Skin contact isn't decorative. Halters and bridles sit on the most sensitive zones of your horse: the poll, browband, noseband, and cheekbones. These are areas with thin skin, fine hair, and a high density of touch receptors. If your tack is made of the wrong material, those zones are exactly where you'll see it. "Hypoallergenic" isn't a marketing word for us. It's a direct function of what Pomatura™ contains, and what it does not.
What's Actually in Traditional Leather
Roughly 85% of the world's leather is tanned with chromium salts. Veterinary literature and human dermatology have long flagged residual chromium and tannery chemistry as contact allergens. In horses, these residues can trigger contact dermatitis exactly where leather meets skin.
Chromium VI residues These are a known contact sensitiser, and they don't simply vanish once the leather leaves the tannery. Trace amounts stay locked inside the hide for its entire lifespan. Sweat and rain dissolve them back out and deposit them on the skin underneath the noseband or browband, where they accumulate week after week.
Aldehydes and azo dyes Both are added during finishing to fix colour and keep the leather supple. On warm, damp skin a portion of them breaks down into reactive compounds, and the horse's immune system responds to that chemistry rather than to the leather itself.
Animal proteins These are unavoidable in genuine leather. Hide is largely collagen, and microscopic traces survive every step of the tanning process. After months of daily contact, certain horses develop the same kind of sensitisation that some humans build up against wool or feathers.
Cumulative wear This is the reason allergic reactions so often surface late. Fresh leather seals its tanning chemistry deep inside the grain, but as the surface softens, scuffs and hairline cracks let those residues migrate back toward the contact face. Reactions then appear in year two of use rather than in week one.
Why Pomatura™ is Different
Pomatura™ is a plant-based leather alternative made from apple-industry waste (pomace), bio-polyurethane, and natural fibres. There's no chromium, no animal protein, no aldehyde tannins, and no PVC. The grain, the touch, and the patina mimic fine leather without the chemistry that triggers allergic responses.
Five Reasons Pomatura™ is Hypoallergenic
Chromium-free Zero Cr(III) and zero Cr(VI). No chromium-related contact allergy is possible because the substance simply isn't there.
No animal protein Nothing for the horse's immune system to recognise as foreign. The most common protein-leather sensitisation pathway is closed.
Plant-based composition Apple-pomace fibres bonded with bio-polyurethane. The material is REACH-compliant and certified for prolonged skin contact.
Wipe-clean surface Sweat, sunscreen, and fly spray rinse off rather than soak in, so allergens and irritants don't accumulate where the tack meets the horse.
Bio-foam padding Soft inserts at noseband and crown stay supple without the animal-derived softeners common in traditional leather padding.
How to Spot a Contact Allergy
Tack-related contact allergies are easy to miss because the symptoms follow the shape of the equipment. Watch for:
Hair loss outlining the noseband, browband, or behind the ears
Dry, flaky skin under the headpiece, often dismissed as dandruff
Itching or head-rubbing after work, even when the tack is clean
Welts that match the line of buckles, stitching, or padding seams
If you spot any of these, switch to non-leather contact materials for at least four weeks and watch for improvement. The skin tells the truth.
Where You'll Find Pomatura™ in Our Range
Every contact surface across our collection is plant-based, from halters and bridles down to the saddlegirth that touches the most active sweat zone of the horse. The Halter Mela Grooming, the Bridle Mela Lenaglia, and the Saddlegirth Soft Embrace shown below are three places where the difference is most felt. Every padding insert and every stitching layer in our range is built on the same hypoallergenic principle.
Keeping It Hypoallergenic
Pomatura™ stays hypoallergenic indefinitely with simple care: warm water and a gentle, fragrance-free soap. Skip oil-based leather conditioners. Those are formulated for protein-leather and can break down the bio-polyurethane over time. A clean tack is a kind tack.
Our Commitment
We make tack the way we'd want it made for our own horses: without the hidden chemistry that turns daily contact into a daily irritation. Every padding insert, every stitching layer, every contact surface is chosen with sensitive skin in mind.
Hypoallergenic isn't a feature we add. It's the consequence of every material decision we make.
Tack designed for sensitive skin, without compromise.
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