CCCustomTack

Updated!! I will get a better pic today but the saddle is soaking up the oil really well & starting to return to its natural medium oil shade!! It is not sticky or oily feeling at all, I guess it was just that dry! The rough spots from the pressure washer I applied some black rock to & massaged it in & it is smoothed & slicked down & looks normal now! As much of a panic & anxiety this whole episode has caused me lol all is well & turning out good! Thank you everyone!

My husband & I recently bought this old saddle. It is marked N. Porter with a long horn on it. Any info/history would be appreciated!

so now that I saturated in oil, bad, do I just let it dry out or have a made matters worse? it was really really dried out hence why I used so much oil. now what?

Oh I also don't plan on reselling the saddle. I will be keeping it as a back up & an extra to have around & if I do ever sell it his great grand daughter said she would buy it whenever I did go to sell it. =)

Thank you everyone for all the advice. Lesson learned on this one. The back story of this saddle is we went & bought some horses & they had a few saddles for sale to & we bought this one, it had been sitting in the tack room untouched for 15 years. Come to find out when cleaning it on the under side of the saddle carved into the tree is "SHOTGUN" "C.L GIBBS" , come to find out that is the great granddad of a friend of mine & he rode/trained cow horses. pretty neat. I have checked over all the riggings & everything is solid & sound, the saddle damage was purely cosmetic from being rode hard i'm sure & sitting for so long. I went over some rougher spots last night with Black rock & those spots are now laid down nice & slicked over & look like the rest of the saddle. Lesson learned with the oil, I guess more is not always better when it's super dry leather. I will keep everyone updated on the progress. thank you! trying to figure out how to attach some pictures of it now from this morning after sitting over night

Electrathon - yea i will NOT be doing that again, ever... Dwight- this saddle actually does has a great piece of history behind it too. An old cowboys name who ive traced back, is carved into the tree. This isn't my main saddle & i didn't pay much for it ($150) which was a steal for the saddle, but it does still upset me that we pretty well took off the top layer of leather in some spots. yea it will ride the same but still. I am hoping there is a way to fix it or at least make it look a little better.

I am in dior need of some knowledge.... Last night my husband & I bought a diamond in the rough. It was a pre= 1980 Original Billy Cook MAKER Greenville, TX 15" cutting saddle. I was BEYOND excited for this find & couldn't wait to clean it up! So today i went to it with soap & water, a sponge, & a tooth brush to get into the floral tooling... the dirt was really deep in there & still wasn't come out so i talked to my friend who has restored a couple older saddle & she said power wash it.... i was a little hesitant but i took her word for it... My husband power washed it on LOW in a fan setting on the washer & now in some spots it looks like the finish has literally been taking off... she reassures me this is normal & i don't believe her. I have put several coats of 100% pure neatsfoot oil on it & it is soaking now but i'm terrified i have now ruined this saddle. But also this saddle has been repaired in a few places that i can see & is very old so scuffs may also be from wear & tear but still, i'm freaking out a little. What are you thoughts? Tips? Suggestions? Kind words to keep me from breaking down into tears...lol Pictures of before & after included...

Hello everyone! This is my first post but I am in search of someone who does or sells clear acrylic templates for horse tack. I have one for bronc halters & spur straps but I am looking for one to do tack sets or headstalls & breast collars separately. Or even already cut out tack blanks would be great too! Any help or pointing in the right direction is appreciated!!