Clipping a very nervous horse

M

Meeko

Well-Known Member
Joined
20 February 2013
Messages
113
Location
Sunderland
Visit site
Hi all, just after some advice really, my mare has never been clipped and is very nervous of the clippers.

Over the past few weeks I have been working with her and the clippers, I done 3 days of just getting her used to the clippers them selves (not turned on). At first she was petrified but was no bother once used to them.

Last Saturday I turned them on, and after running around a little I got the clippers on her, first with my hand underneath them and then with the clippers actually touching her, (not actually clipping her), she was very unsure but at least let me touch her with them. I turned them off and tried to go near her again but she started freaking out, I eventually got them on her again and then left it at that.

My plan was to try her everyday but unfortunately I couldn't all of last week.

Sunday gone I turned them on again next to her and she was so scared. I can only get so close to her holding the clippers in one hand and stroking her body with my other hand. After 20mins she seemed alot more relaxed but still couldnt get that close to her.

I done the same with her last night but she was worse than Sunday. After 25mins she was still very scared.

I no its a time thing but am I doing the right thing in trying her with them.

I 'think' I need to get them on her rather than being so nice and pussy footing around her.

She is scared but I also think she plays on it alot.

Any advice appreciated, thanks :-)
 
What type of clippers are you using? Have you tried using cordless trimmers as a first step - we used Liveryman Elements for our difficult to clip horse and he accepted them quite easily. They are small, quiet and no scary cord dragging behind them.
 
You could acclimatise her using an electric toothbrush? (Strange but true!) Firstly just let her get used to the noise, next hold toothbrush against your chest and put your hand on horse - this way the vibration travels through your body. Work slowly with her until she is relaxed.
 
Is she nervous of new things and handling generally or is it just clippers? Do you know for certain she has never been clipped before or is it possible she has been clipped roughly and had a bad experience?
 
If i had something i knew was likely to flip , I would give some sedalin/domosedan for the first one or 2 clips. They don't know they're sedated, they just remember standing still and being calm to clip.
 
I used to clip a lot of nervous ones at my job. We had them cross tied which I think is easier as they can't spin and get themselves in a mess. I would stand with the clippers behind my back and turn them on and off for a few seconds, leaving them on longer depending on the reaction. Once they were happy with this I'd bring them in front of me so they could see them and do the same. Then I'd run the clippers over them, take them off turn them on again, just see what the reaction was, then I'd usually just go straight and start taking hair off. Only ever had one we had to sedate but she had serious issues with them, she'd definitely had an experience before.

Just be calm about it and don't fuss over them, I see people messing on being all softly softly with them and you're just making them more nervous.

Just another thought, if they move while you're clipping, move with them, don't turn them off until they stand still otherwise they learn if they move about you'll turn them off.
 
Last edited:
She is 7 but was only broken last summer and then left over the winter, I then bought her in April. She has never been clipped according to her last owner, but prior to that I dont no.
She can be a little nervous sometimes, but that depends on her mood, (she was petrified of a towel one day and then the next day I could put it on her with out her being bothered) Thats why im thinking sometimes with the clippers she is just taking the p

I do have some sedalin but wanted to try to avoid going down that path just yet.
 
keepitugly said:
Just be calm about it and don't fuss over them, I see people messing on being all softly softly with them and you're just making them more nervous.

Just another thought, if they move while you're clipping, move with them, don't turn them off until they stand still otherwise they learn if they move about you'll turn them off.
Click to expand...

Thats why Im thinking that im wasting my time doing what im doing on a night
 
Patterdale said:
If i had something i knew was likely to flip , I would give some sedalin/domosedan for the first one or 2 clips. They don't know they're sedated, they just remember standing still and being calm to clip.
Click to expand...

Same - I have clipped a nervous horse under sedation before. Much easier than having a fight. He needed full sedation from the vet the first couple of times, then Sedalin paste for the next two or three times, and was fine after.
 
