Clipping - I need your help!

HannaBones

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Hi everyone!

I'm a Vet student and as part of my course I have to do a research project...

So, I'm looking into the use of sedatives, calmers, twitches etc. when your horse is clipped.

It would be brilliant if everyone could just post a quick reply with the following info on your horse(s):
Age
Sex
Breed
Height
And then just a few words on what products you use, if any, and if you have used more than one product, which one was more effective for you and your horse!

Thanks so much!!

xxx
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Hi,

I have one mare that is a beast to clip!!

Age- 12 years
Mare
15hh
Connemara x

Have tried sedalin, twitching, absolutely no effect. Vet now comes out and sedates her otherwise she is a nightmare.
 
Ive clipped literally hundreds of horses that have to bee sedated for clipping, I always make sure the attending vet uses Domosedan and Torbagesic, anything less powerful and I wont do it, a lot of really bad ones can fight sedalin and sedivet.
I dont care whether the vet likes me telling them what to do or not, but in the end its me that will get kicked in the head if they jump out of it half way through.
 
I clipped several on the yard last year, mine was typical:
12 years, mare, cob x wb, 15hh, no sedation needed.
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And one I had on livery:
16 years, mare, irish hunter type, 16hh, Twitch/acp useless. Sedated by vet and still jumpy. Also cotton wool in ears helped. Got a bit sweaty with the sedation so had to clip quickly.
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a combination of domo, torb and acp works best. sedevet makes them sweat. even with torb. torb tends to keep the feet on the floor! sedalin is ok for the tickly fidgity ones tht are not scared.top ups dont tend to work. if bad to clip hit with full dose for height and kgs, make sure you wait 5 to 10 mins til fully out as adrenaline tnds to override a lot of sedation. twithches might give you an extra 10 mins if you are lucky.
 
if clipping a difficult one under vet sedation i make sure the vet stays until i do head, elbows and stifles then if happy they can go, or top up if req (not as effective as proper dose from start). i also get owners to note amount of sedation and whether effective for the next clip incase an alteration to dose is req. vets should always advise that NO sedation is reliable and that the horse can overcome it on an adrenaline rush!! never EVER trust a doped or twitched horse!!! i clip for a living!! just wished they grew loads of hair all year.
 
part clips on vet sedated horses are not very good. if properly sedated you cant get lines straight as muscles and posture is all dopey and floppy. if req full sedation do a hunter clip and rug well. part clips on naughty horse are difficukt at best of times.
 
I have a 12 year old heavyweight cob mare, 16.2hh who is impossible to clip without sedation. I think the last time she was done was with torbogesic and domesedan (would that be right??).

Unfortunately, when sedated she kicked the person clipping her in the head, she had a two week stay in hospital and had to have her eye socket re-built. I won't even attempt to clip her now.

I have tried all the usual, desensitisation, twitching, sedalin etc.

Feel free to pm if you want any more info!
 
marnie a sorry bad experience. you could up the dose big time with vets reference. sedated horses are unreliable but not impossible if you know history and dosing history. at what point did horse freak? at what place? ie stifle elbow head? not many freak on the fat parts? did clipper have insuance? clippers pat tested? breaker on? 3 c insurance. use a fully insured person to clip this horse. sedation unreliable hence vets not liable!
 
She was dosed twice, the vet hung around for a bit and decided that she could have a top up as she was a bit twitchy. I wasn't there, but it was her hind leg being done, I think that Marnie must have hit her with her hock, she has such big feet that I think she would have been dead if it had been foot.

The clipper had liability insurance but not personal - my insurance didn't cover it because the clipper was doing it for money, if it was as a friend, she would have been. Amazingly we are still friends, and she forgave Marnie, not sure I would have, I couldn't look at Marnie for a couple of days, I felt so bad. I think that the clippers had a circuit breaker, but don't think they were pat tested.

Marnie is incredibly twitchy with her skin - the balck and white cob in my sig. I can only use rugs with a shiny lining, anything else seems to catch on her her hair and makes her twitch and sweat up - the first time I thought she was colicing as she even threw herself on the floor, not sure if that has anything to do with it.
 

