Maintenance advice
When you take good care of your Anatomica saddle and treat it with leathercare products regularly, you’ll enjoy the saddle for a very long time. But what is the right way to take care of your saddle? And what can you do to keep it in the best shape possible? The products that we recommend for taking care of your Anatomica saddle are saddle soap, leather dressing and saddle grease.
- Use the saddle soap to clean your saddle. We advise to only use saddle soap when the saddle is dirty. You don’t use saddle soap for maintenance.
- Leather dressing can be used to take care of the leather, without making it more flexible. It also prevents the sweat of the horse and rainwater from soaking into the saddle.
- Saddle grease can also be used to take care of the leather, but grease does make the leather more flexible. Saddle grease also prevents the sweat of the horse and rainwater from soaking into the saddle.
Parts of the saddle
1 = Pommel
2 = Seat
3 = Cantle
4 = Panel
5 = Knee roll
6 = Saddle flap
7 = Girth straps
8 = Y-system of the girth straps
How do I prepare my saddle before I start to use it?
Before you start using your new saddle, make sure to treat it with leather dressing. Don’t forget the panels! The easiest way to put the leather dressing onto the saddle, is with a soft brush or sponge. Don’t be afraid to put on too much leather dressing. There is no such thing as too much when it comes to leather dressing before the first time use of your saddle. In the first week, you could even ‘paint’ the saddle white with the leather dressing. Let the saddle absorb the leather dressing for about 20 minutes. Then, take away the redundant leather dressing with a soft cloth.
The girth straps (number 7) and stirrup leathers need to be treated with saddle grease, because it is important that the girth straps stay flexible to prevent the leather from cracking. Imitation stirrup leathers also need to be treated with saddle grease, to ensure that the imitation stirrup leathers can easily slide over the saddle flaps. This will prevent the saddle flaps from getting damaged easily.
Repeat these actions the first five times you use the saddle.
How do I maintain my saddle?
Clean the saddle with saddle soap if the saddle is dirty. If your horse sweats much, don’t forget to clean the panels (number 4).
Treat the saddle with leather dressing every other week. Make sure to put product on the saddle up to the point where you see the white liquid stay on the saddle. Don’t be afraid to use a lot of leather dressing. Let the saddle absorb the leather dressing for about 20 minutes. Then, take away the redundant leather dressing with a soft cloth.
The girth straps (number 7) need to be treated with grease every day, in order to keep them flexible and to prevent the leather from cracking.