clipping legs now... and quarter marks.

[Queenbee]

ok peeps... heres another of my dilemmas...

these are bens hairy legs:

for Royal Cornwall they should look more like this although even more trimmed/clipped at the back:

Obviously currently there is a great difference...

Now next week im shooting him up with sedaline to trim his face and pull his tail and obviously at the same time will have to tidy the legs up for the practice show on the 12th.

Would you whip off the whole leg... well hair on the leg, its really not even started moulting yet, so Im thinking clip it all out now... giving it time for the summer hair to grow through, i dont want to leave it too late, find myself having to clip out the entire leg and it looking funny for Royal Cornwall.

Oh and the other question...
Quarter marks...

What would suit him best? Good old fashioned sharks teeth? if you missed it, its for skewbald and piebald classes.

 

[whisp&willow]

No advice on the leg front... not sure if clipping them now would be a good plan though...

As for quarter markings- sometimes less is more. If I was to do anything then all I would do are sharks teeth. To me his back end looks a bit weak so I wouldn't want to draw attention to there with quarter markings. This could purely be the photos though.

 

[JenHunt]

i would probably just trim his feathers - i.e clip down the back of the canons and fetlock taking off the longest hair, following the direction of the hair so it doesn't look clipped so much as just trimmed. doing it now will mean it will look a bit fresh for your show this weekend, but will be perfect for your show in june.

 

[Queenbee]

No advice on the leg front... not sure if clipping them now would be a good plan though...

As for quarter markings- sometimes less is more. If I was to do anything then all I would do are sharks teeth. To me his back end looks a bit weak so I wouldn't want to draw attention to there with quarter markings. This could purely be the photos though.

Hi, Yes currently he is a bit weak in his back end... should say he had 5 months hacking on then december through to beginning of march break, now building back up... this is what he looked like last year with some grass and about six weeks of work... a lot more robust!

Just hoping for dr green to do its job and keeping on working him, his backside should be much better for Royal cornwall.

 

[Queenbee]

feed wise at the moment, he is on 2 scoops of speedie beet, 2 scoops of hi fi, 2 cups *260g of linseed and some vitamin e, split into 2 feeds, the field is greening up and he is out from about 5pm to 7am and in with an all he can eat hay buffet during the day... I really dont want to put him on a conditioning feed as he is barefoot... just hoping the grass starts to kick in!

 

[whisp&willow]

Yes- he looks much better in that pic. I think that his markings play a part in making his shoulder seem a lot stronger than his back end.

Based on the last pic of him looking more built up, I would still just stick to sharks teeth- as I think putting any marks on top will shorten his rump a bit too much.

I think he's lovely btw- just my observations. I find that I get a bit obsessive over these things coming up to a show- but need to remind myself to be objective and remember that sometimes less is more!

 

[Queenbee]

Yes- he looks much better in that pic. I think that his markings play a part in making his shoulder seem a lot stronger than his back end.

Based on the last pic of him looking more built up, I would still just stick to sharks teeth- as I think putting any marks on top will shorten his rump a bit too much.

I think he's lovely btw- just my observations. I find that I get a bit obsessive over these things coming up to a show- but need to remind myself to be objective and remember that sometimes less is more!

thank you! As Im certain you can all tell... I dont do showing! Stick to sharks teeth... got you... One thing I know I CAN do!

Yes he always looks quite sturdy up front! the picture above was taken in august, but the very top one was taken in june last year and in that one he had done no work so I reckon we should get to looking like the august picture in june if that makes sense?!

I am obsessing... but I just want to do him justice.

 

[Honey08]

I hate clipped legs. I certainly wouldn't clip them if I was planning on doing a county show. I can understand it if you have a really hairy horse, but Ben isn't bad at all. I would trim them with scissors and a comb - you get a totally natural look..

 

[whisp&willow]

I know the feeling! I do the same!

I'n no expert by any means, but just saying what I see, and saying what I would do. Remember to do a sweep down the point of buttock once you've done your shark's teeth.

Just try some markings out before hand and see what you think, but be honest with yourself! I think he'll do just fine with a plain bottom to be brutally honest!

I found these videos very helpful- and she speaks a lot of sense regarding whether to mark or not...!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=_S_zCHBCGng&feature=fvwp

 

[Queenbee]

I hate clipped legs. I certainly wouldn't clip them if I was planning on doing a county show. I can understand it if you have a really hairy horse, but Ben isn't bad at all. I would trim them with scissors and a comb - you get a totally natural look..

What I worry about at the moment, is that you can see the clip mark all the way down the back of his legs very clearly and he was clipped all the way back in October! It's a clearly and unsightly visible line, now ive no problem trimming with scissors... If he is knocked out on sedaline, but its blending the clip mark in... Am I silly to be considering tapering it in with a razor? Just to help blend it for the moment... If you look closely at the top pic, you can see that the back of his leg has just been clipped in one long line.

Thanks W&W I will check out the link...

 

[SNORKEY]

He hasn't got much hair. Ive just clipped my very hairy boys legs and yes it does leave a bit of a line where he still has a winter coat. But i clip right to the skin as he suffers with mites. I did manage to blend the thick hair into the clipped hair though by turning the clippers around up running them down wards instead.
If i was you id clip the worse bits off at the mo and you can carefully take the wispy bits off at the top of his leg to neaten them up.

 

[Nugget La Poneh]

I use dog trimmers with the guards on that give different length cuts. Use the 1/2" (I think) guard and whizz down in the direction of the hair.

As for markings...I'd be almost tempted to not do any. Purely for the reason that hunter stripes might cause issues if not quite up to shape across his quarters, and teeth will need finishing which will shorten him, but to be fair, under saddle and working through this might actually look okay.