Getting a nervous horse used to clippers?

Mince Pie

Mince Pie

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I have a friend, M, with a just-turned 5 year old section D. The horse, C, is very hot at the moment so she asked me to pop up today and clip him. C has never been clipped before and we ended up doing some desensitisation work with him as he had a bit of a melt down! We started by getting him used to the noise by associating it with food - ie when we turned the clippers on he got a treat and then when he was happy with that we worked on getting me nearer to him with the clippers running which involved me standing still in the yard whilst M walked C round and gradually getting him closer to me, at the end I stood by his shoulder very briefly and gave him a scratch with them running.

I am happy to spend some time every day with C to get him used to the clippers and hopefully get him clipped, he is a highly strung boy so the idea was to really get him happy with me stood next to him with the clippers running, then progress to me touching him with the clippers whilst on and then finally clip him.

Does this sound like a plan? Has anyone got any other tips I can use? He is very food orientated so we are planning to use food as a training method.
 
Are you using your own clippers or are they M's clippers? I'd be a bit concerned about using my own with a horse that is so nervous, if you drop them whilst he flips out, will M pay for them to be repaired? I doubt it?

otherwise, I'd try and use some cordless clippers so you can get out of the way quickly without the worry or a cord getting trodden on! Also maybe start out using a trimmer, which is quieter, so less scary, once he's used to that then start will the bigger louder clippers?

but sounds like you've had some good ideas so far :)
 
Hi, thanks. I am using my clippers but I know M would be mortified if they got broken and would pay for them - also I am very good at keeping the cable out of the way! I don't have trimmers (would love some for my own horse!) but my clippers are very quiet as I bought them with my lad in mind who is also a wuss :rolleyes: - funnily enough he's also a part-bred-welsh...
 
Was advised once that with a horse like this to desensitise it by placing an old battery toothbrush (on) in a feed bucket with the horse's feed on top. Maybe worth a try?
 
I agree, I used an electric tooth brush with my horse and it worked. I ran it all over his body before even thinking about clippers. Hope it works with yours too.
 
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