Horseware/rhino/rambo/amigo/mio - what are your opinions?

Tiarella

Tiarella

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After spending 5 years trying to find a decent make of rug to fit my nf pony ive finally turned to horseware. Ive just ordered a 400g heavyweight rambo stable rug as it was £100 off (woo!) and hoping it will fit!

I was thinking of buying the mio stable rugs as these are cheaper, but are they cheap for a reason? Are they poorly made? Bad fitting?

How do people find the necks on these rugs? I was going to try and avoid neck rugs as much as possible but will use one in the depths of winter. Do people find the fixed necks rub less or the detatchable?

Do all the makes of the horseware rugs suit different shaped horses like the rambo suits cobby types whereas rhino suits tb types? (not a fact, just making it up)

I have a heavyweight t/o with a fixed neck made my townfields which fits beautifully but they dont make rugs anymore :( but would it be worth buying a lightweight horseware t/o and using the liners as and when it gets cold?

I can see this adding up to more than my horse is worth!
 
I use a rhino one with detachable hood and detachable lining. So its a MW and a HW all in one. I only use the hood if he's fully clipped and its lashing rain/snow. I think its brilliant. With this rug the only other one I need is a LW outdoor and a fleece cooler.
I have loads of old spares but I've never had to use them.

IMO the amigo materials are not good enough. It rips too easily. Rambo is best but a crazy price, so for me I found the Rhino a great rug at a more reasonable price.

I've tried many brands over the years and I always go back to Rambo or Rhino. I had a Rambo for 15 years and it was still waterproof. Just a few straps to replace over the years. I ended up selling it as I wanted an excuse to buy a new one
 
I love horseware rugs. They fit my horses (arabs and anglo-arabs) really well, never rub, self right and the Rambos last and last. However the only downside is that because my horses live on the side of a very windy Welsh hill, I can't use them in high winds as they don't have leg straps and have been known to blow off. So you have a rug on the ground with all the straps done up and a cold horse. I have been toying with the idea of adding metal rings so that I can use them with leg straps when windy, but haven't got around to it yet.

Oh one other thing - the surcingles are often too long for my horses even on the shortest setting so I have to shorten them, but I have this issue with other makes of rugs too.

This is a LW 1200d Amigo. It was a super rug but as you can see, a bit small even though it was her normal size. so when I got another horseware rug, I got the next size up.

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Rambo Duo. This is still going strong and it's approx 7 years old.

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Rhino Wug. This was used by my young chestnut gelding after the grey outgrew it. I suspect he wont fit in it this year. :( I find these don't last quite as long as the Rambos, but they are better than the Amigos. Very waterproof even when it lashes down for hours.

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Amigo 600d. These are good budget rugs, but they don't last as long as the 1200d amigos, especially with youngsters that play (they rip more easily).

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I haven't used a Mio turnout as I don't think they'd last 5 minutes with little miss rug wrecker about.
 
if it helps Frank has rhino and amigo stable rugs - all fit well rhino just has a tougher outer,- my orignal amigo insulator is 8 years old now as was one of his first rugs and still going! - and rhino turnout rugs - the v-neck system suits him really well but the other neck does fine too. He has a detachable neck on the medium weight turnout (5 years oldish)- but I had to sell the one that came with a 5'9 and buy one that came off a 6'3 (ebay ;) ) as no way was the former fitting! IME the rambo rugs are bit more generous but- we have rambo fly rugs - Frank is a standard 5'9 in everything but he could do with half a size up in his rhino turnout with the v-neck as it sits a bit further forwards than standard.


This is him in the standard neck LW rhino

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(they also fit mum's anglo well!)
 
I use amigo for my calmer youngsters as they don't stand up to too much playtime. We have just moved , and its a bit windier where we are now, and have just had the same problem as Faracat. Found one of them with it wrapped around her neck.

My favourite rug of all time, has to be the RamboHW. Its many years old now, but is still in great condition. Never rubs or moves. When the babies have stopped growing they can have one too. My favourite lightweight turnout though, has to be fal pro's. They just seem to fit all mine perfectly
 
The horseware rugs are fantastic! All of ours have them, they seem to fit most shapes and sizes in my experience and do last for an amazing length of time. The rugs with over 600D outers are much more waterproof than the 600D's, but that is the case with all rugs really.
In regards to the Mio's - I bought a mio L/W turnout for our companion pony a couple of years ago but wasn't expecting it to last long due to it being a "budget" rug - however it is still going strong, looks good as new and has been as waterproof as the more expensive ones. So I would buy another Mio, assuming the design hasn't changed since - it fitted well too. My mare has a Mio stable rug which is lovely, a bit short in depth but otherwise a really nice fit.
 
rachaelstar said:
After spending 5 years trying to find a decent make of rug to fit my nf pony ive finally turned to horseware. Ive just ordered a 400g heavyweight rambo stable rug as it was £100 off (woo!) and hoping it will fit!

