word of warning - Lycra hoods

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ticker

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Having seen another thread of people warning about turning out in them ( this is no way a dig at the OP just a little warning, think others got the message across well). Well a friend of mine clipped her TB who is in hardly any work and decided to stick one of these lycra hoods on to keep the mare warm, YO was called out roughly 3 hours after she turned the mare out by a neighbour who had the mare trapped in his garden but safe. It turns out she must have tried to rub the lycra hood off and managed to pull it over her eyes , blinding herself cue the panicking and ran through a post and rail fence. As you can imagine the damage was horrendous an open fracture , a clean break to the leg , a clean slice across the mares rib cage and a deep gash just above her eyeball or she would be missing an eye. The mare was running off adrenaline but eventually went down once YO got there , vet was on the way at this point but decided the kindest thing was to have the mare PTS once the owner had also arrived. The man who managed to catch the mare and wrestle the lycra hood off her was taken to A+E with a broken nose where she had lashed out , this was panic normally a very docile mare but understandable for the circumstances. Lycra hoods are not designed to be used in the field and cause a lot of trouble if they are.
 
It was awful my friend has given me permission to post this and does spread her story with people who use them as a warning. A sad accident that shocked many.
 
Unfortunately this kind of thread appears pretty regularly on here :(

I got a lycra hood with the eye/ear holes a few years back. My boy has sweet itch and I thought it was the best thing since slice bread for him; so put it on and turned him out.

Luckily I've got my own place so the horses are here on site with us, and I work, in the majority, from home, so am usually around to keep an eye out.

I turned my traddie boy out in his lycra hood in the morning....... and in the evening when I went to see him he was standing in a corner, all huddled up, not coming to the gate like he usually would. I went up to him, and wondered why his head was down by his knees and he was standing in a corner with his head facing into it...... the blimmin hood had slipped and gone completely down over his head, totally covering his eyes so that he couldn't see a thing, plus had slipped so it was all down over his mouth as well.

Bless him, he's such a sensible type in a real crisis, that he was just standing there, and no harm done, apart from the fact he obviously hadn't eaten for a while, so he had to make up lost time!!!

But the lycra hood went straight on the bonfire.

They should carry a warning IMO that they are NOT to be used for turnout purposes, full stop.

There was another thread on here about the same time as my experience, with a pony that had lost its eye due to the thing coming down over its face and causing an ulceration.

The ONLY, repeat, only "hood" I would use, is the headless ones from Snuggy Hoods. Not advertising, its just that theirs, whilst they are not cheap, seem to be far more rugged in manufacture & better quality than the flimsy/light ones.

Awful story from OP; let's hope at least one person on here will take heed and thus prevent another disaster from these things.
 
I posted on the other thread - I had a very near miss a few years ago with one - will never use one again, rather spend an extra 10mins in an evening brushing mud out than risk loosing a horse.
 
It's nice to see so many people aware of the danger they possess. Mare was always the flighty on the edge type when in the field so the panic she must have felt would be horrible. Your boy sounds so very sensible Myjods, glad to hear everything was okay.

EDT- The people who found her the man and his wife were both affected by it quite badly being animal lovers.
 
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I've had this happen with the Snuggy Hoods sweet itch hood so had to stop using it. Fortunately he doesn't panic easily.
 
What a horrible shame :( Poor mare. That must have been just awful.

FWIW, I know y'all talking about me. Ned is no longer wearing his, so can we please leave my thread out of it and draw a line under it, as I have already asked?
 
So sorry for their loss.

I've never used hoods, never felt the need, but reading this is confirms that I never will. My condolences to the owner, very sad.
 
Chan said:
What a horrible shame :( Poor mare. That must have been just awful.

FWIW, I know y'all talking about me. Ned is no longer wearing his, so can we please leave my thread out of it and draw a line under it, as I have already asked?
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I didn't mean to offend, you were not aware and that's not a crime at all. Now you are and you have taken it off I think it's clear to see you care for your boy. By posting this I hoped that those that weren't aware these seemingly harmless hoods can cause, it certainly wasn't a dig and I apologise if it came across that way.
 
fwiw I didn't even think about you/Ned Chan, just responding to the thread. I'd certainly never use one, neck cover on a rug if really required or just a neck one but not something reliant on eye holes.
 
ticker said:
I didn't mean to offend, you were not aware and that's not a crime at all. Now you are and you have taken it off I think it's clear to see you care for your boy. By posting this I hoped that those that weren't aware these seemingly harmless hoods can cause, it certainly wasn't a dig and I apologise if it came across that way.
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Don't worry, that wasn't aimed at you at all! I just feel really "got at" by other people. I'm just asking that there is a line drawn under my personal experience and left at that.

