Returns & Exchange Policy

Caribu Returns Policy

Warranty:

At Caribu we pride ourselves on the high quality of our products and the QA processes we have in place. We expect our rugs & related products should serve you well and have a good life span.

If you have an issue with your product, please contact us before using. We will happily replace any rug or product with a demonstrable manufacturing fault before the rug/item is used. Likewise if you are unsure of the fitting of a horse rug or how to use a particular item - please contact us for clarification before using the product. We are only to happy to assist.

We have no control over how you fit or choose to use any of our products. Likewise we have no control over how your horse may roll, itch, snare, rub and otherwise try to remove a horse rug or similar.

For this reason, it is the buyers responsibility to insure you are satisfied with the quality and fitness of purpose for the products you have purchased before using them. We ask that you check your rugs & products carefully, before using on your horse, to satisfy yourself that they are of high quality and free from any manufacturing defects, which may shorten the expected life of your purchase. When you fit the rug or product for the first time, if you are not happy with the fit or sizing, please contact us to arrange an exchange or return the item. Remove the item from your horse immediately before it gets dirty.

Horses are large unpredictable animals and can easily damage an item in the first few days as they can 12 months later. We will not honor replacements for any item that has been destroyed after use.

Caribu Horse Wear accepts no liability for loss, damage, injury or death or consequential loss to any person or animal resulting from the use or misuse, or incorrect fitting or failure of any of our products.

I bought the wrong size or style, can I exchange it?

Yes, we all make mistakes! We are happy to exchange an item for you with in 7 days of purchase. The item must be unused and in original packaging. Postage costs to return the item to Caribu Horse Wear is the buyers reasonability. Likewise the postage costs of the replacement item to be dispatched is also the buyers responsibility and we will require collection of the postal fee before shipping out the replacement item. We go to great lengths to give detailed descriptions of sizing and photos of our products, so please choose carefully – don’t be afraid to ask us about an item, we are only to happy to help you. Your item must be clean, see more details below on how to return.

Postage Costs:

Postage and handling charges are not refundable. If there is a mistake with your order or a faulty item that needs to be returned, we will cover the postage costs for you to return the item to us. We will provide you with a courier label to have the item returned at our expense, with a tracking number. If you return an item for a straight exchange (not a fault on our behalf), the postage cost to send the item back to us as well return postage costs for the replacement, will be at your expense.

Non Returnable Items:

Items such as Horse Rugs, Dog Rugs and other equipment that are worn on animals can easily be damaged by the animal. We will not honor any warranty for a product once it has been used on an animal. We have no control on how you choose to fit or use our products. Likewise we have no control over how your horse or dog may roll, itch, snare, rub or otherwise try to remove a rug or similar product. For this reason, it is the buyer’s reasonability to inspect your purchase closely and insure you are happy with both the quality and fitness of purpose for the products you have purchased before using them on your animal.

Sale or Clearance Items:

Items purchased as part of a clearance sale may not be returned or exchanged.

Defective Items:

If an item has a demonstrable manufacturing defect we will happily replace the item before use. To make the process fast and efficient, please email us some detailed pictures of the fault so we can validate and arrange a replacement.

Return Process:

All goods must be returned to us with:
- Original condition & original packaging along with all tags etc
- Goods must be 100% Clean and Hair free (see more details below)
- You notify us of the need for an exchange or return within 72hrs of receipt
- You return with copy of the invoice/receipt within 7 days of notifying us.

Please contact us PRIOR to returning your item so we can issue you with a Return Authority (RA) number. Your RA number must be included along with your return to enable us to process your return.

All freight costs are the responsibility of the purchaser . If you do need to return anything to us, we suggest you register your returning parcel as Caribu Horse Wear will not accept any responsibility for goods lost in return transit. We will not accept any goods returned by C.O.D. delivery.

Returns Address:
Caribu Horse Wear
PO Box 328
Woombye Qld 4559

Soiled Items.

If you do send an item back to us for exchange or refund and it is marked or covered in hair (no mater how minor in your opinion) we will charge a 50% re-stocking fee - as your rug/item will have to be discounted to clear and sold as a used item. If this is the case we will not dispatch your exchange item until we receive your restocking fee.

To avoid disappointment, please insure all items are clean. We suggest to put a sheet under your rug when trying it on for the first time, to keep hair and dirt off the rug.

My horse has torn his new rug. What can you do?

We have no control over how you fit or choose to use any of our products. Likewise we have no control over how your horse may roll, itch, snare, rub and otherwise try to remove a horse rug or similar. Horses are large unpredictable animals and can easily damage an item in the first few days as they can 12 months later. (it just hurts more when its a new rug!!)

For this reason, it is the buyers responsibility to insure you are satisfied with the quality and fitness of purpose for the products you have purchased before using them. We ask that you check your rugs & products carefully, before using on your horse, to satisfy yourself that they are of high quality and free from any manufacturing defects, which may shorten the expected life of your purchase. We will not honor replacements for any item that has been destroyed after use.

There is very little that can go wrong with a horse rug. Once its torn and hanging of them its very hard to say its a manufacturing fault and not just misfortune.

Caribu Sizing & Design

At Caribu we use a consistent design across all our different styles of rugs. As an example, if you purchase a Ripstop Polycotton Combo, you can rest assured that if you purchase a similar size in another style of rug it will use the same design cut and sizing.

