To Clip Or Not To Clip?
As winter (in the southern hemisphere, anyway) approaches, many of our horses are becoming fluffier and hairier, and to thus we pose the following question: should we clip them?
There are many advantages and disadvantages to consider, so we have listed them below to help you decide!
PRO - CLIPPING
Easier grooming
Outside of the clip itself, general grooming becomes a lot less difficult and can be a time saver at tacking up. Saving time becomes even more important when our sunlight is restricted, so why not?
Less hair in the washing machine
Have you ever had that time when you forgot to rinse the washing machine after doing a load of saddle blankets or rugs? Your clothes wore more hair than your horse did, I’m betting. So for those of us who don’t have the luxury of a horse-only washing machine, or even those of us that do, it will reduce the cleaning required and general wear-and-tear on your machine.
It is possible your horse may itch less
I have had many experiences with dogs that constantly itch without having an underlying skin condition. It blew my mind that simply by regularly clipping them, they significantly reduced in itchiness!
While there is no science backing this, and while I haven’t seen it in practice on an itchy horse, could it work? Possibly. Before you reach for the clippers though, be sure you have ruled out underlying health conditions, as some of these may be contagious and you could spread it to other horses via the clippers!
There are a variety of clip styles to try
Depending on your discipline or personal inclination, there are a variety of clips you could try - potentially a different one for each year! There are some clipper artists that take a unique approach and use the horse as a canvas for their design… I’ll let you form your own opinion on that though.
Con - Clipping
You will need to rug more
Not only will you need to rug more, you need to be prepared to change their rugs more consistently - especially in climates like Queensland (Australia), where winter consists of evenings around 5 degrees Celsius and days in the mid twenties.
You may need to hire a professional
Some people either lack the confidence, skill or knowledge to clip. So if you don’t want your horse looking like you dragged them through the hedge backwards, you may have to consider hiring a professional to do the job for you - several times throughout the season.
Your horse may not like the clippers
Some horses are terrified of the sound or vibration of the clippers. It takes a very confident and well trained horse (hey - check out our Training Trainability course that you can apply the principles of to this very situation!), or you may have to opt to sedate your horse.
Not only can sedation have side effects (including becoming overly excitable, anaphylaxis, or collapse), it is an additional cost to consider as it should ONLY EVER be administered by a veterinarian (mostly, for the above mentioned reasons).
Older horses need the additional warmth
Older horses, particularly if they experience joint pain, or have muscle wastage, have less capability of self-regulating their warmth, and therefore need additional warmth from their own coat, without the added layers and weights of multiple rugs. If you do have to clip your older horse, ensure they stay warm and comfortable by considering lighter weight but warmer rug options and regularly checking how they are responding to the level of warmth applied.