I have a set of Wahl Stable Pro clippers for sale if you are interested. They are about 2/3 the size of normal clippers, so much much quieter as a result. They make more of a buzz than the awful clatter of normal clippers.
 
My mare is very scared of being clipped just cos she is silly. I spent the first year I had her for 4 weeks getting her used to clippers via various methods. All went well and on the day I used sedolin but it didn't work too well. We had a 2 hour fight in which me and the yard owner who was doing the clipping nearly got squashed. So last year I got her sedated by vet and she was done with no hassle in 45 mins. To me it was about doing what was less stressful for everyone involved. She is 19 now so I see no point in trying to get her use to clippers at her age!
 
Use a system of negative reinforcement and be particularly careful not to reinforce the nervous behaviour. Many people stop when the behaviour gets worse and worse, so you are reinforcing the stress behaviour. Just look for her stopping reacting very soon after you start, before you reach the stage of stressing, and that applies to your desensitising with the clippers away from her too.
Negative reinforcement is reinforcing when she STOPS doing something, so the instant she stands still for a millisecond, remove the clippers and switch them off. And again. And again, until she is stopping as soon as you get near her with them. Then you have cracked it!
 
JillA said:
Use a system of negative reinforcement and be particularly careful not to reinforce the nervous behaviour. Many people stop when the behaviour gets worse and worse, so you are reinforcing the stress behaviour. Just look for her stopping reacting very soon after you start, before you reach the stage of stressing, and that applies to your desensitising with the clippers away from her too.
Negative reinforcement is reinforcing when she STOPS doing something, so the instant she stands still for a millisecond, remove the clippers and switch them off. And again. And again, until she is stopping as soon as you get near her with them. Then you have cracked it!
Click to expand...

This is interesting advice. I've used this technique very succesfully with horses who are afraid of wormers, BUT I don't think it would work in this case, and here's why:

1) the OP said the horse was more scared once she turned off the clippers then switched them back on. This corresponds with other nervy horses I've seen. My horse is exactly the same, very nervy, and he is OK when the clippers have been on a while, but every time you switch them off it's like you're starting all over again (and in fact my friend got very vbadly injured, clipping him and assuming he was ok, but actually because she switched them off to clean them, then back on again, he kicked her literally off her feet - it was awful and she couldn't walk for a week).
2) Clipping takes ages, and you want to keep it as short a time as possible, within reason, so that it's not some massive ordeal for your horse. Using negative reinforcement in this way you've got a problem. It works with worming cos you can get them used to the wormer being in their mouths, then it's just literally one second of actual worming and it's over. But if you try and negatively reinforce the standing still behaviour it'll take you ages - not just the time it takes to clip, but also lots and lots of switching on and off (which is what she finds stressful anyway). Of course, if it's going to make everything less stressful, then taking time is a good thing!! But on the other hand, given that a basic bib clip is going to take you anyway 45mins-1hour wiht a nervous horse, if you end up having to increase that by 3 to allow for all the extra time of switching on and off (which may make everything worse), then sufddenly you've turned this into a massive half day issue - I know my nervy horse wouldn't be caught for a week.

How about positive reinforcement? How does she respond to food and praise? I made sure that I was at my horses' head all the time because I know I'm the person he trusts the most, had plenty of treats etc. I know what you mean about not pandering to bad behaviour, but you do have to balance it with their genuine fear. If you can do some clicker training first, all the better :-).

However, given that she does sound really quite stressy about it, I would have thought just to make your life easier, why not just sedalin her. Sedalin isn't a full sedative anyway, so it should still make it slightly easier for next time, and will just make things less stressful for you both. Then just keep working on it until next time - maybe one minute of clipper noise per day before her feed or something, gradually bringing them closer to her - something like that. Also standing her next to any others being clipped nearby, that sort of thing.

Whatever you decide, do be careful! Good luck.
 
Morgan123 said:
1) the OP said the horse was more scared once she turned off the clippers then switched them back on.
Click to expand...

