Regular care of your tack is your ultimate defense against mold.

Mold and mildew are living organisms that may thrive on your tack. Fungi, actually. That powdery gray-blue or gray-green fuzzy stuff covering your horse saddle is quietly eating your leather and weakening the stitching. And once mold invades the deeper layers of the leather, it’s virtually impossible to eliminate it without harming the tack itself.

It’s a health hazard, too. While most individuals will resist the few mold spores they breathe in, it’s obviously far from an optimal environment. And heaven knows it’s not good for your horse to be constantly breathing in the stuff (think heaves). The resulting debris can transfer to your horse’s skin, too, and may cause skin problems. Uncontained, mold will spread throughout the tack room and barn. The spores become airborne and when they land on something "tasty," they’ll dig in there, too.

Clean It
Tack that’s most vulnerable to attack from mold and mildew is stored in humid conditions, used infrequently, and covered with dust.

Everyone knows you’re supposed to clean your tack right after you use it to keep it in its best shape. It’s a snap now that leather-care wipes are on the market. You don’t have to dig out the water, sponge and cleaner each time you ride. Just pop the cap off the container, grab a wipe and go. We’re talking no excuses here. We like the Lexol Cleaner and Conditioner Towelettes best (www.lexol.com, 800-241-6996). See November 2003 for our complete review of tack wipes.

Then, weekly or monthly, depending upon your riding, give your tack a thorough cleaning. Undo all the buckles and clean under the stress points (it’s also a good time to check for wear).

Conditioning Time
Leather needs to be conditioned regularly to keep the natural fats and oils in the leather so it will stay soft, pliable and safe. How often you need to condition the leather depends upon a number of factors, including your choice of a cleaner. Alkaline-type products, like soap, clean well, but they’ll dry your tack (alkaline is a pH above 7). One-step cleaners and glycerine have conditioners added, which minimize the number of times you have to use a straight conditioning product.

Tack that’s very dry or very wet needs immediate conditioning. Dry leather is losing its life, and water will leach the natural fats out of the leather as it dries. In addition, sweat is tough on leather, so tack needs to be cleaned and conditioned right away.

Routine light conditioning is better than overdoing it. A second light coat of conditioner will do a lot more for your leather’s health than a heavy glop of product all at once. Ironically, it’s the healthiest, nicely conditioned pieces of leather that are the most likely to become moldy.

Tack Storage

Covering your tack is a good defense against dirt. Mold loves summer temperatures in the high 70s to high 80s with a humidity level at above 65%. Your job is to avoid these conditions. If your barn can safely support a tack-room dehumidifier, you should be able to keep the humidity below 55%. You can also try using desiccants, materials that absorb water from the air, sort of a natural dehumidifier. That’s what those little packets of silica gel are that you find in shoe boxes. You can find desiccants in disposable tubs most discount stores. Be sure to keep a cover over your saddle to help stop dust, which leads to mold. (If you don’t have a regular cover, see October 2004 for English saddle covers and August 2004 for Western.) Never place a wet saddle pad under or over your saddle or even hang it close to your saddle, and don’t store leather and wet equipment in a closed container, like a trunk. Maximize air circulation in the tack room, and keep the floor and surfaces clean. Unfortunately, cement floors can transfer moisture into the air. There’s not much you can do about that beyond being aware of it. Some barns have tried placing kitty litter (clay is a desiccant) on the floors with limited success. Using your tack helps deter mold and keep it "alive" and supple.† But time itself will dry and ruin leather, if you let it, so it’s senseless to overstock on leather.†However, sometimes we have tack we want to keep but rarely use. An annual tack-cleaning spree is the answer. Every piece of equipment gets a cleaning and conditioning and is properly stored. My Tack Never Molds If you live in a dry climate, good for you. Those of us who suffer through humid summers envy you. But if you’re in a wet climate and your leather never molds, you either take pristine care of it, are awfully lucky or are using dangerously dry tack. Mold won’t grow on old, dry tack because there’s nothing for it to eat. While tack can be dry on the surface, if it becomes dry in the inner layers, you can’t bring it back to life, even with a leather restorer. The drier the leather the more quickly it will absorb the restorer and the more thin applications it will take to restore its natural suppleness. A leather conditioner is a product for regular conditioning (monthly, quarterly or annually, depending upon your use), while a product labeled "restorer" is a heavy-duty product specifically made to bring back nearly lost leather. Restorers replenish lost natural oils and the fats that were put into the leather during the tanning process.

Put it to Use
• Regularly use your tack; it’s good for it. • Wipe down tack after every use. • Reduce humidity in tack storage areas. • Clean tack at the first sign of mold/mildew.

When Mold Hits
So the only good part about mold is that it indicates the tack has life. If you have a tack room full of moldy tack, except for one weird piece of tack, take a good look at the integrity of that leather. Chances are, it’s dried out far beyond a safe or even restorable level.

Mold can be killed by a number of household treatments. These same treatments, diluted in water, have also been tried over the years on leather:

• Alcohol

• Bleach

• Baking soda

• Cleaning disinfectants

• White vinegar.

However, these products also can damage the leather. It used to be a Catch-22, if you had serious moldy-tack troubles. Now, we have specific leather-care products that are formulated to resist and inhibit mold without causing damage to the leather.

To get rid of the mold, take the tack outdoors to clean, so you don’t spread mold spores throughout the tack room and barn. If it’s sunny, better yet, since sun is a natural mold inhibitor.

Use a clean, damp, soft cloth or sponge to remove the surface mildew. When the rag is dirty, get a clean one. Reusing the rag or simply rinsing it out in the same bucket of water will continue to spread the mold spores. Clean the rags with bleach when you’re finished or throw them away.

If mold re-appears soon after you’ve finished a thorough cleaning and conditioning with tack products, you may need to resort to a more heavy-duty mold killer. We recommend you discuss the situation with your leather-repair shop and consider wiping the tack with a mix of white vinegar and water to remove the mold, then condition thoroughly with a mold-inhibiting leather-care product.

Bottom Line
We had a lot of fun doing this trial, and a lot of enthusiastic testers who have battled mold for years. All the products are good choices for leather care, but they’re not all necessarily good for defeating mold invasions.

Our testers loved Ray Hole’s Saddle Butter. It took the most effort to apply, but it was worth the work. While it did a good job resisting mold, it excelled as a conditioner. And it’s inexpensive.

On the other side of the price scale was the URAD Leather Conditioner. This little tub contained an incredible conditioner. It was ridiculously messy to apply, but the results were extremely soft, shining, supple leather. Again, it’s well worth the effort. Fortunately, given the price, a little product goes a long way.

However, for mold and mildew control, your best bets are Leather Therapy and the Bee Natural products. Farnam’s Leather New Deep Conditioner earns best buy for mildew defense.