ebooks Horse Clipping Tips

ebooks Horse Clipping Tips

Table of Contents In Horse Clipping Tips, A HA Professional Horsewoman Margo Lea Ball shares tips, tricks and her step-by-step process for clipping a wooly horse. Part 1: The Ears Page 2 Part 2: The Face Page 4 Part 3: Solid-Color Legs Page 6 Part 4: White Legs Page 8 AQHA Professional Horsewoman MARGO LEA BALL has been training and showing American Quarter Horses for more than 40 years, with several halter world champions and performance Superiors to her credit. She has produced training DVDs on showmanship and grooming. An AQHA judge for more than 30 years, Margo holds cards with several organizations. Margo and her brothers, Tom and Wayne, own and operate Ball s Quarter Horses and Stallion Station in their native Fort Collins, Colorado. 1

Part 1: The Ears FFor a lot of people, coming into show season off the winter months means you have to deal with a thicker coat when you clip your horse for those first shows. As a judge, I see a lot of poor clipping jobs on horses with heavier coats that have lines that clearly show where the clipping begins. But I ve show-clipped a lot of horses with thicker coats, and you can make them look as neatly clipped as any horse with a summer coat. I ll show you how with this mare. It s early in the year, and she hasn t been kept in a heated barn; we re going to clip her for the first time this show season. We ll start with her ears. A lot of horses are sensitive about their ears, and it can be due to a number of reasons. For one, some people handle their horses ears too roughly; you just can t do that. People also often use clipper blades that are not sharp, which can pull the hair instead of cutting it. Before you begin, make sure your blades are sharp and clean. And people will let the blades get too hot to be close to sensitive ears. They usually clip the muzzle and the horse s face and then go to the ears, but that s a lot of clipping, and the blades will get hot. That s why I do the ears first. All of those activities make the horse uncomfortable, and horses begin to associate the clipping with that. But if you think about the horse, you can alleviate a lot of that discomfort. 1. Here s what I use to clip ears early in the season: Regular clippers with size Nos. 10 and 40 blades, a smaller set of clippers for inside the ear and a product to lubricate your blades. I use Oster Kool Lube because it also cools your blades if they get hot. 2. A very fuzzy ear. In the cool months, when horses are hairy, you can t clip the same as you do in the summer. You don t want to clip too closely because the hair is too long; instead, you want to think about blending the hair. 3. When I start, I ll turn the clippers on and let the mare get used to the noise a little first. As you handle the ear, think of supporting the ear with your hand; don t grab it. 4. I start with a No. 10, which is the largest blade available. When a horse is coming off the winter with a thicker hair coat, you want to start with the larger blades you ll be able to blend the hair better. The key is to make long, sweeping cuts and use a real soft touch. You start with just getting off the extra hair and 2

trimming from the tip around the outside of the ear. 5. Take care of the longer fuzzy hairs on the back of the ear, too. Stay with your No. 10 blades, and turn your clippers over so you clip with the hair and blend it. I ll come back later with a smaller blade to touch it up. 8. When I want to get the inside corner, I use my smaller clippers. They are equivalent to No. 40 blades. They are a lot easier to use there. These smaller clippers are especially handy for clipping foals or yearlings because their ears are smaller. 6. Before I clip the inside of the ear, I ll take some old pantyhose, such as a knee-high, and gently put that in her ear. It keeps the hair from falling in the ear and helps with the noise. It makes it more comfortable for the horse. 9. After you get the hair out of the inside of the ear, then touch up a little bit around the outside edge with the No. 40 blades. The key here is a light touch and a lot of blending turn your clippers over to clip. 7. For the inside of the ears, now I put the No. 40 blades on. Again, you want to support the ear with your hand and make long, smooth strokes with the clippers. To get the hair inside, support the ear and gently turn it inside out. Don t grab. 10. The ears are done. Now we can move on to clipping the rest of her face. 3

