After cleaning the blades by dipping them in alcohol, place oil in the designated holes for the body clipper motor and along the base of the clipper blade to reduce friction. Use a towel to wipe off excess oil to help reduce any skin irritation for your horse.
Eliminating Lines
Lines can ruin an otherwise good clip. They can be caused by inconsistent pressure, a dirty horse, use of different clippers that have varying clipper blade lengths, not going directly against the growth of the hair and dull blades.
You can get rid of lines by re-clipping the area, making sure to go against the direction of hair growth. If you have a hard line to get rid of, try crisscrossing your clipping over this line (like creating the letter "X") then your final swipe goes directly against the hair growth. Wipe the line down with a damp towel.
Tips for Cleaning Your Horse
If it is too cold to bathe your horse, curry him very well to bring all excess dirt and dander to the surface. Take a warm towel and wipe off the excess dirt. Spot clean very dirty areas with warm water. Use a horse vacuum to remove excess dirt close to the base of the hair.
The dirtiest areas we do not think of are the top of the horse's rump and the horse's forehead. These areas usually will develop thicker dander and are harder to clip.
Watch Your Horse's Behavior
- Be patient. Body clipping and trimming can be stressful for your horse. Most do not like the sound and are ticklish. This is especially true for a horse who has never been clipped before.
- Give your horse a (bathroom) break. Sometimes while clipping an hour can pass quickly and your horse may be moving around because he needs to go to relieve himself and not due to bad behavior.
- If your horse is sensitive on the legs you may have to clip the legs in sections. Clip a portion of the body, move to the legs, repeat.
- Find the good spot. There's probably a spot your horse loves to be clipped on. Finding this spot may come in handy later if your horse gets restless. You can clip on this spot to soothe and relax him.
- A horse usually will raise his head or twitch his tail in protest to clipping a certain spot before he becomes more aggressive. Be careful and stay alert especially near the front legs, which a horse can strike forward, or the back legs where he can kick out.
- Horses are most ticklish on the belly near the stifle, by the elbows, on the legs, on the inside of the back legs and on the ears and surrounding area. As you work on these areas, be especially careful as a horse may spook or even kick out.
When to Clip
- Clip your horse to avoid excess sweating, which may be during the winter, spring and fall.
- If you are not planning to show, you can give your horse a bib clip or high or low trace clip instead of a full body clip.
- For winter schooling shows, most horses can use a hunter clip. If your horse has very shaggy legs, you will need to do a full body clip or thin the hair on his legs.
- To prepare your horse for hunter competition for the regular show season, you probably will need to do a full body clip. Some horses shed out nicely while others take too much time and need to be clipped.
- Bays and palominos: these colors can be muted once clipped until about April when summer coats come in.
- During the winter months, there is a lot more static electricity. As you clip, you may shock your horse. To reduce static, wipe over freshly clipped areas with a warm damp towel, but be careful not to wet the hair too much or you can't continue clipping until it is completely dry.
Gretchen Canova Gabor has always had horses in her life. From a young age she was braiding at shows and picking up tips from show grooms. When she was 13, she rode Silver Star to the small pony championship at the then-AHSA Pony Finals. She has been involved with the Goucher College equestrian program since 1995, and served as the associate director from 1998-2002. She left to complete her undergraduate degree and begin a master's degree in elementary teaching and special education. She continues to help Goucher with showing and braiding.
