I love Rambo products and I cannot lie...

Many years ago, I splurged and bought a fancy quarter sheet...
My horse looks super good in it.
This year it will be 5 years old. It's one of my oldest and most used pieces of equipment. It's outlasted three saddles, two bridles, and one change of discipline, but it still looks brand new. It hasn't shrunk in the wash, or pilled up, or faded. It still is the brightest thing on winter road hacks, screaming "CAUTION" at passing cars.
"What is dis? We don't do dis any more."
 Unlike other quarter sheets I've used, this one actually fits my horse. It doesn't flap around, and very rarely slips. Best of all? Its thick double-bonded fleece actually works as a cooler, meaning I don't have to remove it when the work starts to heat up. It actually works to wick the moisture off my horse, keeping him dry underneath. It's like a pre-cooler.
Looked good on the first ride...
Still looking good years later...
The longevity and quality of this product alone led me to do something rather stupid this winter... I splurged and bought a fancy blanket.

You see, Pig is King and Destroyer of All The Blankets. He tries to pull them off over his head, grasping them at the trim around his leg and ripping them up and over. Leg straps keep the blanket on most of the time, but he usually ends up annihilating the trim and ripping the blankets at the gussets. He's also turned out on 30 acres of mostly woods. You can imagine how that goes...
Yep. Something like this... (SmartBlue Thinsulate on left. Amigo Mio on right.)
Honestly. At the start of this winter season, the thought of stitching together another destroyed blanket was really starting to get to me. So, I packaged up the destroyed Mio (take it back Horseware!) and sent it back as part of the Rambo Blanket Trade-in program. Smartpak made the whole thing nice and easy, and I even got a deal on my Rambo purchase.

So what did I get? A Rambo Wug medium-weight, and I'm so glad I did.
Perfect fit, right out of the box.
First of all, it fits perfectly. Unlike every other blanket I've tried, the Rambo looked like it was made for my horse. It fits even better than the Dover Northwind (which I also love!).
Sorry for my intruding finger ... and my horse's insanely huge head.
The high neck perfectly clears his withers, without creating rubs in his mane or pressure points on his shoulders. Finally!
So comfortable. Such derp.
Guinness seems to like it, too. He tugs on it less than his other blankets, meaning its trim has held out longer than the others. Maybe that's construction, and maybe it's being treated better. I don't know.
Chronic blanket-abuser right there...
I wanted to wait to write up my review of this blanket until it had seen some true war time. At this point, it's been through over 4 full months of total abuse. Except for it being filthy, I have only two minor complaints.

  1. First, the tail cord broke. The original was about 10x too long, and I'm pretty sure it just got caught on something and snapped. That's an easy fix. Rambo sells replacements in all different sizes. Easy. Or, you could be cheap like me and just tie the cord back in place. That totally works too. For $0. 
  2. The front velcro doesn't seem to want to stick quite as well as when it was brand new. If I took a wire brush to it, it probably would be better. Or, I dunno. Washed the thing. (Who does that?)
If this blanket continues to hold up like it has, I'm totally sold on Rambo products. Well, more sold than I already was.

Now, if only I could win the lottery. I've been drooling over the Newmarket double bonded cooler for years. If it works anything like my quarter sheet, it's worth the large amount of money I'd have to shell out for it. Still, I'm cheap. So if you see a sale on Rambo coolers, you know who to call.

Any of you have an absurd Rambo love affair?

Comments

  1. I too love all things Rambo & Rhino, I snap up those suckers whenever I see rugs on sale.
    I needs all things Horseware ♡♡♡♡♡

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    1. Your European sales are my envy! We never get discounts that good over here!!

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  2. I am a huge Horseware fan. Must buy all of their pretty things! Which even means their hat and scarf set from this year. I stay super warm at the barn in them and the cuteness factor is def there.

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    1. I have to say, I think my love of Horseware stuff ends at the Rambo line for ponies. Their human clothes tend to look terrible on me. Not sure why! (Mainly, because I can't pull off hats. It's sad. I still wear them. People make fun of me. This is my life.)

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  3. Horseware makes some AWESOME stuff... however I am also too poor to buy Rambo anything! I do love my Amigo cooler though - it's like putting a snuggly, stretchy hoodie on your horse! But now you have me wanting to save up for one of those quarter sheets. The blue stripe would look soooo nice on my orange pony... hmm... Thanks, Austen. :-P

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    1. Dooooo eeet! Honestly, it's a bargain if you get half as much use out of it as I do. I probably ride in mine a full quarter of my rides in a year. The only pieces of equipment that see more use are my bridle, bit, saddle, and polo wraps. Seriously. It goes on sale all the time, too. Keep an eye out!

      Is the Amigo cooler nice? I keep holding out for the double-bonded because I really notice a difference with how much faster it dries my horse, and how much more sweat it can pull off without getting saturated. Sometimes at the end of a hard ride in the cold, the top of my quarter sheet has a crust of ice on it, but underneath my horse is dry and warm. Results!

