Is it time to clip?
I threw caution to the wind last year and allowed dear Obi to grow a big, hairy winter coat. He’d never really had one before, and part of me wanted to see what he looked like. I envisioned a soft red bear whose clean, odor-free fur waved in the wind like Kansas wheat fields. Yeah, well, each time we rode we got the overheated, sweat-drenched beast who smelled like a high school football team. Neither of us was particularly happy with the Bigfoot arrangement, so the clippers came out.
My friend Tonya has clipped plenty of horses, having lived in Florida, so she set out on a gradual fur-removal program. The idea being that we would start with the most obvious sweat-prone areas and work our way into less-obvious areas, all depending on how much sweat the beast continued to produce.
So the first foray was a pony clip, removing the hair under the neck, on the chest, and just behind the elbows. I liked the idea of Obi still having protection from the elements, but he was still overheating when we rode, and was clearly uncomfortable.
The clippers came out again, with a new set of blades. I made the mistake of not getting Obi particularly clean before the clipping, and that is a sure way to go through more blades and money than you need to. If you plan to clip your horse, pick a warm fall weekend and bathe him the day before.
The new haircut extended the pony clip into a trace clip. There’s the low trace, which removes the belly hair and a band around the upper legs. Then there’s the high trace, which extends up the belly, almost to the hip. I would say Obi’s haircut was a modified trace, which is basically a thick racing stripe. The arrangement worked, although I will warn you that sorrels are no longer sorrel when their hair is shaved. The resulting color is a dirty pink, which is downright garish against the natural red coat.
But, while Obi looked like a station wagon from the 1950s, we rode without the overheating and sweat and inordinate cool-down time. And while Obi wore a light blanket at night in his stall, he didn't need to wear full-on body armor. We do, though, increase his blankets when the temperatures dictate (see my post on blanketing guidelines). Long story short, if you clip, you blanket.
If Obi had continued to be a sweaty mess, we would have moved on to a blanket clip, which removes the hair everywhere a turnout blanket covers, leaving the legs and most of the neck hair for some protection.
The most drastic measure is the full-body clip, which you’ll see a lot in stabled horses who work indoors. You’ll also see it when horses are hauled from north to south in the winter. Anyway, if your horse is clipped and you’ve got cold weather, you absolutely have to compensate with warm clothes for your horse – including backup blankets.
If your horse is on a reduced exercise plan and if he cools down reasonably well, I wouldn’t bother clipping. But if winter hair is getting between you and a decent ride, or if it is causing your horse to overheat, then I would consider a clip and any needed blankets. By de-hassling your routine you're more likely to get out and have some fun with your horse, and that's pretty much what it's all about, no?
Next: Warming up winter muscles
Obi & me