Winters100
Well-Known Member
In case anyone is thinking of getting one here are my thoughts on the Orscana.
We are now using one on each horse, and I really like the product.
It has given useful information, and although they are similar size / type and 2 years difference between them I see that the 2 horses react very differently to rugging, It has also enabled me to see how they are when I am not around, because they are in an American style barn overnight, and I was always worried that I might be over-rugging for the night. This was my main reason for buying it - I simply had no idea how the temperature was in the stable in the middle of the night. It seems that it was not the case that I was over rugging, but I did see that one of the horses can be in a lighter rug at much lower temperature than the other. And it also confirmed that some of the charts that I see on what rugs for what temperatures are either nonsense, or just do not apply to my horses, because almost all of them call for much heavier rugs than I use.
The downside of this product is that it is only via bluetooth, so you need to be there. But on the other hand it is a fraction of the cost of ones that you can access remotely, and the risk of getting it very wrong is slight once you have been monitoring them for a little while and can see how they react to changes in temperature. Also you can ask a groom or a friend to put the app on their phone and send you the data, but we didn't set this up yet. I don't mind this as I don't really see myself driving to the yard in the middle of the night to change rugs, and I also would not like to pay a monthly fee as some of the others require.
A few things are really good to see. For example I can clearly see when the doors to the stables are opened in the morning and their rugs changed, so I know that this is on time. Also I ask for their rugs to be off for a while each day to let their skin breathe. I could see from the app that this was not being done every day and was able to remedy it. My mare hates me putting my hand under her rug to check temperature. Silly I know but I do it so often, so I think that she is happy now that I just check the app rather than bothering her!
I can't say that this has massively changed how I rug, but it has made me feel more confident about it, and I have stopped over-thinking and worrying about whether they are warm enough / too warm. It also did alert me to one day when my gelding was on the cusp of being too cold - so I was able to change from a fleece lined to a 100g and know that he was much more comfortable. Each day it tells you how your horse was overnight and suggests whether the same / heavier / lighter rug is appropriate for the coming night - so far this has been accurate.
Overall I find this a very nice product. Delivery time for the first one was long, but I am not in the UK, and to be fair they did try to speed it up by using a different courier when we ordered a second one. The customer service is good and they reply promptly to emails. Sewing the little pouches into the rugs is not too painful, even for someone like me who hates sewing. So far even my naughty gelding who is constantly playing with his friend did not manage to destroy it, but then he does manage to destroy every rug so I do not think it impossible that he will find a way. My only minor irritation is that it is easy to switch off by mistake when you put it into a different rug, and it sometimes happens that the groom does this by mistake, but it is not a huge issue.
I would definitely recommend this, and in case anyone is wondering I have no relationship with the company other than that I have purchased their product.
We are now using one on each horse, and I really like the product.
It has given useful information, and although they are similar size / type and 2 years difference between them I see that the 2 horses react very differently to rugging, It has also enabled me to see how they are when I am not around, because they are in an American style barn overnight, and I was always worried that I might be over-rugging for the night. This was my main reason for buying it - I simply had no idea how the temperature was in the stable in the middle of the night. It seems that it was not the case that I was over rugging, but I did see that one of the horses can be in a lighter rug at much lower temperature than the other. And it also confirmed that some of the charts that I see on what rugs for what temperatures are either nonsense, or just do not apply to my horses, because almost all of them call for much heavier rugs than I use.
The downside of this product is that it is only via bluetooth, so you need to be there. But on the other hand it is a fraction of the cost of ones that you can access remotely, and the risk of getting it very wrong is slight once you have been monitoring them for a little while and can see how they react to changes in temperature. Also you can ask a groom or a friend to put the app on their phone and send you the data, but we didn't set this up yet. I don't mind this as I don't really see myself driving to the yard in the middle of the night to change rugs, and I also would not like to pay a monthly fee as some of the others require.
A few things are really good to see. For example I can clearly see when the doors to the stables are opened in the morning and their rugs changed, so I know that this is on time. Also I ask for their rugs to be off for a while each day to let their skin breathe. I could see from the app that this was not being done every day and was able to remedy it. My mare hates me putting my hand under her rug to check temperature. Silly I know but I do it so often, so I think that she is happy now that I just check the app rather than bothering her!
I can't say that this has massively changed how I rug, but it has made me feel more confident about it, and I have stopped over-thinking and worrying about whether they are warm enough / too warm. It also did alert me to one day when my gelding was on the cusp of being too cold - so I was able to change from a fleece lined to a 100g and know that he was much more comfortable. Each day it tells you how your horse was overnight and suggests whether the same / heavier / lighter rug is appropriate for the coming night - so far this has been accurate.
Overall I find this a very nice product. Delivery time for the first one was long, but I am not in the UK, and to be fair they did try to speed it up by using a different courier when we ordered a second one. The customer service is good and they reply promptly to emails. Sewing the little pouches into the rugs is not too painful, even for someone like me who hates sewing. So far even my naughty gelding who is constantly playing with his friend did not manage to destroy it, but then he does manage to destroy every rug so I do not think it impossible that he will find a way. My only minor irritation is that it is easy to switch off by mistake when you put it into a different rug, and it sometimes happens that the groom does this by mistake, but it is not a huge issue.
I would definitely recommend this, and in case anyone is wondering I have no relationship with the company other than that I have purchased their product.