To clip or not to clip?

[lauren123]

Sox is doing very well in his new home. The one thing my yo has noticed is sox does seem to get quite hot mainly if his thicker rug has the neck up then his neck will be sweaty or if its back how shoulders will be sweaty (not the cushings sweat and his levels 6 months ago were beautifully low) he has gone from a draughty stable wearing a med to a american barn in a 100g light weight!
I have noticed if i work him for like 7.5 mins each rein Lunging . Including poles and sox feeling fresh he can be quite sweaty under the roller and his chest.
So thinking of possibly a chaser clip or trace. Not sure if a bin wouñd be enough.
Vet is due to retest sox in march/April.
I highly highly doubt its his cushings but i just worry if it is and i clip him rather then re do bloods then it wont help. However if retest its possibly another 160 quid to be told his levels are fine.

 

[Mary Poppins]

Ben is often hot just standing in his stable naked at the moment. The winter has been mild so far and I think most horses would need clipping if they were in work. If you were to do a trace clip that should help. If not, it will grow out within a few weeks anyway. When Ben was in work I had to clip him every 4 weeks throughout winter to enable him to be worked.

 

[Jessey]

Never clip for a rug! who gives a crap if he needs a lighter rug? It's virtually spring temps out here. Jess is clipped, living out 24/7 and spends many days in a no fill either with or without a neck depending on if its pissing down, she's had days naked too because it's so mild.

Now clipping to work is a different matter, the question is really can he dry out reasonably quickly, if he does there's no need to clip. If you are struggling to get him dried off then go for it.

I only have to clip Jess once per year @Mary Poppins, not every horse will grow out a clip in weeks, fine skinned hot bloods are less likely to than cold bloods.

 

[Kite_Rider]

Belle is another who doesn't grow out a clip in four weeks, I generally only have to clip once going into winter and that will last her until spring, she's not a warm blood either and is as hairy as they come.
I wouldn't clip to rug either, if he's hot with his rug on just take it off. Far too many people rug because they think they 'should' not because the horse needs it.
As Jessey said, if he's only getting a little bit sweaty with work then maybe even a bib clip would work?

 

[chunky monkey]

I would part clip. You can always mess around with the rugs.
Chunky will grow like mad up to end of December. I will then clip and what grows back always looks spikey.
He is desperate for another clip but this winter I'm not riding of a week day so it doesn't seem worth clipping just for weekend hacks and lunging on a weekday. But I must to stop the rainscald.
I can't clip Billy without sedation and this week he has started moulting. He got hot at the weekend so I hosed him off. The next day I took his rug off and he was still damp under it.

 

[Bodshi]

I certainly wouldn't have him retested, I think the fact that he's sweating more sounds quite normal given that he's now living in a warmer environment and it would be very unusual for an unclipped horse being worked to not sweat under its tack.

I agree with the others, I'd keep him in a lighter rug when he's stabled (do you have one without a neck so you don't have to fold it back?) and clip according to the amount of work you do. I've also observed that some horses react differently to being hot - until this winter really, Jack was always a very hot horse, but it doesn't seem to affect him too much when he gets hot. Raf however won't eat if he's too warm under his rug, but he gets tucked up if he's too cold and loses weight easily either way. I have him fully clipped and layer his rugs according to temperature, but it is a bit of a juggling act. Oh, and he doesn't have a neck because like Sox he gets too warm with it up and too warm on his shoulders with it folded back.

 

[newforest]

If he's got in the thick rug, put a thinner one on without the neck.

I did an Irish on mine this year and she will only get the one clip. She's out naked and barely gets warm lunging w,t,c.