All our designs undergo extensive field testing before production, across a variety of studs and stables, that work in conjunction with us to evaluate and develop our product range. The current Caribu designs reflect many years of development and feedback from our customers from the tens of thousands of rugs we have produced.

You can rest assured, when purchasing Caribu, that you are purchasing a rug design that has stood the test of time and has been in use for many seasons. Rug technology keeps on changing with new fabrics, fittings and sewing techniques and our rugs keep pace with the needs of our customers and the benefits of new technology in the market place. We will always continue to fine tune our rugs.

Please Refer to our detailed explanation of rug sizing and the pit falls on this link: Caribu Rug Sizing Guide

Sizing Issues

Because we use standard Australian sizing for our rugs, it makes it much easier for sizing and comparison. We also understand that while horse rug sizes are standard - horses aren't! They come in all shapes and sizes. Our rugs are designed to fit the major majority of horses, the majority of the time. Like people, there will always be horses that have shapes that don't confirm to the norm, and some times a custom made rug is the best option. If you do have a fitting issue its usually due to having the wrong size rug for your horse rather than an issue with the rug itself.

Some things that effect sizing decisions:

Many of the imported rugs (including some big name brands) used to make rugs especially for the Australian market and sizing. However in recent years they now manufacture one rug for distribution in all markets - Europe, UK, US and Australia. (Often based on European designs) Each region measures their rugs differently (ie: Europe measure from wither to tail along the top edge of the rug). Unfortunately the sizing's don't slot in neatly with Australian sizing - so its not unusual to have one of these rugs that can be out by almost a whole sizing - ie: a rug labeled as a 6'0, but when you measure them they can be closer to 6'3 or even 5'9.
Necklines are often very deep cut (or poorly designed!) on the cheaper imported rugs and this has the effect of making the rug a much bigger fit compared to better fitting brands in the same size.
Winter or lined/padded rugs are often a tighter fit, when compared to normal summer rip stop rugs or sheets. This is due to the fact that the padding takes up additional space. Also keep in mind, that if you use a summer sheets, wool, fleece or similar rug under your winter rug to create layers - this adds more padding again and has the potential to create a tighter fit again. If your horse is normally borderline between sizes in a normal summer rug, this may mean the difference between going up/down a size.
Young horses often have underdeveloped chests, which can make them a challenge to rug. Often a dart in the shoulder line can take up the slack and be taken out when the horse fills out.

We suggest if you are not confident with sizing, to put a sheet under your rug when trying your new rug on for the first time, to keep hair and dirt off the rug.

Avoid damage to your rug or horse:

A good match between your horse and your new rug will insure you have few problems. A poor fitting rug, due to incorrect sizing for your horse, will accelerate the likely damage to a horse rug. Horse rugs are usually damaged by:

Having your horse in a rug a size to small, resulting in excessive pressure on chest buckles and the wither area and/or
Having your horse in rug that is to large, resulting in a rug that slips easily on your horse and/or
Having Leg straps fitted to loosely , and the horses rug slips, usually allowing the horse to either step thru the leg strap or catch their hoof on the strap - which results in the strap being pulled off.
Loose Belly Surcingles, which allows the horse to get his legs caught in a strap when running or rolling.
Any of the above issues are exaggerated when your horses rolls or canters.

Rub Marks:

A good fit will reduce the likely hood of your horse developing rub marks from pressure points from a rug. We design our rugs in such away to insure that pressure on the chest and shoulders is kept to a minimum. We also incorporate anti-rub linings in our rugs. Keep in mind that some rugs are heavier than others (like Fly mesh or Turnout Rugs) and these will apply more weight to pressure points. Rub Marks are caused from a combination of :

Most often the rug sizing being used is incorrect, or the horses has features which make them more susceptible to pressure point marks (ie high wither, very lean build etc). If a rug is to small you generally see rub marks on the shoulders, if its too big you tend to get rubbing more on the front chest area as the rug slides back over the wither..
Late January to early March - horses grow out there summer coat with a thicker winter coat, during this time a horse coat is more susceptible to rub.
Wearing rugs for extended periods (ie: over winter) will eventually have an impact on pressure points and bibs are advisable
Some horses have more sensitive coats and will be fine in lighter rugs (like ripstop cotton ) but may have issues in fly mesh or turnout combos which are heavier. Fine coats and are more susceptible to rubbing and may need a bib under heavier rugs to provide an extra layer of padding.

With some horse's you just cant pick why a particular rug will cause an issue. Just like people, the same size shirt will fit 10 different people in the same size differently. Horses are no different and have their own different shapes, features and postures and movements.

My horse has developed rug marks. What can you do?

Getting a good match between horse and rug size will insure that you won't have any problems. If your horse has rub marks - something is usually wrong with the rug sizing you have chosen or your horse has features outside the 'norm'. Rub marks can be caused by a wide variety of issues out of our control. Some horses may need a bib to help alleviate.

Because there are so many issues out of our control, it is the buyers responsibility to insure you are satisfied with the quality and fitness of purpose for the products you have purchased before using them. When you fit the rug or product for the first time, if you are not happy with the fit or sizing, please contact us to arrange an exchange or refund for the item. We will not honor replacements or refunds for any item that has been used.

Our Policies

Caribu's policies regarding returns and refunds conform to the regulations of the Qld Office of Fair Trading. As a Customer you are entitled to an exchange if goods you purchase: