Instead of the rain or your rear, use your arms to break in the saddle. I mounted mine on an old seat post clamped in a large vise, loaded it up with Proofhide and wailed away at it with an old wooden police baton. I tightened the tension up, put some more Proofhide on, let it set a couple of days, and repeated. After a couple of weeks, all the leather is soft and you need to use the tension nut to keep from bottoming out on the rails. I've ridden Brooks for over 30 years and never had any pain from my saddles.