10% Off Rugs (Online & Instore, 15th – 28th April 2013) 16. April 2013 paul.bentham@robinsons-uk.com News (0) Do you have a rug addiction? If we've learned one thing in the 29 years we've been involved in Mail Order, it's that horse owners just can't have enough rugs! It's a comment that's often been repeated by many a bemused partner of a horse owner – and even admitted to by a large number of equestrians themselves! If you're one of those people – or if you just find that there's nothing better than a great bargain, we've decided to salute you by offering 10% off our entire rug range, online, for the next two weeks! Every item in the Rugs section of our website – even those which are new to our range this season and even our cheapest-ever turnout, the £29 Requisite Classic 600 Lite – will be priced at 10% Off until Sunday 28th April! To take advantage of this great offer, simply shop online, as normal. The items will appear at their regular prices when you're browsing but the 10% discount will be applied to all qualifying items as soon as you've added them to your trolley! Or just visit one of our stores! What could be simpler than that? Click here to view our Rug range! Customers in the 1980s would surely have laughed at the thought of a horse rug as a 'fashion item' and yet, while function remains the most important aspect of a rug's value, it would be naïve for anyone to suggest that fashion plays no part in the development of the rugs on offer today. Looking through the pages of our 1987 Winter Catalogue, the first 'proper' catalogue we ever produced, it wasn't always that way. There was the 'huge range' of 24 choices of rug to be found. That includes all the types of rug you were expected to need in those days, from the hardy 'New Zealand'-type canvas turnouts, via stable 'quilts' through to good old Jute rugs, early nylon turnouts and the 'string vest'-type Anti-Sweat rug. In addition, there were a full 11 'Rug Accessories', mostly made up of rollers and separate surcingles. Ten years later, our 1997 offering had devoted a whole section to this emerging fashion. There were, even then, 74 choices of rug available, comprising styles that could be considered to be 'modern', even today, side-by-side with the odd 'New Zealand', Jute and 'string vest'-type anti-sweats for the traditionalists. Pony rugs, foal rugs and even rug-style dog jackets had appeared, as had liner rugs, rugs designed as part of a travel set and even a transparent rug for using over tack on a rainy showground! It all proved that over the last ten years, customers were less bothered about the versatility of their rugs but most expected to own a greater selection of rugs that all served a different, specific function. There were, by then, dozens of additional 'Accessories', with matching neck covers, matching tail guards and leg wraps and a bewildering choice of fillet strings, repair kits, replacement breast straps and proofing treatments. Today, that trend continues. Many variations of the Fly sheet have been developed in recent years and have since become a valuable addition to many horses' wardrobes. Closure systems, action darts, necklines and detachable parts are all features of today's rug that have evolved over the time since we published our first catalogue. Who knows what the traditionalists of 1987 would have made of today's bewildering array of options, but the opinions that really count should be those of the horses who wear these items. With all the millions of pounds the rug manufacturers spend on research, development and the minute concentration on designing every detail to improve the horse's comfort, you'd have to conclude that horses today are probably a lot happier wearing their rugs now than their parents and grandparents ever used to be! Tweet