I hope the owner and everyone involved are coping :(
 
The better they fit the less chances there are of problems, this is why I like the Snuggy Hoods ones as they have several different sizes and are keen to help if you need one adjusted. the only time I had one slip was when it didnt fit quite perfectly. The eye holes on the Snuggy ones are forgivingly big too which helps, this will mean that a slight shift of the material will present no problems. The turnout hoods are much thicker, heavier and less slippy, I would never turn a pony out in a stretchy standard lycra hood and indeed do not know of a company that would recommend this

Its very very sad what happened to this horse - a horrible accident :(
 
Chan said:
Don't worry, that wasn't aimed at you at all! I just feel really "got at" by other people. I'm just asking that there is a line drawn under my personal experience and left at that.
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No one is getting at you. People are just sharing experiences. Your post started off a particular discussion - and this one continues it.
 
Thanks, Ticker for starting the thread. I've never used a hood on my own horses but after reading this and other threads I never will.

I remember watching racing on the telly years ago and a horse got loose with a hood on, I can't remember exactly what happened but I presume it was hooded by the loaders at the stalls. It was careering round the racecourse completely blind and the cameras soon cut away fearing the worst. I was surprised because I imagined that if a horse couldn't see that it would stop, but far from it , this one panicked big time. Luckily the hood must have come off by itself and later the cameras were able to show the apparently unscathed horse being led away. I think John Francombe was commentating and you could hear the real anxiety in his voice as it all happened.
 
On the same theme I had the same problem with a combo rug which had a velcro neck rather than a clipped on neck. A friend found my mare with the hood half way up her neck and over head. Not quite as bad as hopefully it would have eventually come off but pretty scary still
 
amymay said:
No one is getting at you. People are just sharing experiences. Your post started off a particular discussion - and this one continues it.
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amymay you asked what the Snuggy turnout hoods were made of on the other thread. The best thing I can liken them to is jodhpur material, its a much heavier and less slidey material, it sits much better and more firmly. Hope that makes sense. My pony wore one all summer with no problems at all, it didnt shift in the slightest. As I said above I wouldnt turn out in one of the baggy slippy 'normal' lycra hoods
 
I regularly put hoods on my boy but only the snuggy turnout hoods but never a lycra one. The turnout one does have 'give' in it but nowhere near as much as a lycra one. My chap has sweet itch and they have been a god send, but I must say he is penned in by electric fence and the only thing he can itch his head on is his leg.
 
ester said:
fwiw I didn't even think about you/Ned Chan, just responding to the thread. I'd certainly never use one, neck cover on a rug if really required or just a neck one but not something reliant on eye holes.
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I didn't even know that about the other thread. I'd never use a Lycra hood anyway (I would hate something like that on me, so wouldn't put it on my horse), but it's something I'd never given any thought to- if I did use one I would never have thought about not using it for turnout. This thread is good for those who like me, missed this earlier thread, and who would consider turning out in one.
 
What a horrible thing to happen. I am so sorry for the people involved. I have used Lycra hoods for years but only ever on the stable or trailer and can't understand why anyone would consider them suitable for turnout use
 
i do use the snuggy hood turn out hoods to keep mine cleaner and warmer, but like someone else said, they are not like lycra, they are thicker and mine fit very snuggly, so they barely move at all. with different velcro points as well to tighten them to fit securely. as i found out today actually: if they catch them on anything they rip rather than get pulled over their eyes, despite being really thick, that is how secure they are thankfully- as my boy came in with a nice ripped eye whole today :( think sadly people think lycra ones are ok, and just a cheaper version, but they are not at all. i still don't keep them out 24-7 in them, they wear them in the day time when people would see if a problem and are off at night when they come in.
now they have the headless hoods i will probably buy them in the future, as i mostly put them on mine to keep their manes clean and cover more of their neck- as i find neck covers are normally a bit short.
 
I thought I'd better reply to this in light of the comments about the Snuggy Hoods brand. I had one for Chloe, as she rubs her head and face badly, due to sweet itch. I used it a few times with no problems and it was a very snug fit, but days before I was due to leave my last yard, I was called up by a very irate sounding yard manager. Chloe had gone through two lots of mains electric fencing and the hood was hanging off some barbed wire (nearby hay field). She was found loose in the driveway and was eventually caught. I know she was bullied at coming in time by the hormonal mare, but the yard manager said at the time she'd heard of problems with these hoods (phuctifino why she didn't mention this when I BOUGHT it...). Aside from a gash on her forehead where she'd nutted the barbed wire fence on a post, Chloe was unscathed and for reasons unknown, the other horses stayed put! I never had the courage to put it on her again. I donated it to a charity for use with head wounds, but half wish I'd burnt it in light of all the recent threads which come up. :(

Oh and the hood was completely undamaged. Still done up, aside from the velcro bits which must have undone with the force of it being pulled off her head.
 
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Surely the problem there was the barbed wire? (unless I am reading that wrong?) could have been a standard neck rug caught up on wire and pulled over a head - was not really the hoods fault there!
 
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