[negirl]

Please help!!!! Our Daughter will not part with her saddle & I don't blame her really. It's a western saddle that was hand made by a friend with all the beautiful carving work on it. That friend passed away a few years ago so it has a great deal of sentimental value to it too.

She has always taken good care of it but, & here is the big but, how are we going to get it clean enough & smelling sweetly enough to pass the Maf inspection. I have tried googling but haven't really found anything to help. There again I'm not the horsey person in our house, I love those animals but usually its from the other side of the fence (yeah I know, I'm a big wuss :oops: ) Our horses only get that close to me when I've got carrots in my hand.

Anybody taken a saddle with them? what did you use to clean them good enough? Any advice will be appreciated.

[veronica]

contact maf by email and ask them, they are really helpful.

[Dinnaefash]

I'll be taking several saddles when we go.... :eek 3 western and an english. I'm just going to saddle soap them squeaky clean and hope for the best! Brush the wool underside of the western saddle clean. You're going to have to declare it at the other end anyway, so they can check it probably. I'm not going anywhere near mine with Jeyes fluid or suchlike; I will think about how to pack them though, so they don't get too mouldy on the trip.
:uhoh :hopeso

[veronica]

can you give them a good spray of insect killer. thats one of their worries

[negirl]

Thanks guys, saddle soap & elbow grease it will be then, I'll also try & e-mail maf too. It was the underside we were concerned about so will give that a good brushing too. She's going to treat herself to a new saddle pad so that's one less worry. We'd also tried to find out about having it professionaly cleaned :eek Our daughter was given the choice, it's her or the saddle. ;)

[karltsmith]

Can't see you having any trouble at all just saddle soap it polish it and if your are worried about the wool underside speak to your local vet about recommending a spay on pestcide ! Wrap in large plastic bag spray to kill off insects/ lava/ paracites and any eggs that may be there...job done! You could also contact your international equine team...they must have to go through this all the time!

NZ MAF are also very helpful!

Karl :nice1