How to clean Horse off of thick wool felt pads?

[mvp]

Oh, the humanity!

I, too, have finally had another boarder use and abuse a piece of my equipment without permission.

The victim was a thick Classic Equine felt pad who previously had never touched a horse’s naked back. She was a virgin, of sorts, always having a washable under pad separating her from the naked, sweaty, scurfy horse body.

Now she has been deflowered by this inconsiderate boarder.

How do I restore her virtue? You don’t dry clean these, do you? Use steam and a brush? Rubbing alcohol and a brush? What’s the trick?

[franknbeans]

I have a thick 5 star ( it is not a virgin, but I still have to remove hair to clean it…) and I use either my rubber curry or one of those black slick blocks to remove the hair, then hang it over a fence and hose it-hang dry. NO SOAP.

What good does it do to have the wool felt that is good and breathable for the horse and put something between that and your horse? Just wondering.

[macmtn]

If it were me, I would have had offending boarder clean it with her tongue…:mad:
but then I would have had her buy me another cause now its covered with sweat, hair and boarder spit.

[qhwpmare]

I too use a curry on it, then hang it over a rail and hose until the water off it runs clear.

[Pocket_Pony]

I groom it like I would a horse - shedding blade and then stiff brush.

[GallopingGrape]

Run a vaccum over it… thats the best way, you can get it looking nearly brand new. … but agree with the poster above… a lovely wool pad is meant to go against the skin of the horse.

[Beverley]

I likewise want the lovely wool felt pad to be touching the horse and getting sweaty and laden with horse hair. I periodically brush it along lines described above. You particularly want to get caked sweat off to keep it soft. I use one of the plastic curries and a stiff brush. For a thorough cleaning, I hose the suckers and then use my wet/dry shop vac to remove excess water (and hair).

[UrbanHennery]

I put mine straight on the horse, that’s why I paid all that money for them. I don’t really worry about hair, more the caked in sweat and dust (my horse lives out 24/7 and I’m not a 100% groomer). I brush mine down with an old school metal curry when it needs it, and hose if it smells or seems excessively dirty. Sometimes I leave it in the sun for a bit just to kill anything growing on/in it.

[csaper58]

One of the purposes of hair on the body is to eliminate friction. With the pad, the more hair imbeded in the pad, the better it protects against rubbing. To wash, gently hose with warm water, hang over fence until dry.

[Fillabeana]

If it were me, I would have had offending boarder clean it with her tongue…
but then I would have had her buy me another cause now its covered with sweat, hair and boarder spit.

Oh dear, that’s too much.

I use a wool saddle blanket under my 5-star wool pad. The saddle blankets are easier to clean than the thicker pads. If you get anything crusty, you are going to have to remove the crusty. I’d rather remove crust…and thus wool fibers…from a $40 wool blanket than a $250 wool pad. The currying, vacuuming, etc remove wool fibers, and on the cheaper pads will break down the felting eventually.
Horsehair isn’t really a problem in the pads, but the crusties are abrasive.

If you can vacuum or blow off your horse, and it isn’t terribly dusty where you’re riding, you’d be OK with using the pad with no liner.

But if you’re riding several horses in training, and you want to keep things sanitary (maybe somebody has lice or girth itch), you’d be using a dedicated cinch and liner pad for each horse.

But anyway, a good heavy Kirby vacuum cleaner will do wonders!

[Foxtrot_s]

I just cannot do it - yet. I have a lovely pristine sheepskin pad and put it over a baby pad (English style) - just love that nice clean sheepskin. Someday, maybe it will go straight onto the horse.

[Beverley]

So, one buys a nice saddle and wants to keep it clean and protect the horse’s back. Then one buys the lovely pad, of the ideal material (wool or sheepskin) to maximize comfort and protection of the horses’s back. But one doesn’t want to soil that, so one buys a protector for that lovely pad, of lesser cost so generally lower quality and/or price.

When I rode in France, we used a ‘tapis,’ a simple, thin cotton square, think cloth napkin unfolded, under a well fitted saddle to just keep the saddle clean while riding and save elbow grease on the tack cleaning. Worked well, never saw any sore backs or gray hairs and these were school horses that did at least a couple of lessons most days, dressage and jumping plus trail rides.

Ere long, some marketing genius will have us stacking six layers under the saddle.

Just a passing thought, not pickin’ on anybody…

[pAin_t_Misbehavin]

mvp, I’ve also heard you use a curry and a stiff brush.

I’ve been putting my wool pad directly on my horse, but he shakes like a wet dog about every ten or fifteen minutes the whole time. So I’m going to try putting something cotton between him and the wool. Just don’t know what yet.

[Foxtrot_s]

Not feeling picked on at all - it is just how I am about this pad. It does somewhat defeat the wicking principle of wool if you don’t put it on the horse directly. I see a lot of horses with the thin pads under the sheepskin at the shows, but that may be just fashion. My pad is said to be washable, too, so once I’ve washed it once, then I’ll probably put it on directly.

[Kyzteke]

[QUOTE=Beverley;7267632]
So, one buys a nice saddle and wants to keep it clean and protect the horse’s back. Then one buys the lovely pad, of the ideal material (wool or sheepskin) to maximize comfort and protection of the horses’s back. But one doesn’t want to soil that, so one buys a protector for that lovely pad, of lesser cost so generally lower quality and/or price.

Just a passing thought, not pickin’ on anybody…[/QUOTE]

This. Until then, let it dry (in the sun if possible) then use a stiff brush.

[JeanM]

[QUOTE=pAin’t_Misbehavin’;7268064]
mvp, I’ve also heard you use a curry and a stiff brush.

I’ve been putting my wool pad directly on my horse, but he shakes like a wet dog about every ten or fifteen minutes the whole time. So I’m going to try putting something cotton between him and the wool. Just don’t know what yet.[/QUOTE]

My mare reacts to the Limpet pad when she’s in “shedding season,” especially when she’s working on shedding her winter coat. The rest of the time, she’s perfectly happy in it. So, during the times of year that she gets uppity going downhill I switch to my wool pad. Just something to think about , in case your horse only reacts to your pad at certain times of year

[pAin_t_Misbehavin]

[QUOTE=JeanM;7268603]
My mare reacts to the Limpet pad when she’s in “shedding season,” especially when she’s working on shedding her winter coat. The rest of the time, she’s perfectly happy in it. So, during the times of year that she gets uppity going downhill I switch to my wool pad. Just something to think about , in case your horse only reacts to your pad at certain times of year[/QUOTE]

Now that you mention it, he didn’t do this during the summer that I remember. We had a layoff of a couple months and now that it’s getting chilly and his winter coat is in, he’s doing the wet dog shake. Hmm.

We’ve only recently (this past summer) started riding western with a wool pad. He never did it with my cotton pad and english saddle at any time of year.