How to dry a sweaty horse in winter

Training in winter is not as fun as during summer. It’s colder and you often have to work when it’s dark outside. After an intensive training, it’s possible that your horse started sweating. To avoid that he gets chilly in the stable, we’ve got some tips to dry a sweaty horse fast.

How to dry your horse after training?

In a previous blog we already talked about clipping. If your horse is (partially) clipped, it will be less likely he’s sweating. If you didn’t clip your horse, he will prepare himself for colder weather and create a winter coat. If you want to train intensively but you don’t want to clip your horse, you can put on a thin rug, like the Stable Rug 0g, as a protection layer. Make sure the rug is not too warm, as this may cause sweating and rubbing too.

After training make sure your horse has a good cooling down. Walk 5 to 10 minutes, so the muscles won’t get sore too. If your horse is slightly damp, brushing him after the training will do. If he’s sweaty, you can put an exercise rug to help him evaporate the sweat. Your horse will still be a little sweaty from exercising, but by doing this you’ll make the following steps a lot easier.

If your horse is soaked in sweat, it will take more than 10 minutes cooling down. If you have a solarium at the stables, you can put your horse under it to dry. If you don’t have the possibility to use a solarium you can use the towel rug to get rid of the first layer of sweat. However, do not put your horse back in the stable unattended with the towel coat.

If your horse is not drowned in sweat but not dry enough to put it back in the stable without any rug, you can use a cooler sheet. You’ll see that tiny drops appear on the outside of the rug. This is a good thing and ensures that sweat doesn’t stick on the inside. You can now wait till your horse is dry and do things around the stables. But you can also put the horse back in its stable (make sure to close the surcingles of the rug) and come back later to take off the cooler sheet. When the horse is completely dry, it’s best to brush him to get rid of all dirt of the sweat.

Which kind of cooler sheet do you need?

A fleece or a wool cooler sheet is commonly used in stables. At Kentucky, we’ve got no wool cooler sheets as we create 100% animal-friendly products. However, with fleece we were able to imitate the advantages and eliminate the inconveniences of wool. The fleece is warmer, lighter and softer than wool. On top of that they are easy to maintain, as it is washable at 30 degrees while remaining its quality. Fleece offers a great isolation layer because it traps the air in tiny pockets and transports moisture to the surface of the rug.

If you like the wool look, we have the fleece rug heavy. It is available in the show rug look or the classic wool look. If you don’t like the wool look, that’s no problem at Kentucky. We’ve also got a polar fleece cooler rug. The inside of this rug has a polar fleece lining, while the outside has a brushed fleece fabric. The brushed fleece uses a special method to treat the fleece and creates a soft and smooth surface.

If you want to offer you horse extra protection or you want the neck area to dry fast, we’ve got an additional neckpiece in the same fabric as the heavy fleece rug or the polar fleece cooler. You don’t need to worry about the mane because the neck has a special lining that avoids rubbing and you can easily attach it on the halter to help the scarf stay in place.

Whatever look you choose, your horse will dry fast and in style.