Myth Buster: Do freeze damage saddlery?

[pella]

Hello,

a friend as me that question, it look like is is a popular idea that leaving your saddle out in a barn non-heated could damage the leather, that it will crack leather.

I believe that is a myth and not true, but what is your opinon? here, it freeze -30degree celcius very cold.

I think the only thing that will crack (let say not too old) leather is negligence and folding a piece of dry leather (or new un-broken-in leather) or cheap leather.

[David Genadek]

In my opinion it will reduce the life of the saddle. It is skin what would happen to your skin if you froze it and defrosted it a bunch of times? We have a climate controlled tack room. If you can't afford that then I reccomend to keep your tack in the house.

David Genadek

[pella]

In wich way it would reduce life? By drying it faster? It do not really froze and defroze, it just keep frozen all winter...and defroze in spring (well yes, in term of year, that mean froze and defroze) Anyway, when someone bring is saddle out to go trail riding, the leather froze by the time he ride. But i say freeze, but is leather really freezing? Unless it contain water, i dont see how it can be bad?

Do you really believe that's bad? We need to keep the saddlery in over freezing point piece?

[mulefool]

I can't imagine it would be good for it. But I don't have any actual information to prove that. Maybe you could do your own experiment. Cut a piece of leather in half and keep freezing and unfreezing half of it. Then compare them for suppleness, cracking, etc.

[pella]

No more opinion?

I still think thats not true. I think heat is worst than freeze (unless leather is water logged maybe)

I'll keep freeze and defreeze a little piece of leather in my frozer ;-)

I'll let you know if i notice a change on the leather

[Doug Mclean]

Coming from a cold climate. I can tell you I have worked on saddles from some of the old time makers that never saw the inside of a heated tack room and with a little care they last for ever. Lack of care is what causes leather to break down or the fact that it wasn't anygood in the first place.

[waddy]

Remember that saddles are used hard all winter long without benefit of a heated tack room. They have been for more than a hundred years, and what ones are not just plain worn out, or destroyed from lack of a little oil and cleaning once in awhile, are still in good shape. Granted, it would be wonderful to have a heated tack room where you didn't have to light matches under your bit to keep it from freezing to your horses mouth, and the seat of your saddle didn't freeze your butt for an hour, but that's the way it is more often than not. So no, leaving a saddle in an unheated tack room won't hurt it.

[David Genadek]

I agree that it is lack of care that eventually dry rots the leather. However, when leather gets cold you can see the spew come out which tells you the cold is sucking the life out of the leather. I live in Minnesota and we have major temperature extremes and frankly I don't know of anything that that does not require more maintenance because of the cold. If it requires more maintenance then that is proof that the temperature is affecting the life of whatever it is. It is also true that heat will do the same. You will have less maintenance if you keep it in a climate controlled environment. True if you maintain it, it will still have a long life. How many average horse owners will properly maintain their equipment? My experience is very few.

David Genadek

[pella]

I never notice spew coming out from leather because of cold. I will look for that.

[Rod and Denise Nikkel]

There is a whole science devoted to how to best preserve ancient artifacts, including parchment. Museums not only store them in special cases with precisely controlled temperature and humidity, but also, I believe, with a specific gas composition within the case. So for absolute, maximal preservation, everything is maintained perfectly with no variations.

Now let's get practical. Horse gear will be used outside in below freezing temperatures, as it has been for hundreds of years. If the leather wouldn't stand up to it, it would be made with something else by now. And which is harder on the saddle – going from 70 F to 0 F then back to 70 F, or staying at a more constant temperature, even if it is below freezing? When you bring something inside from very cold temperatures the first thing that happens is that you get all kind of condensation on it from the temperature change. (Fogged up glasses for example.) You are better off leaving a cold saddle in the cold tack room. We have experienced 50 below with no ill effect to our saddles at all.

For people not used to living with cold temperatures for a long period of time, I can see this being a question to be answered. For those of us who do, it's almost a no-brainer. "Of course not!" On the other hand, that old thread on dealing with mold on saddles was an eye-opener for us. Not a problem when you live where there is basically no moisture in the air. Different experiences, different knowledge. That is why this place is so great. You get to learn a lot without having to learn it the hard way!

Edited January 19, 2008 by Rod and Denise Nikkel