I tend to use spray tack cleaner or saddle soap on my boots because I worry about black polish rubbing off on Raf's (white) sides. Do you think polish is better?
OH says he uses Woly black shoe cream. On both black shoes and black riding boots. My father used Meltonian shoe cream but I think the army use old fashioned shoe polish in a tin. That is what we used at boarding schols, Cherry Blossom, though our shoes and sandles were dark brown, not black.
I dont think Maisie or Grace both greys were marked by my boots, either short nor long, But they had numnahs. And anyway one should polish the leather off and then it shouldnt splodge surplus polish on anything. When I pull on my long boots and zip them up my hands dont get black on them!
OH applies the polish with a rag, polishes it off with a firm polishing brush, then uses the fine soft brush and gives a final rub with a velvet buffing pad.
I dont use shoe polishes on tack nor the other way round.
I own my own black stirrup leathers which I clean with Balsam made by effax. It is German and cost a lot but I am still on the first tub. The Balsam is golden colour and it brings the black colour off on the duster. But all our dusters eventually go in the wash..I bought it by accident.We were in Harrods in London which in those days had an equestrian department and I needed something to clean my leathers and just picked it up.
I bought a head collar last winter and painted it with six coats of neatsfoot oil as per instructions.
Since I dont have a horse I am not a good person to ask about cleaning tack. I worked on a very traditional livery yard. Tack was cleaned every time it was used by a client and saddle soap was what we used. My current yard also use saddle soap. I would not use that on boots (human boots) because istnt the porpose of the soap partly to clean off mud.
I should have said that when OH polishes our boots and shoes, the mud is removed first a knife and on the leather a hard brush. I use a damp sponge on my long boots if needed.
