In full disclosure, I received a request to review these two products. In more full disclosure, I REALLY did love it, and I will be buying another container of saddle soap!
Embarrassing confession: I never used to clean my tack. I would do it every once in a while because the leather on my saddle or bridle felt dry. This changed one day when my trainer shunned me for not cleaning my tack after every use. She can often be found cleaning her saddle, boots, half chaps, and the bridle of the horse she rode, in the back of her car in the barn parking lot after her training/exercise rides. Now, it’s become something we do together after my lesson and her training ride!
Higher Standards Leather Care was started when Libby, the company’s founder, began making saddle soap as presents for her friends for Christmas. According to the product website, Libby took a chance and sent her soap to Karen O’Connor’s groom, and the groom ended up requesting more!
I also have to confess that Libby and I seem to be kindred spirits. In her email to me, she revealed that she is an attorney, and the product name came from the fact that Libby had been asked to leave a couple of boarding facilities for being “too picky.” I laughed at this because I have been called “needy” and “high maintenance” by my barn manager because I expect certain things to be done that, in my opinion, should be done – but that has been detailed in other posts. While others may describe us as “picky,” I consider it to be the expectation of excellent care for our horses.
I received the Ben’s Rosemary Mint scented saddle soap. Each jar comes with a sponge to make tack cleaning easy and convenient. Everything you need is right there in the jar, except for the water to do a pre-clean and a post-clean to wipe the soap off. I also have to say that even though I left the jar in the trunk of my car which caused the soap to melt due to the hot summer weather, the soap still effectively cleans my tack and leaves it soft, supple, and without the sticky, tacky feeling some leather cleaning products leave! (Editor’s Note: You should probably just not be an idiot like me and leave your soap in the car during hot weather…..)
Flash noseband attachment before cleaning.
This soap is super effective and gets rid of grime, even stuff that has been dried up and on the leather for a few days. My Arab has a flash noseband, and after rides, it often is gunked up with foam that is also mixed with hay and grass. By the time I get to tack cleaning, it’s often dried up and hard to remove. To see just how effective Higher Standards was, I skipped bridle cleaning for my Arab for a day and then cleaned it after he had been ridden the next day. Higher Standards definitely cut through the grime and made the leather look shiny and new again. It did take a bit of elbow grease and scrubbing though.
Flash noseband attachment after cleaning.
I also used the soap on my paddock boots, which I don’t ride in that often but wear a lot around the barn, so they get beat up with all the dust, dirt, horse poop, and water I walk in on a daily basis. I also do not clean them often. The soap got all of the dirt and grime off and made them look almost new again.
Paddock boots before cleaning.
Paddock boots after cleaning.
Finally, I cleaned my saddle. My saddle is pretty brand new, so it hasn’t gotten the chance to get super grimy or dirty yet, but that’s also because I clean it after every ride. However, here is what it looked like after Higher Standards.
I also really like the leather balm. This is not something to be used every time you clean your tack. It’s best if you use it when you feel your tack needs a bit more moisture or hasn’t been conditioned in a while. It definitely leaves the leather feeling soft and supple, and my saddle didn’t feel dry at all. Because you don’t need to use it often, the balm will definitely last a long time.
Now for the fun part: the saddle soap comes in different scents! I am a huge fan of scented items, so this was a big selling point for me. I received the Ben’s Rosemary Mint for my test run, and it smelled great. It wasn’t too strong or overpowering. As an added bonus, mint is soothing to migraine headaches, which I get a ton of during the summer, so cleaning tack did not irritate my head because I was using something that had a soothing scent to my particular ailment. For my next tub of soap, I will be buying the Vanilla Lavender because vanilla is my absolute favorite scent in the world. I also got some compliments from fellow boarders about how good the soap smelled, and they said the mint was particularly “soothing.”
If you’re interested in trying this awesome soap & conditioner, you can find Higher Standards’ retail partners here, or you can order their products online!
the legal equestrian 