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Wentworth Hunter Pace - June 6, 2021

After Margaret and I had such a fun time at the fall hunter pace, we opted to go again this spring! This time, while I rode Rejoice again, Margaret rode her horse Jester and had a friend ride Ladyhawke. All Kennebec Morgans!! Jester and Rejoice have the same dam and Jester and Lady share the same sire. Unfortunately instead of a lovely late spring day, we had one of the first intensely hot and humid days of the year. It was definitely a bummer, but the ride was mostly in the shade of the woods and we had a great time!  most of the fences were 3' coops but we found a small log and this hay to jump haha Until we didn't. 😑 We brought along a third friend who rode Margaret's older mare, Ladyhawke. She's a good rider but hasn't known Ladyhawke for very long and didn't realize how much of a cranky boss mare she could be at times. She kicked Jester right in the front leg just about halfway through the ride, and while the cut itself ended up not being a big deal in the...

Dyeing a Dressage Saddle

While I LOVE my child sized Stubben Juventus dressage saddle because it actually fits my tiny leg (I'm only 5' tall on a good day) and it fits my horse, I do NOT love the way the leather looks.  I found it used seven years ago and have taken great care of it.  But the seat has been fading for a while and last fall was just looking incredibly sad.  I knew I needed to do something to save it, but the thought of dyeing my saddle gave me a bit of pause.  OK, a lot of pause.


So sad.
I found a blog post last November about dyeing saddles and promptly saved it to my Pinterest.  I bought the materials I needed last December and stored them safely in my hallway closet.  Then I sat around and thought about this idea even more, mostly because I was scared to actually attempt to dye it (what if I totally screwed it up?!) and because the horses pretty much had December and January off.  It was too cold to ride or even think about dyeing a saddle anyway!

But this past week was our school vacation and it warmed up enough for me to consider that if I was going to attempt to dye this thing, I might as well give it a shot now.  

Not shown is the Tan Kote and Resolene

I printed off the directions found on the blog above, and I mostly followed the same procedure.  
I went with Fiebing's not just because that is what the original blogger used, but also because I think they are a reputable company and it was easy to find all the needed products on Amazon for only $29.41 (thank you Prime for your free 2-day shipping!)  I ended up not applying the Resolene at the end, though I still could if I wanted to.  

The first day I cleaned the saddle up, removed the finish with the deglazer, and applied three coats of dye.  I ended up doing a fourth coat on the seat because I really wanted to be sure if was covered.  This may have been a bit much, but whatever.  Once I started with the deglazer (which is pretty much just acetone), I knew I was committed and wasn't really nervous any longer LOL!  I used a microfiber towel to apply the deglazer.

I dyed the entire top of the saddle and the top of the "billet panel", plus the billets because they were looking a little sad too.  I did not do the underside of the top flap or the underside of the saddle itself.  I left the saddle to dry overnight.  It looked lovely and black but terribly dull.  I did not take any photos of this step.  But it was fairly easy to apply the dye, and I used a sponge brush and evened it out as needed with the microfiber pad.

The next day, I wiped down the saddle well and barely any dye came off at all.  I applied the tan-kote with another microfiber towel and the saddle started to look magnificent.  I did the first coat and let it dry before doing a second coat.  I didn't glob it on and made sure to buff it well as I went.  

Oh my goodness, the difference was amazing.  I cannot believe I waited this long to dye it!  I looks so much better.  Right now, I have left it like this and have not applied the resolene.  I am a bit worried about how it will look, as I know you have to be super careful with application process.  I don't want it to be streaky and I know it is totally possible I could apply it like the amateur I am haha.  Also, resolene makes an acrylic resistant finish, so while it may assure that the dye won't come off on my breeches, it will make the seat impermeable to leather conditioner.  So, I figure I will give it a shot with a junky pair of my lighter colored breeches and see what I think!




I cannot stop looking at these side by side comparisons!


Comments

  1. Looks awesome. I really want to try this, but, like you, don't want to do the resolene stage so I hope you'll do an update with how it works out sans resolene.

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  2. It looks so good!!! My mind is officially blown by how amazing that turned out! It looks like a new saddle!

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