Spot cleaning blankets during winter

[ltmac]

Resurrecting this thread because I haven’t found another thread that asks this question and while reading through this thread it doesn’t seem that the original question was answered.

Like many people have said above, I have resigned ever needing my guy’s turnout blankets to ever look brand new again. I don’t mind some dirt and mud on the exterior as long as the waterproofing is still working and my horse is dry and warm. But I am curious about spot cleaning the inside of a blanket so that I don’t have to wash the blanket and re-waterproof it. I was using a damp washrag which worked decently well, but figured I would ask if anyone has better ideas!

[DannyBoysMom]

Thanks all - it was over a year ago that I posted this.
What I found works best is when I’m out I use a flick or stuff brush to get the poop crusties off before I pull it.
If the left straps are gross and don’t clean up with a brush, I trade those out and take them home to soak.
And I’ve also noticed that keeping his tail braided keeps everything cleaner.

Last year he was quite sick and down about 300 lbs. He didn’t develop a winter coat at all and was wearing some sort of blanket from November thru March. This year he’s much better.

[foggythistle]

I put a nylon sheet on over my horse’s blanket. I have 3 of these sheets and swap them out as they get stiff from the pee and poop that he insists on lying in. The nylon sheets I can wash in my home washer and they dry very quickly and don’t shrink. Doing this, my horse wears his blankets for about 4 months before they are cleaned.

[WNT]

When my TB was in work and some sort of clipped over the winter, he had an Amigo Insulator 200g for a base layer. It was light enough to wash in the barn washing machine and dried quickly on a breezy/sunny day hanging up. I could use it under a sheet or medium weight for the majority of my blanketing needs for a Virginia winter.

As far as turnout sheets, we had a couple to rotate through so if one got too grody inside I could give it a good rinse and towel then dry over a fence on a nice day. I’d really only wash-wash the turnouts maybe twice a year to preserve the waterproofing, and usually by hand with blanket tech wash and a scrub brush.

[Go_Fish]

If the blanket’s waterproof, go to the wash rack while the horse is wearing the blanket and hose it off. That being said, I am somewhat of a blanket addict. I don’t want a blanket next to my horses’ skins for more than a month or so without being washed. I will also use a well-fitted cotton sheet under winter blankets. That I can wash at home.

As a side note, if the blanket can stand up on its own, it needs to be washed!