Hairy Situation

it’s THAT time of year again, clipping season.? Not that I can complain.? I don’t clip my own horse anymore.? I used to, but my allergies hit me so hard that I now pay someone else and stay as far away as possible.? (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.) I feel I should send the clipping bill to my health insurance, but I rather doubt they?d honor it. Windy is totally ho-hum about clipping, so I don’t need to be there to hold her. I’ve become superstitious about clipping.? The first three winters I had Windy, something nasty (not related to riding) happened to her, or me, or both, and it was always right after a full clip.? I ended up hand-walking a young clipped horse throughout each winter, once with my arm in a sling and once with a bad back.? Not fun.? Several falls ago, I mentioned this to Jess, my trainer, and she suggested a trace clip rather than a full clip.? it’s worked like a charm, and We’ve had good winters every since.? Well, maybe I have a selective memory and I’m disregarding my broken leg last year, but that happened in March and I had Jess to ride Windy, who thus made more progress in her training than if I’d been aboard. Windy looks great in a trace clip ? sHe’s a seal brown, almost black, but she doesn’t turn mousey when sHe’s clipped.? She looks like she has racing stripes.? Everyone in the barn was looking particularly furry a couple weeks ago, so we went ahead and did the trace clip.? We may have been pushing the season, although with the 80 degrees we had last week, it was probably a good idea.? But, I think we’ll be doing a second clip sooner rather than later, because I can barely see the lines already.? Here’s a shot from last Sunday ? we were doing a few passage steps ? and the clip isn?t showing up in the bright sunshine.

undefined

What did you think of this article?

Thank you for your feedback!