Buckaroo John's Blog — Tack Cleaning

If you have fallen in love with the Vaquero style of tack and riding, you've most certainly seen rawhide. If you've never looked into the art of rawhide braiding, I strongly recommend doing so, as it is rumored to be a dying art form and will give you an immense amount of appreciation for the time and talent that goes into making pieces. Rawhide can be used as accents on bridles, reins and breast collars. It is used for bosals and even entire bridles and rein sets. They are treasures to see and to own, and one must care for...

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...

Well, I think I may speak for all of us in the West when I say we are more than ready for spring. Winter was ROUGH. Flooding in the lower elevation and a snow pack in the higher elevations that we haven't see for awhile. Rain, snow, ice, and now....MUD. Sigh. I am ready for the horses to slick out, to get in the back country and ride, although still trying to calculate how long it takes 50+ feet of snow to melt....? While we still have some more storm in the forecast, the weather has been leaning more towards spring, so with that...