Re: Info on horse vacuums?

["Linda B. Merims" <lbm@ici.net>]

> From: Diane Nelson
> Email: safehavn@fast.net
> 
> This is the year to consider purchasing a horse vacuum.  While there are
  not all that many styles and types, I am sure that one brand will work
  better than the others.
> 
> If you own such a device, I would love to hear about the pros & cons,
  life expectancy, maintenance, etc.
> 

I'm going to quote something I posted to rec.equestrian in November, 1997.
I was thoroughly exasperated at the time...

BEGINNING OF QUOTE--

: Robby Johnson wrote:
: > 
: > Anyone have any experience
: > with horse vacuum cleaners?  How hard was it to get the horse
: > accustomed?  Are they effective?
: > 

I just went through this.  Rather than spring for the $450-$500
for the classic aquamarine blue hunk-of-iron Electro Groom that
we all are familiar with, I bought a $194 4 horsepower Vac 'n Blo
from State Line Tack.

Worthless piece of junk.

It isn't that the vacuum isn't powerful--it *is*.  And that's
just what's so maddening about it.  The problem is the six
grooming pieces that come with it.  Each is an incredible example
of extraordinarily stupid *BAD* design.

Each piece has one of two problems:

 - The piece does not have deep enough grooves to
   allow air to enter the nozzle when it is placed against the
   horse's skin.  Instead of sucking up dirt into the hose, it
   just seals itself to the horse's skin

   ...and picks up *nothing*

 - The piece is too large, dissipating the force of the suction
   across too large an area,

   ...and picks up *nothing*

All of the hand-grooming attachments that look like curry combs
have the second problem:  the opening is too large and thus
diffuses the suction so much that the piece picks up almost nothing.

The piece that looks like a regular rectangular vacuum head
has the first problem.  It just--*schluuptth*--seals itself to
the horse's skin without managing to pick up any dirt at all.

There is *one* piece that works well.  The little round piece
with the white teeth works perfectly:  small enough opening that
it doesn't dissipate the force of the vacuum; while allowing
enough air to get through to pick up the dirt and suck it into
the hose.

Except that I had used the piece for all of 20 minutes and its
plastic teeth were already bending and getting ready to go.

So, I took the worthless piece of junk back to State Line and
got my money back.  They were very good about it; no questions asked.

I consider this an extraordinarily stupid waste of what could
have been a very good, very useful machine.  Didn't anybody
ever try to actually vacuum a horse with one of these and see
how poorly the hand pieces supplied with it worked?

So, I am now saving my pennies for an Electro Groom, whose
metal headpiece has just the right combination of surface
area for power and grooved teeth to allow air to flow, and will
last until eternity.   No cheap solution to this one, though with
just the tiniest bit of thought, the Vac 'n Blo could have been.

END OF QUOTE--

Actually, there just might be a "cheap" solution.  I saw one catalog
that is selling the Electro Groom head piece all by itself.  If it
would fit the Vac 'n Blo, it might be a wonderful solution.

Incidentally, a main use of a horse vacuum is to put the hose on the
blower and blow dry the horse in winter.

Linda B. Merims
lbm@ici.net
Massachusetts, USA