I board my horse, and when I ride, he usually gets pretty sweaty under the cinch area. Since I board, waiting for him to dry, or applying a cooler, etc. would require me to stay out far longer than I’d like or have time for. I saw in another current thread baby powder and Coat Defense were mentioned. How exactly do you use this?
I’ve always used rubbing alcohol on a towel - it also cleans off the sweat a bit so they stay cleaner.
Why are you worried about drying just the cinch area? Does his back get wet as well and you need to blanket him? If it’s just the cinch area, he could get blanketed with that still damp as the blanket doesn’t really sit on that area.
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I agree that spray with some diluted rubbing alcohol and toweling can speed things up, But TBH, I wouldn’t worry about a damp area just there, towel-dried, for turnout.
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Agreed, he’s fine. Brush it out a little and chuck the blanket back on.
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Agree with the others, if just the girth area, I’ll just sponge it off if necessary and dry with towel and blanket. It will dry fine. Sometimes it is mucky enough here I might have to hose off legs and belly and have no issues with blanketing them like that (after toweling dry as best I can) as long as the top part of them is dry.
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I have used Coat Defense and it works amazingly well for drying their coat. The best application method I’ve found is to dust it onto a dense body brush and rub it into the sweaty spots. I suppose a microfiber towel, sheepskin mitt, or something of that kind would work as well. If I pour it directly onto the horse or into my hands it all ends up on the ground.
I’ve also used a hair dryer in some cases but it didn’t work as well as I hoped. The Coat Defense is easier and more effective.
Someone else will know, but I remember reading about a cheaper alternative to Coat Defense on here a while back. I want to say talc free Goldbond?
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Yep, that was it.
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Awesome, thanks for confirming!
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I know “totally dry” is best practices and if you have the time (or help) you’re meant to walk for an hour in a cooler …
I will toss on a wool cooler if my unclipped horse gets soaked in the rain on a trail ride, and get a barn buddy to take it off later.
But a little damp under a turnout blanket dries up just fine. I wouldn’t worry about a wet girth bare or blanketed
One thing about sweat is, it tends to wick to the top of the coat and the winter hair near the skin is already dry while the tips are still damp.
I feel like many of our horse care practices like “clean tack every time you use it” comes from 19th century Britain where there were professional grooms. And my guess is that the fraternity of professional grooms was deeply invested in making their job as time consuming and specialized as possible so that they could spend all their time in the stables and not get drafted for other laboring jobs on the estate. Who wouldn’t prefer sitting in the hay loft polishing the entire harness to peeling potatoes or digging potatoes? Or brushing each horse an hour a day.
Lots of this level of care got handed down to the DIY ethos of Pony Club in the English tradition.
Whereas Western riders rarely clean their tack!!
I’m all for good care and best practices but in my rainy climate horses get damp and they do dry out under a blanket. Especially the girth area as it’s open to the air. I’d pop on a blanket raise their overall body temperature and let him self dry.
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When I blanketed I used a spray bottle of green isopropyl alcohol (from the dollar store) for a quick cleanup. You could also occasionally use one of the many dry horse shampoos, like Safety First. It may depend on your climate - you don’t want fungus brewing under a warm blanket.
Interesting take. I always thought it was just that it actually did take that long to do things in the old days, but you put an interesting spin on it. (I can see it being true!)
This thread is a perfect example. In ye olden days, rugs weren’t breathable, so the horse better he totally dry before you put the rug on. Nowadays, rugs are made with breathable materials so putting on one a damp horse doesn’t hurt them at all.
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I would say that British horsemanship involves a great deal less washing, grooming and trimming than American methods apparent in this discussion.
Sweaty horse, in the winter, rub him with a few handfuls of bedding or even a towel and rug up. In the summer, water and a scraper and that’s it.
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I agree that if it’s just his girth area, he’ll be fine left sweaty. I have also thrown a stable sheet on under the winter blanket if the horse is a bit sweaty all over. I’ve left it like that overnight and he’s been fine. I wouldn’t do that if it was super cold, though
Ah yes today. Things are reversed. I was thinking of the 19th century and how echoes of that kind of care filtered down into my instructional books even in the 1970s. Walk a horse until dry, dissemble your tack every day, etc
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I don’t blanket. He has winter hair like a yak. lol I guess I should have clarified that based on most of the replies.
I never worry about a wet girth area. If you’re not blanketing, I wouldn’t really worry about wet anywhere, unless the horse is going out in a windy place and it’s cold.
I recently discovered baby powder for drying sweat and it is GREAT. I got the container with the small holes in the lid- I just puff/sprinkle it over the wet areas on my horse’s back and rub it in with my hand usually, or a curry. That’s pretty much it, after a few minutes he’s plenty dry for a blanket. I find it brushes out of the coat better the next day.
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Brush on some cornstarch. Way cheaper than horse specific things.
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Do you recall which of the Gold Bond powders is recommended? I looked for some to buy and there are several mixes, all talc free but with things like menthol, and in different concentrations.
Guys! Unclipped and yaklike Miss Mare
LOVES the $4 thrift store hair dryer while on cross ties! Takes all of 10 minutes to dry girth, flanks, back, shoulders. Bonus: It blasts off dust. BUT make sure that it’s plugged into a GFCI outlet OR use an extension cord plugged into a GFCI adapter. If the horse steps on the cord or you drop the dryer in a water bucket or whatever, power will shut off in a millisecond. I learned this potentially life-saving leason while standing 20 feet on an aluminum ladder and using a heat gun whose cord got pinched and severed.
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Yes, hairdryer, though many places may not have electrical outlets or enough power.
My finicky Arab threw a fit when I turned it on the first time, then absolutely melted into it when he felt the warmth.
I have semi trained my cat, who loves being in the rain, to let me blow dry him too.
P.S. some vets have free standing blow dryers for emergency hypothermia treatment.
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