Opinions on coolers that really work? I live in WI and work my horse through the winter - problem is I spend half my riding time cooling him down and getting him dry before I throw him back out. Not a huge fan of the fleece as it's never worked very well. It would also be a huge plus if it could be put on under his blanket for extra warmth. Thanks!
I just have a fleece cooler but one thing we all did at my old barn was teach the horses to let us blow dry their chests/necks/girth area to help them cool out faster. It works write well if you have access to an outlet.
I do not like the fleece stuff - I want wool! It will naturally wick the moisture off them. I am looking in to buying some closeouts on beautiful wool blankets (they are 100% wool, so very soft) and about the same thickness/weight of a cooler. But what I love about them (I have 4 of them myself) is that they have the belly straps & the leg straps, so they do not slide around at all. If you are having a lot of drying off/cooling out issues, you might have to consider a partial clip & then blanket in order to ride all winter.
Posted 2015-01-01 10:45 AM Subject: RE: Coolers/Anti-Sweat sheets?
Veteran
Posts: 255 Location: Alberta Canada
100% wool is worth every penny. I too ride in the winter & have no barn. If they are super wet I will leave the wool cooler on under their regular blanket & just take the wool blanket off in the morning. I found the fleece will soak up sweat but does not dry as quickly & will be cooler longer, where as the wool dries fast & is actually warm.
IMO the polar fleece coolers work as well as the wool coolers. What you don't want is e polar fleece is probably some sort of polyester, but they seem to work. If I have a really sweaty horse this time of year, I will go through a couple of coolers before I re-blanket or turn a non-blanketed horse out.
I am using a Bucas Power-Cooler this year and have been very impressed with it. I researched a lot of different coolers before buying this one. Dries very, very quickly; also, the outside is slick so stuff doesn't stick to it which is nice. I even used it under my turnout as a blanket liner for a week when the temperatures got below 0. I would definitely purchase another one in a heartbeat.
Coolers/Anti-Sweat sheets?
