Clipping difficult horses

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riaseed007

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hi
I'm new to this so bare with me!

Tried to clip my horse yesterday and I managed to do a bib and half his face ok but he is horrendously tickly and he hates getting brushed let alone clipped so when I started doing under his belly (with twitch) he lashed out with both his back legs and managed to kick both of my legs on opposite sides and sent me flying
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I managed a hunter clip last time with sedalin and twitch but still kicked me a couple of times! I'm losing confidence in clipping and I don't think I could face trying again.

Does anyone have any ideas? I think I'm going to try to get the vet out to sedate him properly but would this really knock him out enough to stop any kicking?

He needs a hunter clip as soon as poss as he is a very hairy beastie even though he still managed to win BSJA today (partially redeemed himself!)

Thanks,
Ria
 
hi! and wecome! *waves*
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in my experiance with sedation (with an extremly nervous horse) once he was sedated u could do anything with him. but iv only ever had 2 have the one sedated so i dont now how others react!
 
My pony is scared of the clippers so we have to sedate him. It depends on the horse, Boomer gets so stressed out that we can manage to do a chaser but any more and hes on his hind legs, but with my friends pony they sedate him and he stands like an angel. I'd say give it a go you've got nothing to loose.
 
hmmmm had sedated mine for clipping but he would rather collapse than give in to the drug even tho his eyes were nearly closed and his willy let loose (yes its a good sign haha) but as soon as the clippers were on, no go. weve given up. good luck.
 
I had my horse sedated last week. He's terrified of being clipped and it did work but he got extremely sweaty - his face was so sweaty I couldn't clip it! And the time he was out for - about an hour - wasn't long enough for me to do a perfect job, so I've had to buy some hand-operated clippers to tidy up round the edges!

If he's that bad I would get him sedated though.
 
Please be careful. Last year my mare was sedated by the vet to be clipped by the lady who runs the yard where I keep her. Marnie lashed out and caught the lady by the eye socket, resulting in 2 weeks in hospital, major surgery and 5 titanium plates rebuilding her eye socket. Luckily she has recovered really well, and you can't see any scarring. Unfortunately, sedated horses don't really know what they are doing, people think that because they are sedated they will not move but they still have incredibly quick reflex actions which is what happened here.

Didn't mean to go on, it was just a horrendous time and I would hate someone to have to go through what YO did!
 
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I've had to buy some hand-operated clippers to tidy up round the edges!

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i also brought some of these for the 1 i had 2 have sedated but i tried to do a whole clip with them so i didnt have 2 have him sedated. i agree they are very good for tidying up the edges but i wouldnt recomend them fo a whole clip they are total murder on your wrists!
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are you an experienced clipper?? might be worth having someone who's experienced in clipping difficult horses to have a go, what area are you in??
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I'm not a very experienced clipper at all so I'm going to try and get this lady that loves my horse to come and do him, but getting the vet out at the same time time might be tricky!

Last time she clipped him she was very heavily pregnant and I was terrified he was going to kick her but he didn't although I think he has gotten worse to clip since then. She said she'd have jumped on him to finish it if she wasn't away to give birth!
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lol

I'm in Aberdeenshire. I did find it quite difficult to get someone to clip difficult horses
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Hi ria!(it's emma!)
We found maddie was terrible when we first did her clip-only managed a small strip down her neck.
The vet knocked maddie out to do her and she has improved ever since then...managed to full clip with no sedation the other week and she stood half asleep.
Hope you finda solution soon, and well done with the bsja!
 
I've recently taken on a rescued mare who has such a thick coat she sweats for Britain just standing still in her stable. She desperately needs a low trace clip but she came to me with severe ragwort poisoning and has had to have several invasive veterinary procedures, which all began with clipping hair off her neck! So she is EXTREMELY suspicious of any attempts to cut any hair. I'm also wary of sedating her as her liver would struggle to cope with it. So, I've ordered the Michael Peace DVD on clipping phobic horses from BHS. Not arrived yet as it was sold out! You could try that? I think he advises to take the horse into a safe enclosed area on a long line. Encourage the horse to trot round you and then turn the clippers on (need battery ones I guess). You only turn them OFF when the horse stops to look at you. Then you keep building on that. No idea on the details but will let you know if you can wait another few days?
 
Use a cattle crush (only kidding), Seriously, We had some major issues when we started to clip Jessie. She just wouldn't have any of it, and was leaning into the person as they started to clip to drive them away and lashed out a couple of times through fear (they were using a big old clunky set of Lister Lazers), so I went and got a set of quiet people trimmers from Argos and gave my daughter the task as there is a lot of trust there.
The trimmers didn't last long, but they were a lot less threatening than the big mains set and after a bit of messing around near her without actually removing hair, she started to clip her successfully. It can be done with a bit of patience !

I've since found a supplier of trimmers more up to the job and just as quiet. Just make sure you oil them regularly as you work if you decide to have a go !

She is fine now and we can use any on her - we have even used her in clipping demos
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Sedate him. Get the vet to use a sedative such as domosedan (sp), with an analgesic, and he won't move a muscle, and you'll have a 40 minute window of immobile horse. I do the head and neck first and then the underneath and tops of legs, then the tickly bits and then finish up with the bits the horse doesn't mind so much, the top of the body.
An ACP based sedative, for example Sedalin, will not really dope a horse, they can jump themselves out of it, whereas the stronger drugs that can only be given by a vet work.
I was clipping a difficult horse years ago when only ACP was generally available. This horse hated being clipped, but he was a woolly crittur so I had to. The vet gave him ACP and waited until it took effect. I started to clip, he panicked himself out of it and jumped on top of the straw bales stacked six high in the barn.............
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[ QUOTE ]
Sedate him. Get the vet to use a sedative such as domosedan (sp), with an analgesic, and he won't move a muscle, and you'll have a 40 minute window of immobile horse. I do the head and neck first and then the underneath and tops of legs, then the tickly bits and then finish up with the bits the horse doesn't mind so much, the top of the body.
An ACP based sedative, for example Sedalin, will not really dope a horse, they can jump themselves out of it, whereas the stronger drugs that can only be given by a vet work.
I was clipping a difficult horse years ago when only ACP was generally available. This horse hated being clipped, but he was a woolly crittur so I had to. The vet gave him ACP and waited until it took effect. I started to clip, he panicked himself out of it and jumped on top of the straw bales stacked six high in the barn.............
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We used sedalin on Jessie also originally when first trying to clip her and it had no effect at all even on the higher recommended dose. When she had some Xrays on her front legs a few years ago, the vet used a drug similar to Domosedan to keep her still.

I agree its 100% affective, but its such an expensive solution every time you need to clip, like breaking a horse to be ridden, or to learn to deal with plastic bags or being shod, you need to get the horse to realise that the clippers don't represent danger every time they are turned on.
 
thanks for the advice folks!

The problem is he's not scared of them at all, he'll let me do his face and neck all day but its when I go anywhere near his tickly bits he goes mental so I think I'll deffo have to try to get the vet out and see how that goes. Sedalin and twitches are useless on him. How much does the vet coming out to sedate cost roughly?
 
With call out, anything up to and beyond £100 (ish) a pop depending on the tarrif they set as they have to hang around, give the antidote etc etc

Think I paid about £180 for call out, sedation and two xrays.
 
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