I’m curious what you all find works best for cooling out your horses. I’ve had a difficult time with my morgan this winter, he’s quite fuzzy and is getting pretty sweaty after rides. Today he was sweating and steaming and it took him 45 minutes to dry with a contour cooler made of wool/felt.
What do you prefer, wool, fleece? Square coolers, dress sheets?
My favorite is the Rambo Newmarket fleece. If you choose fleece nothing else even comes close to this one. I know lots of people like wool, but I’ve never tried it.
I second the Rambo fleece coolers.
I prefer wool - I always have. It breathes well and it wicks sweat. Plus, there’s not a lot of static, which absolutely sets my horse off.
Do you guys who use fleece experience static charge ever?
I like my Rambo fleece cooler. It’s not flimsy or thin–the fleece is THICK and absorbs the sweat really well. The only downside is it doesn’t cover their neck. I never have a problem with static charge. Stuff doesn’t stick to it, and when it gets dirty I just throw it in the washer (cold water) and in the dryer with no issue.
The Dover fleece coolers are really nice quality for the money. They were just on sale for $29 and might still be, I’m not sure. However they only come in one size: BIG. If your Morgan is a more moderate-sized horse, check out the Techno-Dry coolers at Schneider’s. They are also a contoured cut (my pet peeve - I hate square coolers) and they come in different sizes - what a concept!
Another vote for Rambo. My mare actually much prefers it to wool. She will try to walk out from under the wool cooler, but accepts the Rambo. Maybe, oddly, less static? It’s a double fleece and really doesn’t have the usual static of fleece. It is extra thick and warm.
I think the only thing better than the Rambo is a thick custom wool cooler from The Clothes Horse or Triple Crown. My trainer has a couple and they’re fabulous. Maresy seems happy with those, but not my ~$90 wool cooler.
There was a thread on this recently, maybe in the Horse Care section? A lot of people recommended layering coolers. One form I remember was to put an Irish knit cooler on first, and then wool or fleece over that. Someone else said you might need to swap out the Irish knit cooler for a second one if the horse is very sweaty. (Can’t find the thread offhand, sorry! And the whole thing just made me happy that my Morgan isn’t a yak in the winter. My baby Morgan will be, though…)
What quietann said. Try adding an Irish knit sheet, and I bet you’ll see a big speedup.
I like mine from Dover, my mare is 16 hands and very slender and it fits her perfectly. I like that it goes all the way up the neck. I don’t have trouble with it shocking her.
I have a Rambo fleece that I like, but find it fits a little funny for my WB (narrow in the shoulders)
I also have a Moxie Cavalero Techno Sheet that I LOVE and the Moxie Bamboo cooler. The Bamboo is nice in the warmer months but is very thin and doesn’t really help keep them warm.
My favorite for getting them dry (and warm) quickly is old-fashioned, but it WORKS. I use a string cooler (which are HARD to find anymore, but IME, they work better than the Irish-knits) under one of the big square wool ones that cover them from poll to tail. The string cooler creates pockets of heat and the wool wicks the moisture. I’ve had one come in shivering and wet from an unexpected shower to warm within a few minutes and dry enough to blanket in a short amount of time after that. If you ever find a string cooler at a tack sale, snap it up!
I don’t think anything is going to completely solve this problem other than clipping, but I’ve had good luck with layering a fleece or wool cooler over an Irish knit.
Is your horse clipped? A strip or trace clip will help him to dry faster than anything else. As for coolers, the rambo fleece is lovely, but I prefer wool
And remember… hot water and alcohol evaporate quicker than scrunge and sweat. It sounds counter productive, but if you sponge the wet spots with hot water and Vetrolin your horse will dry quicker than if you just leave the sweat.
If you don’t believe me try a test patch. Scrape well. Towel well. Cover. Wait.
[QUOTE=Action42;7931181]
I have a Rambo fleece that I like, but find it fits a little funny for my WB (narrow in the shoulders)
I also have a Moxie Cavalero Techno Sheet that I LOVE and the Moxie Bamboo cooler. The Bamboo is nice in the warmer months but is very thin and doesn’t really help keep them warm.[/QUOTE]
The bamboo cooler under a fleece works really well!
Thanks for the suggestions everybody! My horse is not clipped, I had thought about doing some type of clip to help him, but our Vermont winters are so cold, and I’m really not riding him enough to justify clipping. I’m really surprised that he has been getting so sweaty as it is…20-30 minute rides and he’s pretty wet on his neck, shoulder, girth and gaskin.
I had been considering getting the Rambo fleece, so it’s funny that so many people recommended it. I just always thought wool was the way to go, but he’s not drying quickly in my wool cooler. I do have an irish knit so maybe that will be my next step before I jump into a $130+ Rambo.
Thanks everyone!
I just can’t afford the Rambo’s. I bought a cooler off of Horze.com and love it. I showed two weeks ago, horse is not clipped and was rather sweaty. We had to get moving quickly so I tossed the cooler on him before I packed the trailer and let him ride home in it. By the time he got on the trailer half the cooler was dark with sweat but after the ~hour drive home, both horse and cooler were perfectly dry. Tossed his blanket on and headed home.
I have a Rambo fleece, and FWIW I don’t think it dries them any quicker than old fashioned wool. They are just more user friendly because:
A: you can buckle them on and walk away instead of dealing with clamps and girthing them up with a leg wrap like the old fashioned square wool coolers and
B: you can throw them in the wash instead of taking them to the cleaners.
My good old fashioned plaid wool cooler is dry cleaned and lives in my car trunk as an emergency blanket. The Rambo fleece is hanging in the tack room.
Can’t stand fleece, love wool. YMMV.
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