Now this has me laughing (not at you, at how things have changed, I am feeling old).
I looked at all the available coolers on Smartpak’s website and there not any of the old fashioned big rectangles with ear loop and the tie strings at the neck.
I then went over to the Dover website and did the same search (cooler), and the only thing that was a rectangle is a Baker rain sheet.
A general google search failed me in the shopping photos at the top, but Amazon did finally have an old style rectangular cooler on page 3 of the search.
I think your climate has a lot to do with people’s varying preferences re:clipping, too. If you live somewhere it is truly freezing in winter, it’s actually easier to deal with an unclipped horse, in my experience, because they don’t get nearly as hot and sweaty even when working pretty hard. Down here in the humid south, it is not at all unusual for us to have a streak of 60-70 degree days in December or even later. A horse with a full winter coat can easily be soaked in sweat on a day like that before you’ve done much actual work at all. That’s why I find it simpler to clip mine. I don’t love dealing with blanket changes morning and night in the dark, but that’s still easier on both me and the horse than trying to keep a horse with a full coat in work through the winter here. With a bib, apron, Irish, or even pretty substantial trace clip, the horses really don’t need blankets at much higher temperatures than they would unclipped, either. A full body clip is a different matter, of course.
That is not a cooler. That is a (dress) sheet with with a neck attachment.
If you are as old as I am, a “cooler” is rectangular, with a tape to attach to the halter by the ears, and another tape to loop under the tail.
I would never put a horse in a trailer with a cooler. In fact, I would only use a cooler in a situation where someone was physically WITH the horse (typically walking it).
I would think if you’re already blanketing, an Irish or bib clip might be worth a try. Not a ton lost but enough to help with sweat.
I full body clip my fjord from spring through early fall. I just did a version of an Irish clip yesterday. His winter coat comes in so thick and dense…and so early he got 3 full clips in the last month and a half
lol you can still buy the old fashioned square coolers, though why on earth you’d want to is beyond me.
Fitted coolers come in the same materials (wool, fleece, cotton, poly, really anything), and you don’t have to fuss with ties and shifting and clamps. A dress sheet is technically different, but there are plenty of coolers that are pretty enough to do both jobs. Bonus feature: fitted coolers can double (triple?) as a liner for blankets, especially the ones with cross surcingles.
Never had a static issue. We use wool coolers as an extra layer all the time for cool days, usually under a sheet when a blanket would be too much. I’m not sure how it would make them colder - it’s like wearing a baselayer.
This isn’t for wet/sweaty horses, just for warmth.
Schneider’s sells them, and Big Dee’s I think! They’re also super easy to make - the reason they were square in the first place is because they were just wool blankets that people used for all purposes.
The real issue with using coolers as base layers is that they tend to be made with high friction materials. On horses that aren’t body clipped the cooler slides back towards the tail and won’t shift forward against the lie of the coat, creating a lot of pressure around the horse’s shoulders and withers.
I find fitted coolers allow more work sweat to steam through the cooler and condense on the outside of the fabric instead of condensing on the ends of the coat hairs, than square coolers do. This effect occurs when the air temperature is quite cold (below freezing).
I do like the square cooler for warming up a weather wet horse, and starting the drying process.
The square coolers are still available. https://greenhawk.com/products/shedrow-square-fleece-cooler
I like the fitted ones with snaps and buckles as you can leave a horse unsupervised in a stall to hang out & eat hay while they dry and not worry about the cooler if they try to roll.
