Clipping and not rugging

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emfen1305

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My cob is currently not being ridden due to lameness and should hopefully get the sign off on Wednesday to come back into some sort of work. He is usually fully clipped all year with covercote blades and I would have usually done him earlier than this but the weather has been all over the place so I’ve left him. He is now a woolly mammoth and very itchy but also on the fatter side than I would like. I know if you clip you should replace with a rug but it’s not supposed to drop to below 10 at night all week and the heaviest he’s been in fully clipped (fine blades) is a 100g when it was snowing. Would it be totally criminal to clip with the covercotes and then leave him unrugged? He’s out in the day from 7-4 and in at night..I don’t want to overrug but he hates being hairy!
 
There is no hard and fast rule that you must rug once the horse clipped. Rug according to the weather just as you would in summer.
 
Tiddlypom said:
What are covercote blades? I presume that they are coarse blades?

There’s nothing wrong with fully clipping a hairy horse that’s not in work as long as you do rug as necessary in bad weather.
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They leave 5mm of hair, it’s a bit like a summer coat so he still has a covering. Usually I clip with my fine blades and rug in the winter but it seems pointless until I know what he can do.
 
As he is in overnight I would clip and maybe put a very light rug on when he comes in for the first week just to ensure his back doesn't get too cold, during the day he will be fine as he can move around but if it is chucking it down when you put him out then pop a rug on.
None of mine are rugged yet, they are out 24/7 and have barely grown any coat just the first signs this week, they have shown no sigh of being cold but are moving about more and more inclined to have a burst of energy blasting about.
The other, possibly more sensible option would be to leave a small blanket on him, very high blanket clip, which may allow him to be unrugged far longer and less messing about each day with rugs later on if he is not in work.
 
Mine is also off work and waiting a further vet visit to confirm what she can and can't do. Also fat and hairy.
I've given her a trace clip and she's naked.
She went through last winter the same (althpugh was sound and in work then!) and was only rugged a handful of times in very wet and windy weather.
Maybe do a trace or blanket clip to start to give him a bit of relief if he's itchy, he will presumably have some rehab before being back in more work and perhaps then needing more hair off as he does more?
 
I guess you could do a blanket clip and use a no fill if it's raining that day.
It depends how much shelter you have.

Mine is naked with a weird part Irish clip.
 
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A 5mm clip sounds very sensible, I think that many leisure horses in light work would be better with that length than clipped very short with fine blades.

An Irish clip is my go-to for horses in no or light work (stifle to TMJ area, leaving a half head).
 
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I'm very tough on mine and she happily lives out fully clipped with normal blades. But with all this rain she would have been rugged, as it happens shes fat and hairy and on holiday. Cold is fine but persistent rain is another thing. So I'd clip but have a no fill for days its pouring down.
 
I would do as suggested and take off the belly and neck fully and leave the bum hair natural and not rug, I have a cob that gets quite warm easily and she used to get a franken clip of chaser/blanket and left out now we hunt it all comes off but even in the worst weather she will not be in more than 100g rug but that's also living out on with ad lib hay too in the worst of the winter.
 
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Love the covercote blades! I would have done as you have, especially as he’s coming in and night, you can always dry him and off and rug then if you need to.
 
Leo Walker said:
I'm very tough on mine and she happily lives out fully clipped with normal blades. But with all this rain she would have been rugged, as it happens shes fat and hairy and on holiday. Cold is fine but persistent rain is another thing. So I'd clip but have a no fill for days its pouring down.
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This.

Mine at the moment is blanket clipped and not rugged.

Next clip will probably be a full clip and will be rugged when it's raining with either a no fill or if torrential and cold a 100g other wise it's wet cold rug against skin.

He won't have anything thicker on unless it's - 1 or below and that's just a liner in his 100g.
 
I clip my haffie every year and she is out 24/7 with no rugs. I don't see it as any different from a full clip with a rug over their back - back in the days before neck attachments etc. I have just given her a blanket clip today as it is so warm and she is so fluffy, but the other clips will be from her stifles to behind her ears, so basically tummy, chest and under-neck. She has a field shelter with a full bed in it and she does very well on this regime. If it gets really cold I just up her hay rations.
 
My cob very rarely gets ridden these days, but I tend to take her neck and belly off and leave her naked as otherwise she overheats. She comes in at night over winter but otherwise out 24/7
 
Am following this with interest as have two very hairy cobs; yesterday on a hack they came home absolutely dripping! They were sweating up just standing-in and tacked up!

So am thinking to clip off at least a "bib-and-belly" jobbie. They're out 24/7 and just hate being in for any length of time, and don't want to rug youngster just yet, so a full clip and turnout rug not really an option I'd want to go for at the moment.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
I am struggling to envisage this clip!!

Can anyone post a picture of this I wonder??

Thanks.
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Excuse the somewhat dozy and scruffy model, but this is it. It keeps the bum warm, but takes off the areas that get most sweaty in light work. She has PSSM, so her top line and quarters need to be kept warm. She lives out.
390C94DA-F11B-4E94-A0D8-76853225561D.jpeg
 
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With the photo above, if you visualize that horse with the chest and neck on, that's our clip.
And probably like ours the clipped section doesn't get wet if it rains.
 
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