Clipping my very nervous horse

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Meeko

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Hi all

Over the autumn I tried gettin my nervous horse used to the clippers.

She is a very spooky mare and took a dislike to the clippers straight away.

After weeks of tryin to get her used to the noise I felt like she was getting worse, on the day of clipping I sedated her with sedalin. This had no effect. In the end I twitched her and managed to get both sides of her neck off. I had to stop at this point as she was very stressed and becoming soaked in sweat.

The following weekend I attemped again, this time it took me 15mins to just get the twitch on her, she was genuinely scared and trying to escape me gettin the twitch on her. Once I got the twitch on she was so wound up she was all sweaty again so I was unable to clip.

I bought some cordless small dog clippers to try and get her used to the noise. I read an article (sorry I can't remember who's it was) where I should try her in the open space on a long lead.

I took her in the arena yesterday on a lungeline to try her. Once i turned the clippers on she began to lunge herself, I talked to her and once she stopped and looked at me I turned the clippers off to let her know that once she stopped the noise would go away, whether this was the right thing to do it was all I could try.

After 20mins she was getting stressed and just bolted. Dragged me all over the arena as I was trying to stop her.

I feel at a lost end and would appreciate any advice.

She only gets rode 3 days a week and lunged 2. But sweats very easy and every time I ride her she is soaked.

I only bought her last April as a 7 year old and she was only broken the summer before and left un worked so I'm pretty sure she has never been clipped/attempted to be clipped before.

I'm thinking of trying to get an outsider in to try and work with her when I'm not around, unsure whether this would help or not. I'm just worried she may hurt someone. She isn't nasty just scared and tries to do what horses do and run/escape the danger.

Any suggestions would be appreciated

Thanks x
 
If she loves her food try getting a cheap battery toothbrush, put it on and put it in a feed bucket with her feed bucket on top. Hopefully she will then get used to the vibration and the noise.

With another horse I had who hated clipping I had a woman who was training to do something (can't remember what - natural horsemanship?) come round. She had cordless clippers and walked around and around the stable while the horse walked away from her. The horse eventually gave up and did let her clip him but she had a lot more patience than me - it was at least an hour before she got near him!
 
My older mare was a nightmare to clip - despite trying to acclimatise her to the noise over a period of time. After the first clip which was very stressful for everybody involved, including the horse, she was sedated by the vet. After about 3 years I bought myself the quietest clippers I could find and I can now do a full clip on a low dose of sedalin.
 
My mare was really difficult to clip. Tried running clippers near her so she could get used to the noise. Tried clipping another horse who was good near her. Tried her tied up where she just ran back and broke the bailer twine each time. Tried her with one person holding her and another person clipping but she still pulled and got loose. Managed to clip each time but was a horrible and dangerous experience for all concerned. However, she needed to be clipped as she sweated up a lot. Anyway 3 years ago I decided to try clipping her loose in her stable - just me on my own and no-one else on the yard. Just took a deep breath, went up to her, turned the clippers on and after a couple of hops around she just stood there for me to clip her. Had lots of Polos to treat her with. She was a bit awkward when I wanted to swap sides but eventually stood so I could get to that side and again she stood still for me. I did an irish clip that time. Last year and this year I have done a blanket clip and she is getting better each year.
 
If you are considering getting some help then FWIW in my opinion it is well worth seeing if you can get an Intelligent Horsemanship Recommended Associate to come and help you a few times (they will probably want to work with you rather than do it without you). Google Intelligent Horsemanship and see if you fancy it. Good luck :)
 
My mare is also very nervous and after our first session which sounded like yours using sedalin and having to resort to a twitch I have since got her sedated by the vet, which is costly but safer for all involved! However the last time the vet came she suggested domesadan (sp?) As this is the main part of the sedation the vet uses. It will be about £30 and needs to go under the tongue but works much better than sedalin if administered properly. There was another post on here a few weeks ago and while it still didn't work great for some it is better than sedalin. Worth a try maybe?
 
Meeko said:
Hi all

Over the autumn I tried gettin my nervous horse used to the clippers.

She is a very spooky mare and took a dislike to the clippers straight away.

After weeks of tryin to get her used to the noise I felt like she was getting worse, on the day of clipping I sedated her with sedalin. This had no effect. In the end I twitched her and managed to get both sides of her neck off. I had to stop at this point as she was very stressed and becoming soaked in sweat.

The following weekend I attemped again, this time it took me 15mins to just get the twitch on her, she was genuinely scared and trying to escape me gettin the twitch on her. Once I got the twitch on she was so wound up she was all sweaty again so I was unable to clip.

I bought some cordless small dog clippers to try and get her used to the noise. I read an article (sorry I can't remember who's it was) where I should try her in the open space on a long lead.

I took her in the arena yesterday on a lungeline to try her. Once i turned the clippers on she began to lunge herself, I talked to her and once she stopped and looked at me I turned the clippers off to let her know that once she stopped the noise would go away, whether this was the right thing to do it was all I could try.

After 20mins she was getting stressed and just bolted. Dragged me all over the arena as I was trying to stop her.

I feel at a lost end and would appreciate any advice.

She only gets rode 3 days a week and lunged 2. But sweats very easy and every time I ride her she is soaked.

I only bought her last April as a 7 year old and she was only broken the summer before and left un worked so I'm pretty sure she has never been clipped/attempted to be clipped before.

I'm thinking of trying to get an outsider in to try and work with her when I'm not around, unsure whether this would help or not. I'm just worried she may hurt someone. She isn't nasty just scared and tries to do what horses do and run/escape the danger.

Any suggestions would be appreciated

Thanks x
Click to expand...
Sedation to start with, save any problems.
 
My mare was just like yours, very nervous to clip. I bought some Liveryman Harmony clippers as they are very quiet and cordless.

My mare responds well to re-assurance. I start at her bum/furthest from her head whilst shes tied up in the stable. I brush her with one hand then clip a line, then repeat with a couple of brush strokes then clip. She gets better with each clip I do now. I can clip all of her bar her head.

I would not ever try to twitch my mare. Not because I think its wrong, but I know I would loose a lot of trust on her side and it would make her worse. I think patience and re-assurance will be the best route. Good luck :)
 
Thank you for all your replies.

As I said previously I have tried sedation, the next step would be sedation via the vet.

TOBIANO I have contacted my local horsemanship lady for some advice. Thank you
 
I have had the same problem with my cob. I tried everything I could think of but he was terrified and was going to end up hurting either himself or the person clipping him. I have had him for five years now and he is great at pretty much anything I ask of him. For safety's sake I now go straight to the vet sedating him.

Vet gives him the injection and my sister clips him. Everyone is safe, not stressed and it is all over quite quickly. I would love to be able to clip him without sedation but for me it's not worth taking the risk of someone getting hurt.
 
I had a horse who was dangerous to clip and inject so sedation wasn't a problem.

I therefore had no option but to desensitise her. i used a combination of advance and retreat (very important, do something that challenges the horse and then do something it finds easy, in this case either move away or turn it off). Start with the clippers right outside the stable.

I then combined it with a technique called overshadowing, developed by horse pyschologist Andrew McClean and taught to me by Ali Wakelin (google and you will find her website if you want to contact her). Within half an hour the horse was almost going to sleep while she was being clipped. In fact, I have just found the YouTube video I made at the time. There is also stuff on Overshadowing on YouTube if you search.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEK3NxdVs2Y

Just to prove that you don't have to just drug the horse and carry on, there are ways to find behaviour based solutions!

Good luck.
 
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