Mini portable showers

Nancykitt

Nancykitt

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Scrolling through Instagram this morning I saw an advert for a mini shower pump - basically a small unit that you drop into a bucket and then use the hose/shower attachment to rinse your horse.
The advert referred to washing down your horse after 'trail rides' and the price was in dollars, so I decided to do a bit more investigation on these devices. It would be ideal for us as we currently have to use buckets and jugs, which ends up with a lot of water being wasted.

Looked on Amazon and they are often described as 'camping showers'. Found one with good reviews much cheaper than the American advert - they are almost certainly all made in China anyway.

Does anyone have one of these things? I've decided to give it a go as it seems like a good way to use less water for horse showering!

PS - apologies to anyone currently on a hose pipe ban.
 
Mr M made one. This was a long time ago before the web made buying stuff easy. We carried a large water container and clipped the connections on to a charged battery. You can buy the pump and pipes etc. separately.
Not sure if it would be worth the effort now.
 
I don't think it'd suit me but if the price isn't too bad you could give it a try. I like a big sponge and bucket combo and a pressure sprayer for "hosing".
 
Meredith said:
Mr M made one. This was a long time ago before the web made buying stuff easy. We carried a large water container and clipped the connections on to a charged battery. You can buy the pump and pipes etc. separately.
Not sure if it would be worth the effort now.
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I see what you mean!

This is a small rechargeable (USB) unit that you can apparently just drop into a bucket of water. i like the idea that I could get the water to the right temperature and then use it to rinse manes & tails (which is where I'm losing most of the water at the moment by using a jug). I know someone who used a watering can to rinse manes & tails but I'm so short that it would require a fair bit of strength to lift the watering can to the right height. Holding a shower head would be a lot easier!
When we lived in Lancs we had one of those gas-bottle powered shower units, which was really good. Here, we wouldn't be able to get even a hose pipe of any description down to the field gate, it's just too far from a tap. Buckets and jugs are OK but I tend to end up a lot wetter than the horses.
The reviews are restricted to people who've taken it camping/travelling but it seems to be pretty good. Anyway, I'll give it go as it wasn't megabucks and will make life a lot easier if it works as it's supposed to.
 
Hozelock do a 7 litre portable shower, it's just a sprayer so no battery needed. Would still need to bring hot water from home though. Sorry can't manage to do a link but Google will find it.
 
Sanversera said:
Had a quick look.it looks ok but I could do with one that warms the water too. I'll see if there is one
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I think that anything (electrical) capable of heating water would need an element & therefore a high wattage device...the gas shower was brilliant but it needs to be fixed to something, needs a gas bottle and needs a water supply (hose). The little unit I've ordered is simply to replace the buckets and jugs so I don't waste as much water. I have a flask of boiling water that I add to a bucket of cold and it's fine for a relatively warm day. On a day like today (a rare blistering day in the Highlands) they would probably be very happy with cold water!
 
pistolpete said:
Doubt they have any power or last long enough to be any use on a horse. Ok to rinse a small dog or a human head!
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It looks like the same spec as the one on the American site, which was marketed specifically as a horse shower. In the description it says it runs for 120 mins and I wouldn't need it for anything like that long. There's a review on Amazon from someone who bought one for use at Glastonbury and apparently her friends used it too...after several days the battery had run down to 50%.

The pressure isn't going to be as good as a hosepipe with decent water pressure, but all in all I think it'd be more effective than a jug. One of ours doesn't like anything with too much pressure so it could be ideal for him.

The pump itself doesn't consume a lot of electricity and the reviews say that the battery life is very good, so it might be OK...tbh I was more concerned about running out of water (in the bucket). But at the moment I'm constantly walking backwards and forwards just to fill the buckets as there is so much wastage, so anything that uses less water will be a bonus.
I will give it a go, even if only for manes - I'll let everyone know how it copes!
 
I’ve got a small, cheap Chinese one that lives in my box as I’m too poor to have one inbuilt into it!

Water pressure isn’t fabulous but you can just about hose down a 14.2 with one bucket of water with it (an actual proper bath would take more water)

It does the job, not anywhere near a proper mains water shower but ok for a quick post ride cooldown & think you’d get annoyed trying to do a full proper bath with it
 
Boulty said:
I’ve got a small, cheap Chinese one that lives in my box as I’m too poor to have one inbuilt into it!

Water pressure isn’t fabulous but you can just about hose down a 14.2 with one bucket of water with it (an actual proper bath would take more water)

It does the job, not anywhere near a proper mains water shower but ok for a quick post ride cooldown & think you’d get annoyed trying to do a full proper bath with it
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For a proper wash I'd probably use the bucket of soapy water and the sponge as I do now. It's just the rinsing off, really. Last time I washed them I must have burnt about 2000 calories walking backwards and forwards filling the buckets and no matter how slowly/carefully I used the jug I still wasted a massive amount of water.
It wasn't ridiculously expensive so even if it's no good for the horses I can probably find another use for it...
 
For anyone wanting something to heat the water (& potentially with a bit more pressure) Hippo do a version of their portable gas bottle hot wash that has an inbuilt pump & doesn’t need mains water.

Obviously it costs about 20 times as much as a camping shower so you’d probably only be able to justify it if regularly needing to give full baths (with warm water) / if you own a grey and like it to be clean!
 
Boulty said:
For anyone wanting something to heat the water (& potentially with a bit more pressure) Hippo do a version of their portable gas bottle hot wash that has an inbuilt pump & doesn’t need mains water.

Obviously it costs about 20 times as much as a camping shower so you’d probably only be able to justify it if regularly needing to give full baths (with warm water) / if you own a grey and like it to be clean!
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Thanks I'm going to take a look
 
I looked at the Hippo electric one, it's does admit the water will only be tepid/aired and if you want hot water you have to go with the original Hippo
 
Lots of people use them over here for washing their horses down after rides as it is a bit hotter here. you can buy them cheaply from lots of camping places or Temu
 
Someone I know has one of the camping ones for about £30 from Amazon and really rates it for washing off after riding. I’m planning on getting one soon to try. Not sure how it would hold up for a full bath…
 
I've got one of these. It's fine, not powerful and doesn't really squurt upwards to do their belly but OK.

Alternatively, can use a watering can or I use a ryobi one portable pressure washer, the end goes in a bucket and if you use the gentle stream it's good but loud so you need an easy going horse.
 
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