Clipping

[Anna**]

Hi there.

I feel abit silly writing this post but I need a bit of reassurance regarding clipping.

My friend who I ride out with alot has just had her horse clipped (full)and I suppose I'm feeling abit left out. My personal view is that a full clip is for horses that are being worked medium to hard during the winter which neither of us are. We are just managing weekends and the odd weekday throughout winter. My friends horse does sweat up if we go for a long canter etc which is not that often so I can understand her clipping but I wouldn't have thought a full clip was necessary. Although my horse does sweat up she is not as bad. I feel now that we are going to look scruffy alongside a fully clipped horse (she has already had comments on how good the horse looks now) but I would rather Daily was warm (she is rugged during winter).

I realise that some people clip for cosmetic purposes. Surely the horse can feel the cold alot more. I can totally understand with horses which are being ridden all the time, but I am just a bit confused as to the pros and cons of clipping. I would like Daily to look good but I also want her to be warm etc.

Sorry this is such a silly post but it would be nice to hear peoples views on this matter.

 

[Wally]

All hail the scruffies!

If you are not happy about having your horse clipped, then don't. If she is sweaty after a ride just take off the belly and under her neck. I did clip one of mine when he was in training, I don't bother any more, the rug hassle wasn't worth it. I used to clip when I lived south and hunted twice a week, but I don't bother just for mucking about.

Do what you feel is best for the horse.

 

[DavidH]

Hi Anna,
The main reason for clipping a horse should be to prevent it from sweating during exercise. Horses will loose as much weight through sweating as they would from shivering. As a rule I only take off the amount of coat I need to to achieve no sweating under normal exercise, this can be anything from a trace clip (from chin to belly underside only) to a full clip although I have rarely found it necessary to go for a full clip unless competing in hunter trials etc. The more coat you take off the more rugs you will need to put on. Another disadvantage is that far more grease is removed from a clipped horse when groomed which is taking away the water proofing so to speak. I know a lot of people go for a full clip because it is easier for them to keep the horse clean and tidy. It is also much easier and quicker to do a full clip than a blanket clip which is generally my prefered clip. The choice is yours but should not be based on what other people think. I good horse person can see past a shaggy coat!
Hope that helps
David

 

[clairev]

Don't worry about it if the only reason you have started to consider it is because your friend has clipped her horse. If it was necessary for your horse you would have known by now.
Anna, my cob, sweats perfusely and the only way to keep her comfortable is to clip her out completely but then she has loads of different rugs (for all occasions!) and is stabled at night and has shelter during the day.
I must admit I do prefer it as it does save a lot of time on grooming and she gets mud fever as well so it keeps the airflow to her legs.

 

[judyl]

I'm having Shade clipped on Saturday. She'll have half her neck clipped and belly - a combination of a blanket and trace clip. For years I didn't have her clipped and competed in indoor dressage through the winter as she didn't sweat up very much and as I didn't work her hard, I didn't see the point in clipping.

It's much more important that you keep your horse warm and dry so if you don't want to clip her, don't. At our yard we have people who clip their horses out and they hardly ride or exercise them at all. So they look good - so what!
One person even has to have her horse sedated to be clipped and doesn't ride much. I can't understand it.

Judy

 

[Wally]

Oh the times in spring I have wished I had clipped all ours. Imagine 10 Icelandics, several Shetlands all shedding coats at the same time. There is hair everywhere. Life would be so much nicer in spring if there was no hair to come off!! Every time we groom a horse there is enough hair to stuff a sofa. But all our guys live out and need their coats in a Shetland winter. I did clip my competition horse one winter, but I got fed up of putting him in and out and changing rugs the whole time.

The horse doesn't care how he looks. One should never judge how well cared for a horse is by looks alone. Dusty and muddy is a natural state for a horse. So long as he's not taking longer to dry that you take to exercise him, leave him to his winter knickers.

 

[Mossy]

Slow moulters

Wally
How do you cope with hairy full coated natives come spring? Moss does not moult all at once, and can still have his winter coat hanging around in May /June. The poor thing nearly expires in the heat. At that time of year the only option is a trace clip, which just does not suit him. Starkers underneath and neck, and winter woollies on top. He looks ridiculous. [Connie sheds her Welsh winter coat in a chestnut cloud to reveal a very swish TB fine summer layer.]

 

[LindaAd]

I bought a very smart clipped cob in the autumn; his owner kept him clipped out and stabled at night all the year round, like clairev's Anna. Now he's grown a coat like a bear and he's as scruffy as the rest of them, but he looks happy and the rain doesn't seem to penetrate the new coat. I haven't quite worked out how to keep him though - I might clip him in the summer if he's doing a lot of work and if he grows a horrible cat-hairy coat.

 

[Wally]

One of our imported mares kept her winter coat until August, I was begining to thik she had Cushings! Then one warm week the lot came out and a short time later the winter coat started to grow!

In spring Frances and I splutter and spit hair every time we touch one of them, they too moult very slowly. The Haffy and the Fjords have a sleek summer dress by about May, Fat Cob too. But the Icelandics hold onto their winter draws like crazy. Thankfully we don't get hot days, they sometimes need a hairy coat right up 'till the end of May.

It's all very depressing, hair everywhere, up yer nose, in yer mouth, all over the house, car and Frances' washing machine had to be fixed when a HUGE ball of horsehair blocked the outlet pipe, and that wasn't washing numnahs and stuff, it was hair from clothes!

LindaAd,
You may get sniffed at if you show your cob clipped in the summer. We used to clip a cob we had, in the summer, for endurance riding, but show judges don't like it, you may find you are ridiculed for summer clipping.
He was a hairy soul and found endurance so much easier without his wooly summer coat.