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    2. I really like the Amigo cooler, but it is definitely not nearly as thick and wicking as the double-bonded Rambo. It also goes on sale a lot and I think I only paid about $30, so for the price it's been great! The jersey material on the top is really nice in that shavings and hair don't stick to it like they do to fleece, and it works just as well as any other "normal" cooler. I also have an Irish Knit that I sometimes layer underneath it when the pony is super duper sweaty, so that helps!

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  4. I <3 Rambo blankets. The first Rambo blanket I bought stopped my yearly blanket purchases with Stampede. He is hard on his clothes and Rambo blankets stand up to the torture!

    On the velcro, once you clean out the hair it will work great again. Phoenix fills his with hair every year so by the end of the season it doesn't work well. Don't ask me why I don't just clean it out at some point during the winter, lol.

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    1. Ugh. The yearly blanket buying. THE STRUGGLE IS REAL!

      Thanks for the tip on velcro! I bought some nice velcro cleaning metal brushes a long while ago, but they disappeared into the abyss that is my garage. I'll have to dig them out again.

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  5. Cash's Rambo Medium weight is... 16 years old this year. SIXTEEN. No tears until this year, trim is still on... it's a little faded and the velcro on the front is shot, but other than yearly washing and re-waterproofing, it has required zero maintenance. Alas, I am going to finally retire it because Brego took a big old bite out of it a couple of weeks ago. It's still serviceable though, with a T/O sheet over top.

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    1. That is RIDICULOUS life for a blanket. Whaa?! Man. Here I was just hoping to get a good 3-4 years out of it! One question, though -- what do you use for washing and waterproofing?

      (I always use all my old mediums as layers in cold weather. The rips and tears don't matter when they're sandwiched between two other blankets!)

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  6. I am totally a Horseware believer now! I bought a used and in GREAT shape Rhino for my mare about a month ago and I LOVE IT! I think when I get another one I may go a size up though because her big booty hangs out just a smidge with the 78, even though she fits a Weatherbeeta 78 pretty well. My blanket has the tail strap that clips and another elastic tail cord that the tail goes through, I think to keep the tail flap down and the elastic strap broke, but other than that I'm sold on Horseware blankets!

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    1. Yeah, mine has the tail cord at the end of the flap, too. Pig's tail is too wispy to stay in it, though. I don't worry about it, really.The tail flap on the 78 Rambo is massive, and not prone to flipping up. Did your elastic strap have a plastic cover? Mine did, and I really liked that feature. That might influence my decision to buy a replacement...

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    2. Mine did not have a plastic cover, but that would be nice to have. I'm not sure if doesn't have the plastic cover because it is a Rhino or because it is an older model...Now that I know I like the fit and the brand, I may bite the bullet and step up to the Rambos for next year. I want to get a Rambo T/O Sheet so I don't have to worry about the rub marks any more. I think that aspect alone sold me on the blanket! Chloe's poor TB shoulders get nasty rubs in the winter no matter what combo of shoulder guard, Show Sheen and vitamin E cream I use.

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    3. Try a high neck cut. That has made all the difference for Guinness. Somehow it keeps his withers from pulling the blanket up against his shoulders.

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  7. This blanket has been on my list forever!!

    (checkmark115)

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  8. he looks great in that blanket!! glad you love it and the cooler :)

    also - it appears highly suspicious that you're getting mugged for treats in the last picture lol. shadows don't lie!

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    1. Well spotted! I'm going to say that was probably Tori or Storm. Those two always insist on getting treats from me!

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  9. I like their products but I dont' actually own any right now!

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    1. Living in Texas, I bet you don't have a huge need for massively fluffy and indestructible blankets, though. ;)

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  10. I splurged on the cooler/stable blanket version of your quarter sheet (used, but still $110 I shouldn't have spent at the time) and I regret it not. one. bit. Looks fantastic on Murray, holds up super well, wicks fantastically... love the thing. Just wish I were richer!

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    1. Thought I spotted that! If you ever see another steal, send it my way. I might be willing to part with a kidney for it! :)

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  11. I have a Rambo Wug that I adore and one of the clasps on the front broke this year. I am heartbroken!

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    1. Oh no! Hopefully you can replace it? Maybe? One of the clasps broke on my other blanket, and I'm considering just buying a double sided clasp at the hardware store and redoing it.

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  12. I have a Rambo medium-weight original-style? I dunno, I think it has leg-arches, maybe not. Anyway, I am on year 5 I think of it and holy cow it's awesome. Dassah does have a mane-dent but no rubs. It fits a smidge big but has not given her any rubs of any kind. There was one tear on the inside (? how?) that I cannot figure out how it happened but I fixed it easily. I had a SmartPak Deluxe heavy-weight blanket that was wonderful also but alas it went missing at my new barn (sad face) - I've been using just this one all winter and have not had an issue.

    After 5 years the velcro is still strong, surcingles great, the elastic tail-cord is a wee bit stretched out but no issue, and so far, still waterproof!

    I do want that quarter sheet!

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