horse restraints for clipping?

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candice.g91

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I'm looking recommendations for horse retraints for clipping legs? My cob dances about his stable, but need to remove hair as he gets mud fever. Ive tried to many things already like sedalin, leg holding, twitch but he just fights everything. Ive managed to clip his bag legs with his front leg held up but hes a lot worse with the front :-(
 
My traddie hates his legs being done but have to do it for same reason. I usually get a professional to clip him, and he's fine with his body, loves it in fact, but its a real hassle doing his legs.

The way we overcome it is if I get some bribery and corruption i.e. food, and keep his interest with that. What works best is something like Spillers Cubes, which rattle and make a noise in a bucket. You will need something to keep him occupied for as long as it takes for either you or someone else to do his legs, so it needs to be something which he can't gobble up all at once, cubes are ideal for this reason. I keep my pocket full of them, then slowly, one by one, drop them into the bucket and keep rattling them around in the depths so that they make as much noise as possible and keep his attention away from the clipping going on.

He adores Marmite, so another idea I've tried is to smear the bottom of the bucket with Marmite. The main thing is to keep his attention elsewhere basically and as his stomach is unfailingly his main interest, this is what works.

Have tried a Chifney; just tried it the once, it didn't work, he only got more stressed with it and starting going up.

For my method of distracting him with the food, you will need two people, one to clip and one to do the bribery & corruption bit. The person I have to clip does it professionally (with mains electric clippers) and is very quick, which helps, as you really need to get on with the legs before the horse realises what's what.

I did have someone to clip him who used a battery-pack clipper, and she managed to do all of his legs without a problem, he seemed much better with that. So dunno if this would work for yours OP?
 
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I would say training. And, soreness. If he is sore he will jump. You will take the clippers off (it's nearly impossible to avoid doing it!) which trains him if he jumps about, you stop. So you need to avoid taking them off if he lifts his leg which means you need to forget actual clipping until you train him to stand with them running on his leg. It's not easy. My cob has had slightly sore legs (hardly anything) and I know we are on a downward spiral.
 
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Sorry OP, forgot to say that if you Google him, Michael Peace might have some helpful suggestions; I seem to remember somewhere, maybe one of the Horsey magazines, where he did a feature on clipping and how to deal with issues like FfionWinnie is suggesting. His website should come up on Google. I've always found his stuff very useful, and very practical, not airy fairy. Worth a look mebbe?

The other thing that I seem to remember, from someone somewhere, re. clipping (maybe Michael P??) was that some horses hate being clipped because they feel trapped inside a stable with something they perceive as a threat, so am just wondering whether it might be worth trying to clip him outside? Just a thought/suggestion.
 
l"m with MJR2BT - train him to stand when something touches the leg. Most of us train for them to lift it as soon as we touch it. lf you teach them that a touch on the front of the leg means to stand still you can move this to clipping (and putting on boots}. On person keeps their hand on the front indicating that the leg isn't to be lifted and the other clips the back. Front shouldn't be an issue if you teach this.

l have 4 and all of them will stand loose in the stable to be clipped - including the yearling a 2yo. lt took a lot of patience though.
 
Just training and practice, I used to have to twitch my horse for clipping his legs (ISH with hair type of a gypsy cob, short but thick feather!) and he still managed to kick me multiple times, then kick my clippers so the top snapped off, plus trample and squash me. He has mallenders and when left unclipped he is in a lot of pain, constantly chewing his skin raw and rubbing them so it needs doing. I have to hold his legs up to do them or he will sharply kick. Patience and treats have worked so far, plus trying to keep the clippers on the skin despite waving his legs around so he learns this achieves nothing. I can now clip his legs without a twitch but it once took me 4 hours to get him to cooperate. I'd also say clip very early before the skin gets sore, he is 100% easier to clip when I haven't left it too long.
 
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