Conditioning Hair-On Horse Hide?

[addieleigh]

I was just given a full back, hair-on horse hide from a friend. Seen many different hides but never a horse! It still has the mane and tail on it and everything. Kind of creepy as I have one of my own and she is very alive. But still pretty cool never the less.

Anyways it was given to my friend by her neighbor (it was her prize show horse who she had skinned after it died) who was moving and decided to give it away for some reason. Don’t think I want to hang it on my wall like she did but I do want to make it look somewhat nice again. It’s super dry and is pretty warped. Some of the edges are very brittle and tearing. It is now in a big box that it was kinda just shoved into for what seems to be a little bit of time as it’s kinda crumpled up.

I was just wondering the best way to condition it? I know there’s some hydrating spray type leather products out there for cow hide rugs. Not sure how expensive they are but I really don’t want to spend a ton of money on this thing if possible. It doesn’t have to look perfect I just want to try to spruce it back up a bit. What is the cheapest way to do this do you think?

I left it at my friends so I will post some pics of it tomorrow. Thanks!