Buckaroo John's Blog — leather

I remember one really wet winter we had, where unless you had a covered arena, no one was riding. Once we had a few sunny days I happily went out to my trailer, where I stored my saddle and tack, eager to throw a leg over my mud clad gelding. However, much to my horror, when I opened the tack room door, my saddle and bridle were covered in mold.  Seeing my beautiful saddle and bridle covered in a layer of mold was devastating. However, it doesn't mean that your gear is ruined! While we don't seem to have any...

The Problem Winter weather is no friend to leather, especially polluted rainwater. Microscopically, leather is made up of collagen fibers. During tanning, hides are soaked in chemicals to prevent its fibers and their bonds from decomposing. Natural fats and oils are tumbled with the hides to keep the protein bonds from drying out and to make the leather supple.Protein bonds must be lubricated and kept supple, this is the key to long lasting leather. If the bonds dry out completely, they shrink, become brittle and break. Once broken, they are permanently weakened. Soaking leather in oil may make it supple...

There are four key points to look for when purchasing leather tack that we would like to share with you! We believe in producing gear, and we view your tack purchase as an investment into the longevity of your gear and safety of your ride. Start with the feel of the leather: Is the leather soft and supple? You want to avoid purchasing tack that feels dry because the quality will be subpar. If you bend the leather and you see it starting to crack it is useless and may become very dangerous when riding. It should be bendable, soft...

Alright folks, time for the million dollar question...who knows what these are for? If you ride a western saddle, there is most likely one of each side of your pommel. Some endurance saddles will have them as well.  These pieces of leather are called latigo keepers, off side cinch holders, and also flank cinch holders. The piece of the horse and rider's left hand side is used to hold the extra latigo after cinching up, like below. Now, the off side, or flank cinch holder isn't as commonly used. Nothing irks me more than to pull a saddle off the...

Hobbles are connected loops made from sturdy material, such as leather, that loosely connect a horse's front legs together. Now, I'm sure that can seem quite horrifying and barbaric to people, but let's take a look at where and why they are used. A good horse must know how to tie and all horses must be able to be contained in some fashion. Ground tie, tie to a tree, outside a bar, pseudo tie (that's a fancy word for "fake tying"), cross tie, tie to the side of a trailer, etc. In this day and age it seems we have...