horses scared of clippers

[ldlp111]

ok ill keep it short.
i have a mare who is sharp and spooky, she is scared and nervous to clip i havnt succeeded yet, due to cow-kicking and wild-eyed look.

she has been clipped with sedation(altho i wasnt there) and had all over clip done i think(possibly didnt help!!)

i dont want to have to sedate her.

so any ideas or tips of how to get her used to clippers, not sure if its noise or vibration or both she doesnt like.

thanks in advance

 

[MrMeldrew]

Run them by her everyday as a daily routine, say everytime you groom.
Do that until she accepts them then progress to touching her while running the clippers until she accepts that. The go on to touching her with the clippers and so on.
It may take a while but you should get there. You just need to be patient.

 

[ldlp111]

ok sounds like a good plan.
the only thing im worried about is she reacts quite alot to any kind of drill noise, but im assuming its highly unlikely she has a ear problem do you think?

 

[Caritas]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but some horses just never get used to them no matter how patient you are and how ever much you try, your horse sounds like she could be one of them, im so sorry!!

 

[Ranyhyn]

Useful tips in Stable yard from The Engineer

 

[Cliqmo]

Hiya, my gelding wasn't particularly sharp or spooky but one of these massage bugs really helped him associate the noise and sensation with something positive

 

[katie_and_toto]

Toto is a nightmare to clip, bless him, he's not naughty he's just petrified. We think he must have been hurt in the past, you can't even get anywhere near his with battery powered whisker clippers. We have him sedated and he only gets clipped once a year, which is fine as we just keep him warm with lots of rugs

We tried and tried to de-sensitize him but gave up, its not fair on him

 

[ldlp111]

well is she is then not biggie she'll just get sweaty at shows, but i did think about getting hand clippers

 

[Cyberchick]

Mine had to have 2 sedations from the vet when I first had him. Through time I can now do him with a twitch. I clip everything off and dont mess about with lines. The last time I clipped him about 3 weeks ago, we started with a twitch then we took it off and he was fine, then he got scared so we popped it back on for a bit then took it off again.
He is scared of the noise but gets used to it, I can run them on him going with the hair but he seems to hate the feel of them clipping against the hair, if that makes sense.
Time and patience and the most important thing is to be careful.

 

[canteron]

I have one of these! She has in the past been twitched, drugged, etc, etc and nothing worked. It is so bad the vet last year couldn't even get near her with the needle. So I had no choice but to work with her until I could clip. Last year I just worked with her until it was possible to get some sort of a clip. This I am determined that I will work with her until she actually likes buzzy things around her.

All the above suggestion are good. I have something similar to the Massage Bug and put it in her stable when she comes in for tea. At first I had to put it far away from her food but now it is right next door to it and she is OK.

Other thoughts. Always start somewhere safe, ie the shoulder before moving to more vulnerable places. If she runs around the stable, hold it onto the area until she stops then move the clippers (or massager) away instantly - ie give her control. Don't spend too long on vulnerable areas (ie neck, stomach, head, etc), just a few strokes then back to a safe area (ie shoulder). With the face can always start by massaging the air next to her face - once you can actually put the clippers (not cutting) on her face you are pretty much there. Use treats to let her know the behaviour you want - but not all the time. Practice little and often and use enormous amounts of patience. Oh yes, stretch the skin on her neck before clipping, this is the most likely area to 'nick'. And lastly, the clippers make a different noise when going through hair so cut a bit of her tail off and use that to get her used to a different noise.

Good luck, if I can clip my girl, it is possible I think to clip most but only if you put the time, patience and a lot of common sense into it!

The good news is that if you can get you horse to 'trust' you to clip her it has amazing other benefits in your relationship with your horse.

Do PM me if you get stuck or would like more suggestions.

 

[ldlp111]

hi thanks for the encouragement.
to begin with i think im gona just have them turned on in tack room which isnt directly next door to her, so shouldnt cause too many problems and she has a horse either side which are good to clip and go from there.

