Best way to wash your Horsedream sheepskin saddle pad!

If you are already a lucky owner (if you’re not - we have some deals) of a Christ Horsedream sheepskin pad or bareback saddle and it's getting a bit grimey and needs to get washed. We just got a call from a customer who forgot how to wash it and she’s owed the same bareback pad for 13(!) years. So we thought we’ll provide some instructions.

Here are three easy steps to take care of your special pad:

1) After riding turn pad upside down to dry, brush with a rubber curry brush to remove sweat marks. We do not recommend wire brushes since they tend to pull out the fine fibers rather than just remove dirt.

2) We use full skins so there are no seams except where needed by design, all skins are specially tanned in our factory to be machine washable at cool cycle (or at 30C/86F delicate program for those with fancier machines).

We recommend using a high water level on your machine and one cap of our Christ C-7 detergent, agitate, let sit for a few minutes then wash as usual, be sure to spin thoroughly to remove all excess water.  Girths can be washed inside a pillow case to avoid damage to your machine.

The sheepskin will hold up to ten times its weight in water so don't even try to hand wash. Washing with a power washer is not recommended since the dirt and sweat will still be in the skin and cause mold, and dry the natural skins.

3) To dry your sheepskin pad the manufacturer recommends machine drying on Air Fluff (low heat, max 80F 25C, for those with digital controls). Remove promptly when the sheepskin feels dry to touch. The dryer action and tumbling will stretch the skin and keep your pad soft, bring up the pile and make it feel like new... Do not air dry since this will stiffen the leather and cause shrinkage.

Our factory in Germany has received multiple awards for their environmentally friendly processing of sheepskins, we use only full skins resourced and treated in our own factories, not a patched product that will come apart when washing. For more information visit the factory website at www.lammfelle.de and click on the British flag for more details.

We’d love to hear from you with any questions you might have regarding use and care of your Horsedream product.