoof pick or maybe a tooth brush. heres a site that explains it

http://bristolhills.ponyclub.org/cleaningyourtack....

Extremely interesting question, hope we get some good replies

Thanks for the answers!