Of course i'll help

My mare is fab to clip. Info as requested:

Age - 13 years
Sex - Mare
Breed - Pure bred arab
Height - 14.3

I don't use anything apart from i give her a hay net!!!
 
17.3hh,new forest x giraffe
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,24 yearsold, chestnut gelding - a right pain in the back side - got and impressive cow kick on him and will generally try to squash you up againsnt walls,doors etc has picked me up as well so always sedated for clipping - he is quite a lightweight when it come to sedative and it doesn't take much to put him out like a light . We did start off with the full dose for his height but it took him ages to come round and he was very wobbly on his feet when we were clipping so over the years have reduced it slightly . Not sure exactly what used but it was injectable. Will prob move to sedalin this year as he had an allergic reaction to the sedative he had when he was colicing (resp rate was soo fast you couldn't count it, sweat was running off him within minutes and he could stand up ) not sure whether it was the sedative or the fact he was quite a sick horse at the time but won't be taking that chance again
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hi everyone!

I'm a Vet student and as part of my course I have to do a research project...

So, I'm looking into the use of sedatives, calmers, twitches etc. when your horse is clipped.

It would be brilliant if everyone could just post a quick reply with the following info on your horse(s):
Age
Sex
Breed
Height
And then just a few words on what products you use, if any, and if you have used more than one product, which one was more effective for you and your horse!

Thanks so much!!

xxx
smile.gif
smile.gif
smile.gif


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THanks for all the replies so far!

It's good to hear from those of you with well behaved horses, the more people reply the better!

Also, to the people that clip for lots of horses, has anyone noticed that mares tend to be more troublesome than the boys??

Thanks again everyone
xx
 
1 Part bred arab mare-----hunter clip [clipped serveral times throughout her life]
3x pure bred arab mares------ high trace clips, ages 7, 9 and 14

no sedatives of any kind. I get someone to hold the horse and have a hay net within reach so the horse doesnt get hungry and then fidgety.
 
17 year old gelding
ID x TB
15.1hh
No sedation - he will stand there all day

21 year old mare
Unknown breed (Poss Arab x Meerkat)
13hh
Occas. needs twitching, but can normally do her without, just involves lots of dancing round the stable with her shaking like a leaf. Twitching is effective when I can actually get the twitch on, but will only leave it on for 5 mins at a time as she had a bad experience with a moron vet who left a twitch on for 45 mins.

17 year old
Mare
11.2hh
Welsh Mountain
No sedation
 
Age: 8
Sex: gelding
Breed: ISH (3/4 tb)
Height:16.2

easy to clip, stands like a donkey! no sedation required, dont even tie up!
 
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Also, to the people that clip for lots of horses, has anyone noticed that mares tend to be more troublesome than the boys??


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Not really - mine is a mare and stands like a rock. I clipped 2 other mares which stood really nicely. The one I had to get sedated was a mare but she's jumpy with everything - doesn't even like being groomed much.

In contrast, most of the geldings I clip are ticklish little monkeys, who leap about and dangle their hind legs around.
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Nothing to do with clipping but my young horse who is 2 can be twitched with just my hand holding his muzzle firm- completely chills him out!
 
Age: 16
Sex: Gelding
Breed: RID
Height: 17.3hh
Like a lamb to clip apart from right ear, i have to get him in head lock to do that
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Age: 5
Sex: gelding
Breed: RID
Height: 16.1hh
Hell on earth, he hated the noise and would attack you with his front feet. methos to correct; a very brave dad and twitch. Still a lot of pawing and the occasional tantrum but copeable

Age: 5
Sex; Mare
Breed: ISH
Height:16.1hh
An angel from day one, no need to even tie up

Age: 12
Sex: Mare
Breed: RID
Height; 15.1hh
Brilliant but will bite me when she gets bored and she has to have a15min break
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Not that I am easily maniupulated by her or anything

Age: 14
Sex: Mare
Breed; TBxWB
Height: 16.3hh
Was brilliant up until the age of 7 when we had to start getting heavy veterinary sedation. not sure what it was but always had to have massive dose, sedalin etc was useless as adrenalin faught it off. When she was 12 I thought I would try again after she had a break to have babies for a couple of years and I managed it with nothing and not tied up (never like headcollar pressure). not a full clip but a bra clip and she was great.
I could never twtich this horse either as she would go mental, a neck twitch worked well on her for other things other than clipping.

As far as mares being worse than geldings go, I have only ever found that a naughty mare is far more vicious than a naughty gelding when doing things like this and doesn't tend to give up, geldings tend to submit more easily. (only my opinion there, pretty sure there will be conflicting ones)
 
Age: 14
Sex: Gelding
Breed: IDxTB
Height: 17hh
Don't use anything. He's really good to do bar his head, so I just clip up to his jaw line and tidy up then. Use scissors on his beard or trimmers, which he's fine with. Can't clip his ears and TBH it's not worth sedating just for that, so he has hairy ears
 
Age - now 16 but bought at age 10
Sex - gelding
Breed - dutch warmblood
Height - 16.2hh

When I bought Ludo was told he wasn't great to clip and had to be sedated so the first clip had him fully sedated by vet. But decided that was going too expensive so for the next couple of years, twitched. He sweated so much we to had to clip over 2 or 3 days! On one occassion I had two people clip at the same time to get it done quickly! By accident I took the twitch off before girl clipping him was finished but Ludo was much calmer. Realised that the twitch was stressing him hence the sweating. Since then we've managed without anything except a 3rd person to feed treats whilst doing the most tickly bits (under the arms!). I think when I bought him he'd had a bad experience and since I've had him, I've only ever used the same person to clip and she's really pedantic about her clippers and makes sure they never get hot (she has 2 pairs). I believe, like travelling, it's down to good experiences.

Sorry that was a bit more than a few words!
 
12 yr old sec D gelding. Last year had trace clip initially, then hunter clip. This year will probably have hunter clip from the word go.

Hates the noise of the clippers being turned on, jumps at this but is ok to actually clip and will not kick or be stupid.

Will let you clip anywhere except his head (but is generally funny about his head although getting better), I twitched him to be able to do a tidy job of the top of his neck.

Can't be bothered with sedation, just leave his head (and legs) hairy (even though I'm a vet and could do it myself). Interestingly in contrast to another poster on here I find Domosedan is worst for sweating and prefer Sedivet for this reason, also they stand stiller with Sedivet rather than staggering.
 
Age: 8
Sex: Gelding
Height :15hh but v.strong!
Breed: Welsh x Cob

No sedation for any clipping but I twitch him to clip all his head off [as a precaution so he doesn't make any sudden movements, crucial around the eyes!]. He is hogged and legs trimmed, ears jaw etc once a month and is fine with it. He always has been since I got him at 4. Oh I love him!!
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18 year old, gelding,15hh, TB.

Absolutely fine to clip, falls asleep!

Sisters horse is another story!

8 year old, Dutch WB, 16hh, gelded (but rather late, and exhibits stallion like behaviour). He isn't scared of clippers just has attention span of gnat, and fidgets terribly, even with feed and haynet.

Tried Sedalin to no effect, so vet comes out to sedate, but said that he doesn't require that much only pony dose to sedate him. Only just gives enough sedation for full clip.
 
9 year old clyde x warmblood mare twitched to do top of neck and head

12 year old gelding pb arab sedated by vet and also twitch as sedilin doesn't touch him

8 year old welsh pony gelding stands to be clipped

13 year old polo pony mare sedilin works wonders with her

all others just stand to be clipped
 
Age - 10yr old
Sex - Gelding
Breed - Hanoverian x TB
Height -16.3hh

Good to do but can be nervous - somedays fine others needs twitch to do his head.

Age - 6yr old
Sex - Mare
Breed - Exmoor
Height - 12HH

Never moves to be clipped can do everywhere including head and in her ears!
 
sedevet plus torb and or acp is not as reliable. any horse that i have done doped with sedevet sweats within 10 mins. if i have to clip a nutter then i would have dorm torb and acp as best choice. hit with full dose at start.
 
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