Originally Posted by
Oldairhead
I must disagree again! Sure, on the seat, skirt and pommel of a equine saddle there is little stress, but the stirrup straps, girth, bridle and reins all have significant points of stress and must remain strong as well as supple. We have equine saddles which are 100 years old and have been well cared for over the many decades. The leather remains supple and strong and have never seen a modern leather treatment. The important element in preserving leather is regular care, whichever your preferred method.
I hope that I am not being too disagreeable!
Not too disagreeable at all, in my view, Oldairhead.
And I can't claim to have any 'sperience with horse tack other than having sat a horse a handful of times. And thrown off only once.
I think about it like this, though. Some parts of an equine saddle do indeed take some stress. One can stand up in the stirrups and place one's whole weight on them, occasionally. But think about a suspension leather bike saddle. A piece of leather stretched between two points, maybe 10 inches apart, with the full weight of the average human being sitting on it, all that weight concentrated on two points, essentially about the size of golf balls. The "sit bones". Give or take the shape of said butt. That's 150 to 250 pounds sitting on that little piece of stretched, suspended, leather. With nothing underneath for support but air.
Although the same weight is placed on a horse saddle, and there is a narrow gap down the center of a saddle tree, nowhere on a horse saddle is there that kind of stress put on the leather of the seat of the saddle, which is usually covered by two and sometimes 3 layers of leather. I think there is a big difference between the two designs, thus, a difference in how the leather of the two designs "should" be treated.
But I'm just postulating here.