Pressure washer to blast the mud off, then into the washing machine. I like to dry them in the sun when I can. If I can’t, they go into my drying room. (which is really just a space next to the boiler for my tackroom.)
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I wash my T/O sheets, coolers, and other “smallish” horse clothing at home in the washing machine. I send out my mid and heavy weight turnouts. It costs about $20. If The Red One grows beyond a size 87, I might have to send all of her clothing out.
I truly find it funny that laundry mats have rules against horse blankets (saddle blankets, I can somewhat understand), yet people wash everything that is coated in nasty dog/cat flea infested, hair coated, feces articles! People get to wash feces coated human articles! I personally would rather follow up a bunch of horse articles than the previously mentioned!
Chuck the rug on a flat concrete surface. Hose wet both sides. Take a bucket of biodegradable soap and a scrubbing brush and scrub both sides (15 mins) then hose off. Hang on fence to dry. Cheap, fast, and doesn’t kill the membranes as I’ve heard power washing can (oh but how I’d love to power wash a blanket!)
I’ll wash the worst off with a hose, then I have a large capacity front load washing machine in the barn that I use. Since it’s HE it doesn’t do great so it might take a couple of washes.
I don’t wash them. I want them to stay waterproof /breathable as long as possible.
I brush off dried mud especially what sneaks in the inside of the blanket and on the buckles etc., or, worst case scenario, I power hose them after putting them on a fence or line.
My mare’s blankets may not be spiffy clean, but they’ve been doing their job for many years now.
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I very rarely actually wash my blankets. I usually just do this and call it close enough…
But if I do feel the need to actually wash them, I follow the steps outlined below:
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Brush with stiff brush intermittently as needed through winter.
I’m quite a distance from a laundromat so I wait until spring and wash them by hand with a hose, scrub brush, and laundry soap. Hang on fence to dry. Takes me a couple hours on a sunny afternoon to do my whole wardrobe but its cheap and efficient!
That depends on if the blanket needs to still be worn. If so, I wait for it to dry and brush it off. If not, I hang it on a fence and use a hose.
We hose ours off in one of the wash stalls and hang them up on the cross ties overnight to dry. When they are semi dry we wash the medium weight and the light weight blankets in the barn washer. The heavy-weight blankets go to the laundromat.
I take mine to be washed, re-water proofed, and repaired as necessary. Drop them off at the end of the season, pick them up all ready for next year.
I don’t bother during the winter. He’s just going to go out and roll around in the mud again anyway.
Nikwax rug wash, followed by Nikwax rug proof in my front load washer, hang out on deck to dry. Economical for 10 blankets/year. I only wash at the end of the season so I can store them clean. I run a wash cycle on the washer after I’ve done all of them. It costs me about $7.00/blanket. Yes, my washer has some dings on the inside from the hardware, but it doesn’t bother me.
I drop them off once a year to be laundered, reproofed, and repaired for $15 a piece.
I use a muck tub and rug wash, its not hard and can be downright pleasant on a hot day.
The stiff brush route doesn’t work if your horse sleeps in his pee spot. :sigh:
As needed I hose off and tackle with a scrub brush then hang over the fence to dry. At the end of the season I hose it off well then run it through the washer at home and hang to dry. I do have a spare I bought used while his primary one dries.
Ditto. I use Schneider’s blanket wash because it takes out the horsie smell better than regular detergent.
