Has anyone tried the Equi Cool Down Body Wrap?

[lcw579]

My daughter’s horse sweats if just hears the temperatures are going to approach 85. This summer has been brutal with more to come. I’ve seen a few ads for these body wraps and wondered if anyone on here had tried them. It seems like they might be a good thing to use when trailering to shows.

https://www.equicooldown.com/product-category/for-the-horse/

On a local fb group someone was selling a NIB Shires brand product that was similar. But when I tried to look up reviews I couldn’t find any and it had been discontinued. That gave me pause about blithely handing over my money for either the Shires or the Equi Cool without checking here to see if anyone had first hand knowledge of how they worked.

[Jarpur]

Have not used the equine body wrap, but purchased the human towel for my husband who frequently works long hours for days outside in the summer heat (which can be brutal). This towel works the best of all of that type of product that he has tried (and I previously bought a few different ones for him).

[Lusoluv]

Well, based on the fact that horses (and people) cool down through evaporation, I wouldn’t want any solid fabric covering the horse’s body. When I’ve lessoned in hot weather, my trainer has me dampen/mist my horse’s coat to jump start evaporative cooling. I would think that a cotton scrim sheet, dampened, wrung out and put on a misted horse would be a cheap and better cooling mechanism than a “breathable” fabric of any kind. The netting would allow more airflow (esp in a trailer with all ports open) and the damp cotton should be effective for maybe an hour or so? Just an idea…

[quietann]

I could see a use for something like this, if the fabric resembles those used in IceFil and similar shirts. If there is a slight breeze, they allow evaporative cooling. However, I’d be concerned about cooling the horse’s sides because that is so much surface area that it would block the breeze.

Water from a hose or a sponge is probably just as good. I do see people spraying down a horse before riding, if the weather is very hot. I’m not sure how long that would last.

[Texarkana]

Interesting. It’s a shame the products are so pricey, otherwise I might be willing to try. My one horse stopped sweating in the last heat wave and I’m really worried about how I’m going to manage him through the rest of the summer…

[lcw579]

”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹ @Texarkana the price is exactly what kept me from just grabbing one. I’m sorry to hear about your horse. It has been brutal. I was never so happy to hear rain roll in as was last night! A friend has had good luck with those patches they have for horses with anhydrosis - maybe they would get yours sweating again.

It seems like this would be good for trailering since the movement would keep the air flowing but as @quietann mentions what if his sides don’t catch as much breeze as we think or we get stuck in traffic? I was hopeful it would be helpful in that situation too. Hopefully someone else will chime in. Jarpur likes the human towel so that is promising.

[GraceLikeRain]

I believe it was under Around the Farm there was a thread on rechargeable fans. I’d be curious to soak something like this in ice water, wring it out, and then trailer with it and a fan. Without airflow, I would think that this could end up being ineffective or even heat-trapping pretty quickly. I’ve never taken the time to look into whether there is any truth to it but I also know that some people spread a bag of ice over the shavings before trailering to keep the temperature down. Has anyone done this/know if there’s any truth to it? Another thing I’ve seen done once or twice is doing short trips in ice wraps

[candyappy]

I have a cooling towel ( use at the back of my neck) and it does work for a while, but eventually it isn’t cool anymore and my body heat warms it up. I would be afraid that would happen to the horse too if left on any length of time.

[DMK]

@Lusoluv

Well, based on the fact that horses (and people) cool down through evaporation, I wouldn’t want any solid fabric covering the horse’s body. When I’ve lessoned in hot weather, my trainer has me dampen/mist my horse’s coat to jump start evaporative cooling. I would think that a cotton scrim sheet, dampened, wrung out and put on a misted horse would be a cheap and better cooling mechanism than a “breathable” fabric of any kind. The netting would allow more airflow (esp in a trailer with all ports open) and the damp cotton should be effective for maybe an hour or so? Just an idea…

I’m thinking you are on to something… except the only thing that would be cooler would be to not have anything on at all.

Think about it, we wear all those technical ice fill type fabrics to a) not get arrested for riding while nude and b) for protection from the sun. Neither of these things are an issue for a horse so unless that cloth has a built in air conditioning unit, I suspect it might do more harm than good.

[lorilu]

I have tried a human version and here in humid Florida it has very minimal effect. I think fans and misting works better…