It can be the fact that either the timing wasn't precise enough and the horse perceived the turning them off as reinforcing the previous nervous behaviour, and/or that the learning wasn't sufficiently confirmed, so that the handler went in too quickly with the clippers after the break. It has always worked fine for mine, especially after using the negative reinforcement technique in the desensitising process. Works well for getting used to hosepipes too.
 
How could I have gone in too quickly with the clippers if they were all ready on her, turned off and then once turned back on she freaked out like we were back to the start.

I feel the problem with her is the initial turning on of them, we seem to get some where, turn them off, turn on again and back to square one
 
what worked for mine ......... Day 1. turn clippers on - leave them away from horse in tack room - make feed up and feed horse - Day 2. turn clippers on and have them behind back whilst feed horse Day 3. have clippers on in hand whilst feeding horse Day 4. put clippers on horse with other hand underneath and day 5. put clippers on horse itself. I used very quiet cordless clippers which I think helped as well. The key is the positive association between food and clippers being on - from his first clip he quite enjoyed being clipped (apart from near his ears).

The other option is to sedate - apparently there is a sedative which is put under the tongue which is much stronger than sedalin - maybe worth a go. Friends of mine tried sedalin with their nervy horse and it didn't make any difference
 
Just a note about sedalin. I think you need to judge whether to give it before you start. As if the horse is wound up at the start of clipping I find trying to give it then does nothing at all as its not a proper sedation so cannot then counteract their anxiety.
 
Last edited:
I have a horse who is impossible to clip when either tied up or held. I tried all the softly softly approaches of holding clippers and slowly getting them closer, then trying with them turned on, on my hands and finally on her and if anything all that made things worse and each time I had to go back to step 1. Finally I decided to just try clipping her loose in her stable - just me and her. Acted really businesslike, walked straight up to her, turned the clippers on and started clipping, ignoring her jumping about and just moving with her whenever she moved (wish I had cordless clippers). She still jumps when the clippers are turned on but now she stands in a corner and lets me clip her - obviously not particularly happy about it as it can still be a problem when I need to move her round so that i can get the other side done.
 
SallyBatty said:
I have a horse who is impossible to clip when either tied up or held. I tried all the softly softly approaches of holding clippers and slowly getting them closer, then trying with them turned on, on my hands and finally on her and if anything all that made things worse and each time I had to go back to step 1. Finally I decided to just try clipping her loose in her stable - just me and her. Acted really businesslike, walked straight up to her, turned the clippers on and started clipping, ignoring her jumping about and just moving with her whenever she moved (wish I had cordless clippers). She still jumps when the clippers are turned on but now she stands in a corner and lets me clip her - obviously not particularly happy about it as it can still be a problem when I need to move her round so that i can get the other side done.
Click to expand...


Sounds alot like my mare
 
I've had my mare for over 10 years now. First time she was clipped I got totally flattened - I was holding, very experienced friend was clipping. Tried to de-sensitize her (put her in box next to clipping box so she could hear/see other others being clipped, started with small, quiet trimmers) but nothing worked so she was sedated by the vet the next time - and for the next couple of years as it seemed the best, least stressful way for both her and me. However I persevered and now can clip her with a small dose of sedalin - but I always give this at least an hour before I start to clip so she's nice and dopey first. I also clip her outside as she seems less bothered in the open air than in a confined space and I try not to tie her up, she's on a long lead rope so I can follow her round if she tries to walk off. She still doesn't like the noise but she's manageable. At least I can use the tiny trimmers to do her face and whiskers in between clips if necessary. I also have very quiet clippers (Heiniger Progress), not cordless but it's the noise that's the problem not the cord.
Good luck!
 
Dome sedan gel is what you need rather than Sedalin! It's the same ( I'm told) as the sedation that the vet injects.it is, therefore, much cheaper!as you are not paying for a vet visit. However, although it is available to buy from the vets without prescription, some vets, will not sell it for the purpose of clipping; saying that they need to come out and monitor heart rate. If you say that it is for shoeing however you should be able to get it- although they might try to sell you Sedalin first!!! Think some vets are easier to buy if from than others.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top