What do you use for rub rags? I’ve always used small white hand towels, but they get so dirty and then I have to bleach the heck out of them to get them white again and they start falling apart after so many bleachings.
Grey or tan hand towels. You can still tell when they need to be washed but they look good longer
Retired bath towels, various colors. Still bleach them. Meh, I don’t really care what they look like as long as they’re clean.
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If there is a fabric store near you, ask to see their remnants – they are sometimes free or at least very cheap. Use and throw away when intollerably filthy. T-shirt fabric remnants IMO make great rub rags.
http://m.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/art/20168461/
in navy. Great because they have a loop and I hang them everywhere.
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navy blue hand towels
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I use burlap for almost everything, otherwise old towels retired from human use. I do keep a nice set of navy towels for shows.
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Retired bath towels cut into manageable pieces. They’re horse towels… I don’t care if they become stained so I bleach to disinfect, not to remove stains.
BUT… if your’e using them to bring up the sebum and put a shine on a horse, nothing beats weaving sisal bailing twine into a flat piece, and using THAT to ‘Strap’ a horse after a thorough grooming. Horse looks great, grooms get reallyREALLY toned arms. 
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Okay, what is strapping exactly? I remember reading a horse book which said the horse would kick out when he was strapped and I was left confused, wondering what the groom was doing exactly, and what the author meant by “kick out”, if it was literally kicking with a hind leg, or a metaphor for farting or something else, like flinching. The word “strapping” means hitting with a strap, in my mind.
What’s the real deal?
The best deal on bath and hand towels can be found at any estate sale. Garage sales rarely sell towels, but estate sales are selling everything in the house. I have a ton of barn towels; I guess I am a hoarder. But when hand towels are $.50 and bath towels are $1.00, how can anyone resist?
And, if you want to be patient, you can eventually find sets of them in your barn colors.
Strapping is a type of grooming massage done after work when the horse’s muscles are warm. It isn’t meant to pound on the horse, but the horse learns to anticipate the contact and tenses the muscles momentarily. Supposed to improve blood flow to the muscles after work, taking out the lactic acid, and promotes a healthy shine to the coat.
http://www.behindthebitblog.com/2008…technique.html
explains what it is, and has videos that demonstrate. This first one is :
Laura Bechtolsheimer on grooming
from horsehero.com (uses wisp)
Click the little " ). " to open the video if you are on a mobile device.
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Cactus cloth. I learned about them on this forum.
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Thanks, keysfins
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Towels, hand towels, bar mops. The bar mops are a good size, and texture. Our barn also has a client who donated a lot of (unused) veterinary surgical drapes, those durable blue towels that get softer with use and washing. They are also a good size, but take a few washings to become absorbent.
Oooh, good tip on the commercial laundry source, Gypsymare!
I use a cactus cloth to “rub” and use the little blue and white surgical towels for wiping/cleaning/applying stuff.
Hospitals throw the majority of those away after every case, used or not (the heavier weave ones got reused in my OR, but all others trashed) so if you can find a source, they are wonderful!
The only time I use bath towels is for drying wet horses.
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What a great tip! Thanks!
Since we don’t have the “related threads” feature (yet?), can you tell me how you use them? Wet, dry, on mud, sweat, bathing, etc.?
This is a cactus cloth, www.bigdweb.com/product/cactus+cloth.do
This is a related thread http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/fo…o-i-do-with-it
If you knit or crochet, it is easy to make one out of cheap sisal string.
Dry, they are great for knocking mud off, removing sweat marks, scratching itches.
Wet, they are great for bathing or damp toweling.
To clean, rinse well and hang to dry, you can use a little soap if you want to. Never put it away wet.
I do not use on a hairy horse shedding it’s winter coat, but it is great on tight winter coats, and short summer coats. Damp, it pulls dandruff out of long winter coats without making static.
It made a wonderful texture for faux finish painting a wall.
I gave one of the other painters a cactus cloth and she said she used it in the shower like a luffa sponge.
My Hound dog loved to be groomed with it, my Aussie did not. If you wrap one around a post the barn cats will rub on it and use it to sharpen their claws.
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