I have an English leather saddle and i was wondering if water would damage it badly.?
My horse and i had an accident where we went swimming in a river and i need to know if the saddle will be damaged because i was borrowing it.
The saddle is a darker brown but there are already some lighter marks on it from before i used it. How much would it cost to have a saddle shop go over it completely? estimates?
The thing to be careful of is how you dry it out. It needs to go somewhere that’s room temp at most. If you stick it in a hot room it will dry out really quickly and the leather will crack. Before you set it to dry use a towel to get rid of as much water of the surface as you can and then work some saddle soap into it. Then as it drys out work the saddle soap into it several more times. Once dry oil it with some neatsfoot oil making sure you rub it really well. This should recondition the leather and that will be ok.
The other thing to worry about is thr floaking or padding that sits on the horses back. This may clump as a result of getting soaked in which case you need to find a saddle maker to repair it and I don’t know how much that would cost. If it doesn’t go all lumpy then it should be ok. I would tell the person you borrowed the saddle from. If it was a really expensive saddle and it does require professional repairs then your horse’s insurance (provided you have it) should cover the saddle.
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