I am a dirt magnet. I don’t understand how all those hunter princesses stay so immaculate when the go into the show ring. When I go to a hunt, I wear a sweat pants over my breeches and a sweater over my shirt. I don’t remove my outer garments until I’m ready to get on my horse. And I’m still filthy by the time I go home. Often, I’m dirty before I get on my horse (which seems like an impossibility).
Machine washable jackets are a life saver. Since I hunt twice a week (when I don’t have a sick or injured horse, so not this season!) dry cleaning isn’t much help. I just love being able to throw my jacket in the washing machine and letting it dry on a hanger.
I have three washable jackets: a Cavallo Dressage Coat and two Equine Athletics Hunt Coats. I’ve owned the Cavallo jacket for about 10 years and it has held up remarkably well. My EA coats are each a few seasons old and also have survived the gentle cycle without any harm.
Other equine apparel manufacturers have jumped on the machine washable bandwagon. You can now buy a washable jackets from Pikeur, Tally Ho, and Ovation, as well as from Cavallo and Equine Athletics.