I was thinking of buying the mio stable rugs as these are cheaper, but are they cheap for a reason? Are they poorly made? Bad fitting?

How do people find the necks on these rugs? I was going to try and avoid neck rugs as much as possible but will use one in the depths of winter. Do people find the fixed necks rub less or the detatchable?

Do all the makes of the horseware rugs suit different shaped horses like the rambo suits cobby types whereas rhino suits tb types? (not a fact, just making it up)

I have a heavyweight t/o with a fixed neck made my townfields which fits beautifully but they dont make rugs anymore :( but would it be worth buying a lightweight horseware t/o and using the liners as and when it gets cold?

I can see this adding up to more than my horse is worth!
Click to expand...


Mio is definitely the budget range. Some of my Rambos have outlived the horses they were bought for! I've always found them to be generous in size especially around the neck. Amigo's on the other hand are a bit tight around the neck on my horses. If you're getting an Amigo I'd always go the the 1200's, the 600's seem to fall apart very quickly. If I was trying to spend wisely I'd be looking for a secondhand Rambo/Rhino.
 
I also have rugs that have survived longer than the horse. I like the Amigo 1200 as they seem to wear well and the outer is supple enough to hang well on the horse where as a new Rambo is a bit stiff until its broken in. I bought one last year with varifil, which fitted well but I am not convinced on the strength of the outer. I have bought second hand which I would rather buy dirty and get them cleaned myself.
 
Thankyou everyone for your replies :)

I was thinking of only buying mio stable rugs rather than turnouts due to the quality. He has never wrecked a rug and gets turned out alone so hopefully no rug destroying should take place!

I've looked at 2nd hand horseware/rambo/rhino ones and there doesnt seem to be much price difference from buying brand new! They must be good if people are wanting to pay virtually the same!

My 400g rambo is due to come tomorrow and I was thinking of buying a 300g & 200g mio stable rug and then had a look at http://www.horseware.com/index.php/rambo-turnouts-aw13/424-rambo-orignal-with-leg-arches and buy rug liners to go under this rug as and when needed.


Is there anyone that never uses a neck rug on a fully clipped horse? Do their neckes grow back quicker than their body? Im desperate not to lose any mane this year as it wasnt to great turning up to nps shows to do the m&m with half a mane...
 
I have a medium and heavyweight Rambo plus one of the old purple high-neck ones - they are 7 - 10 years old and still going strong. I've only needed the heavy weight neck repairing once and a small hole in the purple one. All are still waterproof although I have had them cleaned and reproofed a few times.

I've got a lightweight Amigo which I got last year and that is good so far and the only product that hasn't been that good was some sort of sheet which the fillet string ripped off within days and the Velcro at the front also ripped off. I still use it though.

I don't have any Rambo stable rugs because I don't think you particularly need to pay for the quality and strength that you need for a turnout although I am thinking of getting a new heavyweight so might look at Rambo.
 
I am still using the old green with red binding and cotton lining Rambo's. They are all 13 years old. Brilliant rugs.

I do use the Amigo no fill rain sheets but find them easily ripped and all 4 of them have leaked in their second year. They are useful to put over the top of a heavy rug to protect it though.
 
frank is sometimes fully clipped (blanket otherwise) and only wears his neck in the coldest of cold (didn't have one for several years) and I don't find neck growth a problem ;)

fwiw most of mine have come of ebay LW and fly were about £40 - about half new price and barely used.
 
Both my ISH & nf pony have rambo rugs got a new one to replace my old one that lasted 8 years. I'm not keen on the amigo range has l only got a spring out of it before it ripped so l've been wary of them & the mio range. My nf only has her's on when we have bad or really cold weather as she's got her own central heating system with her wholley coat. Even though she's clipped she can get warm so her's is lighter then my other horse. They may be the expensive but l'm a firm believer that you get what you pay for.
 
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I have a mio for my mare, it fits her fine but she's got quite a small body, as in, from her spin to her tummy, the area isn't massive, where as my friends horse was a lot bigger in the area and the rug was like a mini skirt on her!! I had an amigo before and the fit of that was a bit deeper, and also a nice rug!
 
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