I have a collection of filthy cheapo Dover brand fleece girths. How do I go about washing these? Can they be thrown directly in the washer? Hand wash only? Detergent or dish soap or MELP?? What have you found works best?
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If there’s no leather on them, I chuck them in the washer with regular laundry detergent and then hang them dry. You could probably put them in the dryer too but the clanging of the metal in the dryer drum is loud enough to drive me to drink so I just hang them by their buckles on a tack-cleaning hook. .
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Yep, I have the Smartpak versions and they just go in the wash +/- a square pad or two and hang to dry
Washing machine. Cold. Good idea to let the tub/drum fill with the soap and water then let it soak for a good bit of time. Hang to dry…unless you like listening to the buckles snapping and beating up your dryer.
Fun fact, if you have indestructible girth fungus trouble, wash the girth then put it in a plastic bag and into the freezer still damp or just put it outside overnight if the temps are 0f or below. Kills those suckers when nothing else will.
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I just throw them in the washer on cold. I put a few junky towels in so there is something else to scrub against so it comes cleaner. I also put some old socks who lost their mates over the buckles and secure with thick rubber bands so it’s not too loud.
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Another person who just tosses fleece girths into the washing machine.
Hang to dry.
I use free and clear laundry detergent.
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I put the girths in a large net laundry bag before washing in the machine. I ALWAYS rinse twice to get all soap out. I use tide powder, the pods have too much per load, always leave soap residue in everything, so I do not use them. Hang to dry.
Thanks for the tip on girth fungus getting killed by freezing! Interesting to know, though we have never had the fungus.
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Throw them in the washer. Add vinegar to the wash and rinse cycle.
I use soap for sensitive skin always on my horse laundry. And my stuff gets pretty clean.
Thanks all!! 
We put them in washer and dryer. 
I have a bottle of on hand at all times just for this reason. I like my clothes and stuff super smell good, but the horses I don’t want to risk a reaction.
I have sensitive skin and while I use Free & Clear in a pinch, the best I have found is Persil ProClean for Sensitive Skin. Works on stains/dirt/grime, but doesn’t give me a reaction.
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I use a neoprene and Velcro wrist brace to wrap the buckles together and prevent washing machine damage
Wrist Support Brace Sports Exercise Training Hand Protector Neoprene Wrist Wraps with Thumb Loops -Suitable for Both Right and Left Hands https://a.co/d/fPGoS4R
Washing machine with some towels. I fold the buckles into the girth and put my husbands tube socks on the end because I fear damage and I can’t handle the clanking
I use the Professionals Choice ones where I can remove the fleece part. If the outer area and elastics get really gross after lots of sweaty rides, I’ll toss the whole thing in the washer, but the removable lining really helps avoid the buckles issue.
In net bags, a few barn towels, extra rinse cycle, Tide Free, hang to dry.
Wash machine with towels or pads. Cold water and hang to dry. I wash mine in Earth Breeze currently but used Dreft or Woolite prior.
Enjoyed 5 decades of ownership, boarding out 90% of that time before experiencing girth fungus in the best managed, cleanest barn ever. Go figure.
Once it sneaks into a barn population, you learn most of the traditional cures don’t work. Soap and water wont kill it. All it takes is one visitor, one careless trainer, groom, owner, rider and one infected girth. We were able to backtrack later that somebody “ borrowed” my schooling girth to try a visiting sale horse who came without tack and returned it to my hook without washing, ignoring the barn policies of #1)no “ borrowing” tack, ever, for any reason and # 2) shared or community tack went into the wash EVERY ride. Apparently they used several other community and private girths trying to get a proper fit. It took a smaller size then most
Sale horse left after about a week, two weeks later my horse and one other under 16h private horse had serious cases. About the same time every smaller schoolie came down with it.
All it takes is one person. About that time a very ambitious but known to be careless assistant abruptly sought employment elsewhere. So, you never know when some crud will get in or who you can trust.
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@findeight Luckily I have never needed to board my horses, though I have shared tack at times. As you say, they use it, then it gets washed. Borrows have always been my spare trailer stuff, at shows, not things used regularly on my horses. No hired help to ignore the rules.
I have watched others try dealing with girth issues, it was pretty ugly! My 4H Leader taught us a great deal, among them was not sharing! It was a disease management thing, not being unkind. Not sure if they suffered the results of “being nice” or watched and learned from other people’s experiences. We did not share tack out of our family, water buckets. No vaccinations back then for common horse illnesses. The lessons have stayed with me.
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@findeight Not to hijack a thread, but this is one of my biggest pet peeves. People who borrow tack and return it dirty! I ALWAYS 1. ask before I borrow and 2. CLEAN it before I return it.
My saddle will never be mold/mildew free because of people borrowing it at a boarding barn without my permission and not cleaning it. I had to discard an expensive bridle I used at that barn for the same reason. Someone also lost the keepers on my breastplate, too. I moved from that barn. 
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