Part 2: The Face II ve clipped a lot of horses with thicker coats, and you can make them look as neat as a horse clipped in midsummer. You just have to change your technique a little. It s early in the year and this mare hasn t been kept in a heated barn, but she needs to be clipped for her first show of the season. In Part 1, I showed you how I d clip her winter-woolly ears; in Part 2, we ll clip her face and muzzle. Again, make sure your blades are sharp and clean before you begin. I also keep Oster Kool Lube on hand to oil and cool the blades when necessary. Start with a clean horse, too! Clean hair cuts easier and will keep your blades sharper longer. 1.Start on the face with a No. 15 blade. Coming off of winter, if you use a smaller blade, you ll get a definite clip mark in that thicker hair coat. In the summer, I d probably use a No. 30 blade here. I first get rid of these longer whiskers along the muzzle. 2. Still using the No. 15 blade, I clip any long, straggly hairs along the face, chin and throatlatch. 3. Again, the key to clipping a thicker hair coat is to blend the hair. Turn your clippers over and clip with the hair to blend it. Make long, sweeping cuts and use a real soft touch. I also use a lightweight clipper; it s easier on my hand and arm, especially if I have more than one horse to clip. 4. Then I work my way up the side of the face, still with the No. 15 blade, blending. When you clip the face (other than the muzzle) for the very first time in the spring, you should do it a couple of days ahead of when you plan to show. With that first clip, no matter how well you blend, sometimes you ll see a slight change in the color of the hair coat. But in a couple of days, the hair will grow out enough to eliminate that. 4

5. To clip any white on the face, I still use the No. 15 blade. 8. You can make the eye look a little bigger by clipping with a No. 40 blade all around the eye. Then when you add your finishing touches such as baby oil before showing, the skin around the eye will show up blacker, and that will open up the eye. 6. I go to a No. 40 blade to clip the muzzle hairs. Be sure to get all the little hairs inside the nose. And then I move up the face to touch up a little; as you do that, be careful to turn your clippers over and blend the hair or you ll end up with a clip line. 9. Some people don t believe in it, but my horse gets a treat after I m done clipping. If she has been good and patient, then I give her a little treat. That s the reward. 7. I use the No. 40 blade around the eyes, too, clipping all the long hairs. It s a slow and careful process here. 5

Part 3: Solid- Color Legs OOne of the most difficult places to clip your horse cleanly, especially with a thick winter coat, is your horse s legs. As a judge, I see a lot of horses in the arena clipped so they look like they are wearing anklets, with a noticeable clip-line ring around their fetlocks or cannon bones, or clipped so that they have a noticeable clip line up the back of the leg. It can be distracting to me, away from what I m looking for in the horse s conformation. In this book so far, I ve covered how to clip a horse s woolly ears and face. In Part 3, I ll show you how to clip thick hair on solid-colored legs. Again, the trick is to blend the hair. Remember, start with sharp, clean blades, and keep a good blade lubricant on hand. When you get clipper marks that look like little crop lines in your horse s hair, it s typically because your horse s hair is dirty or your blades are dull: Both will cause the clippers not to cut cleanly. When the hair is dirty, blades also tend to pull the hair instead of clipping cleanly. Dirty hair also will dull your blades faster. Depending on how thick the horse s coat is, I start with a No. 10 or No. 15 blade. This mare s coat is not as thick, and she s fairly fine-coated, so I ll start with a No. 15. You might not have a variety of blades for your clippers, but you can get adjustable clippers that will accomplish the same thing. You can always start with a larger blade and then work your way down to a finer blade, blending as you go, but you can t start too fine and take it back. It s better to start with too large a blade than too small. As you get farther into the season and your horse s coat thins out, keep moving up on the number size of blade you use to maintain your horse s clipping jobs. 1. I m going to start clear up here above the back of the knee, turn my clippers over and work my way down the leg. You want to get rid of all those long fuzzy hairs that you have more of in the winter. The secret to clipping on the legs is the same as when we worked with the face and the ears: Blend the hair, clipping with light, long strokes. 2. Some horses have a small ergot, and you can work it off with your fingers. If you put some hoof conditioner on it first, it ll break off. If not, like hers, I just take it off with a set of hoof nippers, being careful not to get too close to her skin. 6

3. From the fetlock, you re going to come all the way up the front of the leg and up the back of the leg, again using long, smooth strokes to blend. I clip in this order: Start from above the back of the knee down, then from the coronet up, then blending up and down the leg because it s easier to blend the hair that way without clipping too much hair. I just work slowly, blending up and down the leg, front and back, around the tendons, etc. The blending all has to do with the angle you hold the clipper blade and your long, sweeping strokes. I ll be the first to say that it takes a little bit of practice. 5. When you compare her hair coat color above and below the knee, you can see that when a horse has a winter coat, there will be some variation in color with the clipped hair. That s why you need to clip at least four days out from when you want to show, so some hair has time to grow back. 6. Then I start clipping up on the fetlock from the coronet. When you get to this area, instead of holding your clipper like this on the left, hold it at the angle I use in the photo on the right. That angle (on the right) will allow you to blend the hair better. 4. Be sure that you clip all those little hairs around the chestnut. To groom the chestnut, I run a small rasp over it and then use a fine sanding block to make it smooth. 7. The leg on the right is what you don t want in the show ring a horse that looks like she s wearing anklets as compared to the blended hair on the leg at left. 7

Part 4: White Legs IIn this book so far, I ve covered how to clip the ears, face and solid-colored legs on a horse with a thicker winter coat to get ready for your first show of the season. In Part 4, I ll give you some tips on clipping white-haired legs. When I m judging, especially early in the show season, I see a lot of horses clipped so they have a noticeable clip line where the white hair stops. But you can blend that hair so there is no ugly, distracting clip line. Remember: Make sure that the hair is clean before you clip. It saves your clippers and you get a better cut. I would not clip a horse in performance halter as closely as one that only shows halter. In my opinion, performance halter horses should be presented at halter with the clipping and mane length they would have in their riding classes. 1. I start with a No. 10 blade on a thicker winter coat. You can always work your way down to a finer blade size, blending as you go, but you can t start too fine and take it back. It s better to start with too large a blade than too small. As they get their summer coat, you keep moving up to larger numbers (smaller sizes) on your blades. This horse has got a little bit more hair on his leg; the longer it is, the trickier it is to blend the hair. The key is to clip lightly with long, smooth strokes. I start high on the leg and go down the back of the leg, clipping the longer hairs, just as we did on the solid-colored legs in Part 3. I ll also take all the long hair off at the back of his fetlock and pastern. 2. Then I move to the front of the pastern, clipping up, starting at the coronet. You don t want a noticeable clip line where the white hair ends and the black hair begins. I clip the white hair pretty closely, but as I reach the black hair, I blend. I do that by angling the clippers away with just a slight twist up with my wrist as I reach the black hair. You want to clip the white hair close but not too closely. Personally, I don t like to clip the white legs so that it looks pink; the hair is there for protection. You clip close because it s easier to keep clean if you get a spot or a stain on the white. 8

3.Then I go back over the whole leg, front and back with a No. 15 blade. I turn the clippers over and get all those longer winter hairs with long, light strokes. I am careful to blend the hair where it goes from white to black. I focus on the front because any clip line would be more noticeable there. 4. Where the hair is blended, it should feel pretty even, just a gradual thickening of the hair as you run your hand from the pastern up the fetlock and onto the leg. 5. I m done clipping this foot. I clip carefully around any small scars, like this. Scars are more noticeable in short, white hair. Before I go into the show ring, I ll use a little touch-up spray to make that scar less noticeable in the shorter hair. 6. Brush any hair off; use your hand or a rag to cover the coronet, and apply the touch-up spray, such as Shapley s; spray lightly. You can go back with a towel and blend it better into the hair. If you do get some on the hoof or your hands, a little alcohol will take it right off. Be sure to do this before you put on any hoof polish. 7. Here s what NOT to do: Start out with a smaller No. 15 or No. 30 blade; clip too closely; clip closely all the way up to the dark hair and not angle your blade at all to blend the hair, so it leaves a clip line. It doesn t look professional. When you clip this closely, it leaves the skin with little or no hair protection, and you see every little nick in the skin. 9