 

[Persephone]

Mine was genuinely terrified the first time we went to clip her.

I tried desensitising etc for weeks, nothing worked.

Eventually we put her in an empty stable OH held her next to the wall and I walked up to her and put the clippers on her. Luckily no further reaction. She used to shake and lean on the wall, but she never kicked or went up. Something has genuinely scared her.

It's still a two person job (always with hats and steelies) but we have just kept on and on.

She doesn't shake or lean anymore and will have a fair munch on her haynet too now. It's not perfect but a huge improvemen and fortunately we didn't get as far as twitching or sedation.

 

[MerryMAL]

When we first had T he was dead scared of clippers. First we used old fashioned clippers on him for a few days to get him used to the feel, then we got an electric toothbrush (with the head brush bit taken off) and just turned it on for a few minutes each day. After a week, it didn't bother him. So then we used he got used to feeling of something vibrating. Then we used the toothbrush with clippers (off) then we sort of rubbed him with clippers without blades for a few days, then we clipped him and he's been fine ever since!

 

[AengusOg]

I specialise in working with so-called 'difficult' horses........those which won't load/stand for the vet/allow themselves to be clipped, as well as some other issues.

I definitely would not recommend working with such a horse in close confines, such as a stable.

I'd take the horse into a sand school, with a training halter and a long rope attached, and I'd allow the horse plenty of room to come to terms with the sound of a set of cordless clippers.

The horse's instinct is to put distance between himself and the stimulus of which he is afraid. Therefor, it is necessary to give him the option of moving away (in this case, around in a circle), whilst the clippers are operating, then when he accepts the noise, and calms down, the clippers can be switched off and the horse praised for his acceptance of them.

Once he learns that the noise of the clippers is doing him no harm, and that he can stop running and the noise stops, he is then ready for the next phase which is to teach him to accept them nearer to him.

By first asking him to allow the handler to approach and, when he has accepted that, to ask him to approach the handler whilst the clippers are running, the distance at which he feels safe can be reduced until he is confident enough to allow the handler to make physical contact with him while holding the running clippers.

He can then be brought to a yard and the rope passed through (but not tied to) a ring and, by using the same principles, the horse can be taught to stand for clipping.

I have accomplished this, by the above method within the space of a couple of hours, but it may be better to work with the horse over a few days.

 

[ForeverBroke_]

Reaaally far'fetched but this old cob at my yard was TERRFIED of clipppers, but he used to have extremley thick hair through the summer and he hated, hated, baths...

Anywho, he would stamp/ shake etc because of the drips and one day his owner just went up to him with a hair dryer (!) just very very quietly. Anywho, im guessing the stimulus of being more comfortable and not having the drips etc and the noise got him used to the clippers????

Obviously not ideal for all, but seemed to work for him

(hides)

 

[AengusOg]

Apologies to mimi146.............I clicked 'reply' on your post when I should have gone up to the original post to click on the reply icon.

 

[ldlp111]

hi

a couple of problems with your suggestion. i dont have a sand school also how am i going to get power to the clippers, surely i would need battery ones(cordless) so the horse would not run over the clippers etc.

 

[helenhorse]

we had a mare that wouldnt stand still for us to clip her, Not so much afraid, just not willing to co-operate, so we twitched her, and she stood beautifully, however, u could try the theory of putting them on everyday for her to get used to them, however, im sorry to sink the ship but...Some horses just dont like the noise full stop and no means off patience will cure this

 

[ldlp111]

well i had clippers turned on in tack room so she could hear them seemed ok just goggle eyed, so progressed to being stood in tack room door with them, she shook her head a few times and stll had goggle eyed expression but other than that seemed fine no wild panic or anything

 

[AengusOg]

Ok.........you woudn't necessarily have to use a sand school. You could just use a corner of a field, as long as it's large enough to allow work the horse on a twenty foot circle.

The clippers I use for retraining are Nicki Clarke (human) rechargeable cordless ones. They are noisy enough to get results.

Some people work with electric toothbrushes initially.