New Life for a Saddle

A few weeks ago I read this post about re-dyeing a saddle. I thought to myself: "I know a saddle that would love this." 

introducing the $600 Niedersuss - well-loved and mostly destroyed

So I ordered a bunch of things on the internet, including this slightly concerning product:

Ummmmm

But in the end, the result was absolutely gorgeous.

Okay already! To the nitty gritty of what I bought: 

• Fiebing's leather dye - black - $6.64
• Fiebing's deglazer - $7.47 
• Fiebing's Tan-Kote - $7.25
• Fiebing's Resolene - black (but I will buy clear next time) - $8.27
• A million more cloths than I needed - $13.99
• Approximately twenty more foam brushes than I needed - $4.42

So for about $48, I'd assembled the ingredients. 

I then took a bunch of photos of the ingredients.

And after that I finally made it out to the barn. You can read about the whole process (or how it's supposed to go) in detail on the original post, with my additions here:

I think I skimped a bit on the deglazing portion, and that definitely affected how it all turned out. A bit more elbow grease would have served me well.

Here's the saddle with just the first coat of dye on it

I essentially coated it with dye, did the other side, took a photo, re-coated the thing with dye, rode a horse, and coated it a third time. I then rubbed it until it was dry and felt impatient so I put the tan-kote on right away. Basically I'm the worst at following directions.

And here's the saddle with a layer of tan-kote, about ten minutes after I started putting it on?

I experimented a lot with putting the resolene on, and essentially I came to the conclusion that that stuff's a bitch so don't let it dry with bubbles in it. I have no good advice. Neither does anyone else on the internet. I think it's one of those "feel" things that we as horsepeople are always going on about. Feel under saddle does NOT translate to "feel" with resolene. I repeat. Does. Not.

I also straight dropped the container of resolene on the ground and it spilled everywhere and one of my floorboards now has a funny color to it. Don't tell BO that's my fault.

This photo if you look closely you can sorta see how I didn't get the resolene to layer completely evenly, even three layers later, but honestly the saddle looks 10,000,000 times better. It also looks better in person than photos reveal, I keep having people ask me about my new saddle and I giggle a bit.

My conclusion? Probably don't re-dye your expensive saddle until you've experimented on an old, cheap one first. But DEFINITELY re-dye your old cheap saddles. I have enough supplies to probably do two more black saddles, but it turns out my barn is filled with old cheap brown saddles so I dunno what to say about that.