would it have dried out?my dad paid for it, and it was fairly pricey compared to the other rugs we normally get, so if it's ruined he's going to go off.. gt;.lt;also, i was wondering if you could rug a wet horse?like if the rug was dry, and the horse was wet from the rain, could you throw the rug on her?or would you have to dry her off first? thanks!
I have been using a heated dryer (DriMee) to dry mine out. I have 4 rugs to deal with and leaving them hanging in the tack room overnight wasn't working, we have had a lot of rain this winter and the rugs have been getting soaked! Would recommend this way, is much easier.
That is why you need two rugs, having one to dry off, the other to use. It should be alright, but never put a wet rug on a dry horse. It will get a chill and it is mightily uncomfortable. Imagine putting a wet shirt or socks on! Not a good feeling. No you cannot put a rug on a wet horse unless it is stabled and you have a sweat sheet as well. Put that on, cover the horse with hay or straw and then put the stable rug on inside out to prevent the lining getting damp. After an hour or so, remove everything, brush the horse down and replace the rug the right way out. Definitely dry first - I refer to the matter of the socks!
Most modern rugs are synthetic so don't get moldy easily but they can take a long time to dry and if they aren't hung up outside can get that smell your clothes get if you leave them in the washing machine over night. Depending how cold/damp your tack shed is and how thick the rug is it could still be wet. I'm lucky that I can rent a heater to dry my rug in a day (and I need it because I only have one turnout) If you must rug a wet horse use a wicking rug (cooler) or a string rug under a sheet or fleece. You will have to change the rug in 15-30 mins and if the horse was very wet or if they had sweated up again you may have to replace it with another cooler. You mustn't ever rug a wet horse and just leave them. If the horse is unclipped on a mild day or (partly-)clipped of a warm day you could turn them out unrugged while still a bit damp (but they should have been properly cooled down and no longer be sweating.) EDIT: wow zakiit thatching (putting straw under the rug) is really old-school - I thought string anti-sweat rugs were old fashion. As my niece and nephew would say your so dead - it means old-fashion apparently. I told them I wasn't old fashion I'm retro - you can be retro too :-)
It should be fine. If our rugs get wet and muddy, we lay them on the floor at one end of the barn to dry out and it usually takes a day or two depending on the weight of the rug (lightweight rugs can take about 4-6 hours and heavy/medium weight rugs can take 1-2 days) If you have a dry rug and a wet horse, rug them up. Waiting for the horse to dry can give them a chill. The rug will trap a layer of warm air between it and the horse, helping to insulate (like when the winter coat on unclipped horses and ponies stands up) the horse so she should dry off quite quickly. If the horse is dripping wet, sweat scrape and put a fleece cooler on to dry off as much as possible before rugging up with the turnout rug
