Why Won't It Work?

If you just don’t know what laundry products to use to wash your horse and/or pet wear; so you use laundry detergents you found at your local store, you’ve made the first and biggest mistake. Are you are scratching your head about why “Big Name” horse blanket washes and soaps aren’t working? There’s a reason for that! If you just want the best for your horse and all of your animals, but not sure how to achieve it…we can help.

RugSafe USA, is here to help equestrians, horse owners, animal fanatics, and small animal lovers achieve better and safer results, when washing animal laundry. We too are horse owners, we have dogs and cats, and live the farm life, just like many of our customers and friends. So, we get the frustration of trying to find a safe and pet friendly laundry solution. Because of this, we at RugSafe USA had to breakdown why products aren’t working, what people are doing wrong, and how we can start educating animal lovers (and keep them off forums with really wrong information).

Problem with the Products

Because you’re doing it wrong, or is it? First, let us dive into why these “Big Name” horse blanket products or well known laundry detergents do not work for you. 99.9% of the time it is because they are not designed to work on horse blankets, or pet wear; including the capacity of mud, dirt, sweat, grime, manure, urine…you name it. Often times, these products you are using are not equip with the cleaning power to work on these unique fabrics. Sometimes, they are not for horse blankets …even though they charge you a little more and label the product to say “horse”. Household laundry detergents are absolutely NOT for horse blankets, even the free and clear detergents or baby clothes laundry detergents. Detergents add residues, which can irritate an animals skin (just like how they can irritate your skin). They also make waterproofing almost impossible to re-apply, and ruin the factory applied waterproofing, AND deteriorate fabrics!

Why should we as horse owners, spend so much money on the best care for our horses, their clothing, all of our investments, to use a laundry product that was designed for clothing, baby clothes, canvas tents, shoes. None of which ever get as dirty as a horse blanket gets in an hour.

The other thing to consider with these big names, is who is creating these products? Do you know? Do you know where they came from? Would you drive a car that had the tires changed by a 6 year old (no offense to all the 6 year old readers)? Would you buy a saddle for your horse that was made by a brick-layer that has never ridden a horse or seen a saddle? I personally wouldn’t dare. But all those are things to consider. If the creators of your blanket wash aren’t understanding what you need, what is best, how to actually wash a horse blanket or pet wear…why would you believe it works? So therefore, many of the issues you are having, are not your fault!

Problem with the Washing

What we can work to control, are the issues you may be having with the washing process. So here are somethings you may want to consider, or tips you may want to try. One of the most important things is to not over stuff your machine. A question we receive is how to get blanket’s cleaner if there is still dirt that is on the blanket. You may find that your washing machine (or the laundromat’s) machine can fit 3 medium weight blankets. However, you are NOT washing normal clothing. You are washing items that are much more dirty and larger than the majority of normal laundry. Therefore, you may want to only wash 2 at a time. Remember, just because you can fit it in…doesn’t mean you should! Leave space, it will help the dirty water to escape from the blanket during washing cycles.

Add laundry solution according to the dirtiness of the blanket or item, but make sure not to over use. Too much product will leave residue and suds in the blanket or item. Make sure your machine is large enough. While a house machine may be large enough size wise, it may not be strong enough to really agitate the blanket or pet wear as needed. To help getting a blanket cleaner, try “pre-cleaning” by gently brushing off excess or caked on dirt, or even lightly hosing off.

A tip that I like to provide, is to turn your blanket “inside out”. Lay it on the floor with the top of the blanket up, then loosely ball/ fold it up so the liner of the blanket (the side that touches the horse) is now on the outside. Throw it into the washer, set to cold water, turn to bulky setting and wash. The goal is to have that excessively dirty side of the blanket agitate itself to help clean better. For more tips: CHECK HERE!

Why Blanket Safe Works

As mentioned earlier, RugSafe USA looks into why these products aren’t working. We enjoy figuring out what is lacking, and what needs to be better. Fortunately for our customers, we are not only a horse and pet laundry product. We also wash, repair, and care for horse and pet wear professionally. We joined up with a Veterinarian to get help designing a product that is outstanding for our use, as well as safe and gentle for the animal’s delicate skin. Blanket Safe products were born. But what you see on the outside has a lot of thought, care, and love that went into what is on the inside. We considered all aspects of these washes.

Considering All Aspects

Blanket Safe products comply with the specific laundry care labels of the most delicate horse blanket. Occasionally there are factors about Blanket Safe that surprise customers that have always used harsh, fabric deteriorating, waterproof ruining, household laundry detergents. Unlike thick household detergents are full of chemicals that destroy waterproofing, deteriorate fabric, and wash smaller loads; Blanket Safe is a thin product. Blanket Safe pet laundry solutions are made out of high quality, highly concentrated products, and while they are not the same viscosity, they are packed with cleaning power. An important point to consider is that Blanket Safe is NOT a stain fighter. We avoid the use of harsh chemicals, and therefore stains, especially set in stains may not be removed. Another shocker is the light fragrance that does not remain after washing, and the low sudsing formula.

We tried to consider all aspects of not only the laundry, but also the animal. Understanding that animals can be very sensitive to smells, is something that we consider. Therefore, we made sure our product did not leave a strong, or lasting scent. We did not want a product could cause irritation to the animal, including skin irritations. With chemicals, scents, and products in general, residues can be a huge issue. If used as instructed, Blanket Safe products are residue free. That being said, residues may come from product left in the blanket, including suds. Blanket Safe is low sudsing, and many customers will mistake low sudsing for not working. That couldn’t be more false. We want your blanket to get clean by the use of agitation. Just because there are no bubbles does not mean it is not working…it just means your blanket IS scrubbing!

With lots of bubbles, the clothes can form a bubbly layer of cushioning in between them, and if they are gliding instead of rubbing, they won’t be cleaned as well. It is because HE machines were designed around the agitation of fabrics that they also do not use as much water to clean.

Laundry Science 101: Why Bubbles Don’t Equal Clean