Tack cleaning questions

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So one of my new year's resolutions is to improve tack cleaning. Well its not that I'm bad at doing it but I need to do it more often! So today I have cleaned and oiled (Neatsfoot) all the leather.

When I was a kid we used saddle soap from a tin but when I got back into horses a couple of years ago I couldn't see any soap and bought some spray stuff (Belvoir I think). There is a cleaner and a conditioner. However I'm not really that impressed with it. The cleaner is OK but not any better than soap and water and the conditioner doesn't seem to soften or give much shine so can anyone recommend what they use? Having now gone to more horsey shops I see you can still buy blocks of saddle soap so should I go back to that?

Its obviously nice if the tack looks good but my primary motivation is to look after the leather so it stays supple and lasts.

Our saddles are synthetic and so wipe clean but they never look that smart. Is there anything I can use to tart them up a bit?!

We love Gold saddle soap in a gold coloured pot. It looks like thick honey but goes on great - easier than the hard stuff and rubs in well..

I much prefer the traditional hard saddle soaps. But at the moment I have a soft one.(thought I was buying a solid one) I find it the same as you, cleans well leaves the tack soft but it's seems to leave a dull finish. I will replace it soon...

My mum always swore by the Carr&Day&Martin stuff (she's old school)

Or something with beeswax will be good for leather.

It will take a while for your leatherwork to come back, so stick with something once you've made a decision.

Best thing to do is clean ever week with a good soap, neatsfoot once a month.

I use leather balsam or something from Carr & Day & Martin. It's great at keeping it supple and you can polish it up if you like, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't!

We use Horsemanship One Step which is blooming brilliant. If that's not too hand, then we use CD&M products. Not sure what you can do for the synthetic saddles though

Lovely thanks. I've got some ideas now for when we next go to a tack shop!

I use a hard saddle soap (no idea what make it is, I get it from a local animal feed/country type shop) and then a NAF leather suppling thing which is also hard stuff in a pot rather than spray. My tack comes out looking really nice when I actually do it! Not sure about synthetic saddles, I'm sure there is something you can get though.

Oh, I've just remembered that we once got a NAF one. Was a round white tub and the soap was almost jelly like. Was actually pretty good too if I remember rightly.

Ti use one step it's great once it's had a good clean I give it a quick rinse and wipe every time I ride.

Effax leather balsam is fab. Really helps keep the leather in good condition. If I am competing I use Stubben saddle soap over the top which makes it shine.

I used water with a bit of fairy liquid to clean the tack if it's really soiled. Then leave it to air dry and condition it with Effax leather balm which is brilliant stuff.

If it's not heavily soiled, I clean with bog standard Carr Day & Martin Saddle soap and have used Horsemans One Step in the past with success.

Ko Cho Line which is an old fashioned red gloppy liquid is also a great conditioner I seem to remember, but it's difficult to get hold of these days.

I always wash with warm water and then soap the leather with Albion leather soap. If the tack has got wet, or is new, then I use Albion leather balm instead of soap. The balm is especially good for the inside of my dressage girth (Fairfax) as I am very keen to keep that as supple as possible.

I tried the all-in-one cleaner and conditioner for a while but wasn't convinced that it actually got the grease off - it seemed to smear it into the leather instead.

Agree that Effax leather balm is good for new tack or anything that needs a bit more TLC.

LIncoln saddle soap - the old fashioned bar of soap. My favourite and I am awestruck at what it's done to a saddle that's not been used for a couple of years, it looks amazing!

One step here too. I hadn't ridden for years and it saved my ancient jodhpur boots from the bin. They went from crispy to supple!