Washing your own rugs?

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ElliePippa

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Does anybody wash their own stable rugs?
If so what do you do?
Just asking as have had rug pulled of stable partition and weed and pooed on
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Thankyou
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We stick ours in a big bucket of water and washing powder, let them soak, empty the water, put clean in, let them rinse and then hose them off as not allowed in the washing machine! You can do the same and buy the proper rug wash, but it's much cheaper with washing powder!
 
empty huge clean wheelbarrow or dustbin. stick filthy rug in, cover with water, add detergent, swoosh around and scrub, soak a bit, drag out and rinse a LOT. i hang mine over a gate and hose down for ages, inside and out.
don't leave it to soak for more than a day because it'll start going black and disgusting, i found this out this summer, oops.
 
I wash mine in the bath, fill with water, bit of washing powder. Pummel it with something. Then squeeze and rinse, I use shower 4 rinsing, then put it on the line!
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works a treat.

A body brush is good 4 the tough bits.
 
After an Equestrian Centre ruined one of my NZ and a professional rug wash company needed 3 months and a lot of money - I took to doing my own.

I have about 30 to do every year. If they are very hairy I vacuum the linings first. You can hose of the worst of the mud first. I take them to a launderette if they are big and do summer sheets in my own m/c. Ride-a-way sell a wash bag.

If you have a breathable rug - YOU MUST USE a special wash liquid or you may destroy the waterproofing. The name is NikWash designed for Gortex. You can buy it from any shop which sells walking and camping gear (about £6 a bottle) or order by post e.g. Ride-a-Way.
 
If they fit in the washing machine then we wash them at home. We do put them in a rug bag first which we got from ride away.
I did send some off to a rug washing service at the begining of winter as i didn't have enough time to get them washed and dry in time, but some did come back needing small repairs and slightly shrunk
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so i will be washing my own in the summer.
 
Power hose, detergent and a scrubbing brush for me.

No way would I use my own washing machine for rugs, saddlecloths etc, anything horsey
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(OH has allergies, animal hair in the washing machine would do him in!)
 
I put mine through my washing machine at home. Most have a large enough capacity drum these days.

Ditto Rollin about washing powder. It won't matter overmuch on a stable rug but if you wash waterproofed rugs you cannot use bio detergent. If you usually use bio ( we do) you have to run the machine through once empty to make sure it is completely rinsed or you'll remove your waterproofing. Voice of sad experience here.....
 
I killed my last washing machine doing just that, so probably best to follow the advice given above and do it by hand.. or pay the tack shop to do it.
 
Big plastic tub, detergent, hot water, throw rug in, put on wellies, stamp up and down on rug
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Pull rug out of tub, roll up and stamp on it again (to wring it out) refill tub with warm water, push rug in and stamp on it again (rinse)

pull rug back out, throw on driveway near the drain, turn hose on it to finishing rinsing, hang over something to dry...
 
[ QUOTE ]
Big plastic tub, detergent, hot water, throw rug in, put on wellies, stamp up and down on rug
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Pull rug out of tub, roll up and stamp on it again (to wring it out) refill tub with warm water, push rug in and stamp on it again (rinse)

pull rug back out, throw on driveway near the drain, turn hose on it to finishing rinsing, hang over something to dry...

[/ QUOTE ]

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A good job to do when in a bad mood then
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All my stable rugs are lightweight. When it gets cold I double or triple up if necessary. Because they are lightweight they are not too bulky and fit in my washing machine with ease. I wash them about once every two weeks before they get into a real mess. allthough I have to say that they never do as my horses have deep clean beds. Also the rugs have a nylon lining wich means that the hairs don't cling to the rug and there is very little problem with hairs in the machine. All my turnout rugs go to a professional rug cleaner.
 
I have my own rug wash business, one of the perks is that my horses have lovely clean rugs all the time. Sorry to rub it in - ooops!! Seriously though, all the above methods sound like hard work to me,suppose I would say that though. Be careful using wash powder as it can irritate horses skin and fade your rugs.
 
i've just stocked up on nikwax and will be attempting to do a lightweight turnout next week, in my bath. if i cudve sent it to be done properly i wudve, jst to save the effort, but there is no where local to me who do it and the big places wont do just one rug!
 
Thats bad if big places wont do just 1 rug. Small orders are as valuable as large ones. Pity your not any closer to me. Wouldnt have been a problem atall. And I use Nikwax as standard procedure.
 
I would usually send my rugs away to a rugwash company every other year and do it myself at home on the years in between in the summer. In a big plastic tub with non bio powder but never let turnouts soak for long as I worry about all the waterproofing being washed out. Then throw over a gate and hose both sides and leave there to dry. Once dry spray the turnouts with rug proofer. Only found NikWax this year after my rugs had been sent away, so will be using it this year. Really won't be happy using a rugwash company again when my best rug came back with one of the chest straps hanging off!!
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God knows what they were doing to it, it was firmly on when it left me!
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