Clipping horses

I have spent the morning of St Patrick’s Day clipping a horse. Usually I wouldn’t clip this late in the year but there is still no sign of Spring and this particular horse has a very thick, woolly coat under his rug. When days get warmer, the horse sweats and often ends up with a skin infection. I thought I would try clipping him later this time to try to avoid these problems.

Most horse manuals will tell you to give your horse his last clip in January and to leave it at that otherwise it might interfere with the summer coat coming through but some trainers of show horses will clip horses all year round. I suppose it’s a matter of what suits you and your horse. If the summer coat has started to appear on a previously clipped horse, I wouldn’t clip him again at this stage.

Getting started
I wear a hat and overalls as hair will get everywhere. It’s a good idea to clear a bare patch in the stable before clipping so that it’s easy to sweep up the hair afterwards. The horse I clipped today is an angel and stands as still as a rock until I am finished. Most horses and ponies will object a bit so you will need someone to help you hold them.

Make sure you have your clipping blades sharpened beforehand and also that you have a clean extra rug to take the place of the hair you are about to remove. As this is a large horse, I have to have two sets of clipping blades in case the first one becomes blunt half way through. A dirty coat will blunt the blades so groom the horse well over the weeks before you clip and you can also sponge him down with a little shampoo mixed with water to wash off sweat after exercise. This will leave a clean coat ready for clipping later on. It’s hard to dry a horse in the winter if you hose him so I just use a cloth and bucket of water. I wring out the cloth so that it doesn’t wet the coat too much and I wipe the sweat off with this.

What sort of clip do you want?
Decide what sort of clip you want and always clip against the way the hair grows. If a horse or pony isn’t doing much work, a trace clip will be sufficient. Mark the lines on his coat beforehand with chalk or masking tape so that you get straight lines even on both sides. I clipped this fellow out today which meant I took off all the hair but I left it on his legs, the front half of his head and his ears. Most horses hate having their heads clipped so why bother unless you are showing the horse? One tip which I got from a showing friend is to put the horse’s bridle on while you clip him and clip away the hair behind the cheek piece (strap) using the cheek piece as a guide so that you get a nice, straight line down the side of his head. It looks good with the bridle on and with it off.

When I clipped a child’s small pony last year, I only took a small amount of hair off his stomach, between his front legs and a little up his neck. He was living out in the field and I didn’t want him to get too cold, although he did have his rug on.

Keep blades clean and allow to cool down
I brush the hair off the clipping blades regularly with a dry paintbrush and apply plenty of clipping oil to the blades at the top and underneath. I also leave the clippers switched off from time to time to cool down while I wipe down the horse and remove loose hair with a stable rubber (which looks much the same as a tea towel). Be careful clipping underneath the horse and under the legs as it is possible to cut him where the skin is loose. I pull the skin tight with my other hand to make this easier.

If you’re clipping on a cold day, keep the horse covered with a rug on areas you’ve already clipped so that he doesn’t get cold.
My horse looks a lot better now and all I have to do is pull his mane and tail and trim the long hairs at his heels before he can appear in public!