old unknown saddles

here's a picture of the fleece.
 

Oh, no, that is awful!  looks like you bought an authentic piece of art to decorate you house with - !

The leather must have been dry-rotted.  So sad.  Those old saddles will last forever if they are kept oiled, but this one must have been collecting dust for a long time.  Chances are you won't find another one built opn quite the same tree, I agree it was a pretty close fit.  

Is there anything i can do for dry rot?

No, at that point the structural integrity of the leather is gone.

Well, hopefully the leather won't continue to decompose while the saddle is on the stand. i'll keep it oiled anyway, do i also need to keep it under a blanket to&nbsprotect it from daylight entering through windows?
 
The fenders seem to be the worst part, they have thin surface cracks all over them, most cracks are following the tooling patterns, and the leather looks rather dull.
 
The leather on the saddle itsef is in better conditions, it's still soft and pliable, and still has a nice deep shine, the saddle would probably still be useable with new fenders if it wasn't for the rotten and cracked area on the front left  of the seat jockey. 
  
My farrier pointed to the fact that this saddle has the old familiar smell of&nbspig grease, which&nbsprobably doesn't help, this (along with the heavy wear) means that this was likely a shepherd's working saddle as they often coated their tack with hot pig grease back then. but it probably did more damage than good.
 
What's funny is that my old Basto pack saddle (the one i described in the "Italian pack saddle" thread) has spent decades in an abandoned barn where it got rained on over and over, yet the leather is still in great conditions!