Clipping

[becky94]

Hi guys, I only just registered so I aren't one hundred percent sure if I'm doing this right but I just wanted some advice.

I have a 16hh thoroughbred mare who isn't really a good doer, so I'm kind of struggling to keep weight on her while it's winter. I ride as often as I can during the week (2 or 3 times) and try to long rein her other nights if I can, and then I hunt on a weekend.

I clipped her in September with a clip doing half her face, halfway up her neck and her belly without taking anything off her hindquarters (think its called an Irish clip), but when I hunt she gets really excited and her neck sweats up straight away so she looks scruffy. I need to reclip this week, and I think I need to take more of her neck off, and so does my boyfriend who works with horses, but my friend who's clipping her thinks that taking more of her neck off will make her lose all the weight I've worked so hard to put on her

Any advice?

 

[McNally]

personally i found that my horse (who sounded very similar to yours) was better clipped out more. He sweated a lot and it was harder to keep weight on him. One day i screwed up my lines so took the whole lot off...hey presto! easy to keep pony! i kept him rugged accordingly of course and he was stabled at night/foul weather anyway.

I'm not saying clip the whole lot off by any means. My current horse has an Irish x blanket because it works for me! whole neck, half head with a line at the wither as you would a blanket but then down as you have your irish- leaving back legs etc covered. Actually looks fine!