hunter/full clips - faces?

NeverSayNever

NeverSayNever

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when you clip, how do you leave the face, that is if you dont take it off? Do you do a 1/2 face? Eg a line level with the cheekpeice? Or do you follow round the cheekbone/jawline?

I did the latter today... and i thought it looked really smart. Now im worried noone else does that and my poor hoss will look silly:o
 
Depends! Last year i left the heads on fully and usually do. But this year Billy behaved so took off half his face, he looks so much better without the beard!
 
With my daughter's pony we always left a half face on (ie clipped up to where the bridle cheek piece goes). But at the end of the day you are best to do whatever your horse is most comfortable with. But if you leave a full head, then a little tidy up of the beard area might make it look neater - depends how big the head is and how hairy the horse is really!
 
When I was eventing, I left their faces on, clipped their cheeks on a line with the cheekpieces, as no one would really be seeing them in public.

The hunters have their heads clipped out, ears and all as I want them to look smart in public and not have hairy heads!

If I saw a horse with an unclipped head but clipped body, I would assume that it was unclippable without sedation TBH :)
 
spacefaer said:
When I was eventing, I left their faces on, clipped their cheeks on a line with the cheekpieces, as no one would really be seeing them in public.

The hunters have their heads clipped out, ears and all as I want them to look smart in public and not have hairy heads!

If I saw a horse with an unclipped head but clipped body, I would assume that it was unclippable without sedation TBH :)
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lol-youd be right then! i got him done today after a large dose of sedalin and the vet coming out to intravenously sedate :rolleyes: really.. i could have taken the whole head/face off, but i thought it looked ok at the time to follow the jaw line and leave it on. He isnt a hairy type and doesnt have a beard etc anyway, it just means his head is a shade darker...

heres a pic, not from today - from last time i did it. can you make out the line round his jaw where id stopped? thing is, his head/legs are bit darker now too..

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lol - clipped off the saddle patch this time though and made leg lines at right height
 
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I clip half the head up to the natural line that exists on the cheek and trim ears. If it is not too cold at the time of his last clip I will take the whole head off but I hate to think of his rather enormous ears freezing out in the field when its really cold - yes I know I am sad!
 
I leave Jack's head on, just clip round the jawline. I do tidy up under his chin with scissors though to get rid of the beard! He has hairy welshie legs so it doesn't look too bad I don't think.

No way could I clip his head without sedation, it's taken me 3 years to be able to brush the mud off his ears! But he is getting better, the first time I clipped him he had to be twitched to do the top 1/3 of his neck, this time I did it all without twitching.

I think it depends on the colour of your horse. Bays seem to go a dirty grey colour where you clip, so there is a big contrast between clipped/unclipped. Whereas Jack is just orange, maybe a little lighter on the clipped areas but not really noticeable.
 
I've just hunter clipped M, but left a half face as he'll be living out until about Christmas (unless the weather turns really pants).

I was going for a sort of trace, until I realised just how woolly he was!

But - and it's just my preference - I never take whiskers off. I personally feel they are part of what a horse IS and are a sort of sixth sense.
 
I always leave a half head on my lot, a.) because they live out and im not so cruel to let 'em have cold ears ;) and b.) saves a lot of hassle with the two of them as they aren't the best to clip anyway and tend to get very fidgety.
Though always used to take the head completely off my hunting pony, 'cause she wanted to look as good as the 'proper' hunters she lived with :P and it made things much easier with less hair to deal with!

On the stabled ,'full-time' hunters have their heads off for general smartness.
 
i took half the face off my one of my horses as he has a full clip and looks nice with half a face. i left the face on my other horse as he's only 3 and had never been clipped before so i only gave him a blanket. he was getting a bit nervous when the clippers came to the top of his neck and he was so good to get his body done i thought i wouldn't ruin the experience by trying to clip his face.

Minty with his full clip & half face:
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Loki with his blanket clip and full face:
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I clip off as much as my horse lets me! Usually he is ok-ish to do up to bridle lines but today he was a star so I took everything off (except whiskers). I think it looks much smarter but it's not worth upsetting the horse over.
 
Technically its correct to take the whole face off, but I tend to leave half aface on. Its easy to get the line on the cheekpiece, so it looks just as smart, and is much kinder to the horse when its head is sticking out of a turnout rug. Nothing sweats more than my mare, and she copes fine with her ears/front of head left on. My little irritation is hunter clips that don't have saddle shapes, just blobs, which is not important really, as hardly anyone knows! And don't get me started on hearts on bums! Lol. Apart from the front of the face I'm very traditional!
 
NeverSayNever said:
when you clip, how do you leave the face, that is if you dont take it off? Do you do a 1/2 face? Eg a line level with the cheekpeice? Or do you follow round the cheekbone/jawline?

I did the latter today... and i thought it looked really smart. Now im worried noone else does that and my poor hoss will look silly:o
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Often depends on the colour of the horse - I take face off, if I can (usually use small clippers if horse is difficult) but half face looks OK - follow the line just under the cheek bones. Just doing the throat, does not do much for overall look.....if the horse is (say) a bright chestnut, it can look a bit half done. Also depends what you are planning on doing with the horse.....If showing / public eye, do the best you can. I still wince at the terrible trace clip I gave a horse, who won a race for us, when I look at the video - he looked desparately amateurish in the paddock, with wonky lines and full face - but then, did I care, he won the race......? but in subsequent seasons I made far more of an effort!
 
First clip Genie will only have half a head as it's barely noticeable that her head's been clipped. From then on the lot comes off, especially at the last clip as I start thinking about the show season and not wanting lines!!
 
melxvengeance said:
i left the face on my other horse as he's only 3 and had never been clipped before so i only gave him a blanket. he was getting a bit nervous when the clippers came to the top of his neck and he was so good to get his body done i thought i wouldn't ruin the experience by trying to clip his face.
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Ditto this - I clipped my friend's horse the other day (blanket) and as it was only his second time and he's pretty headshy - though getting better and better - we didn't push it. We advanced and retreated to the top of his neck and then held the running clippers against his jaw with my hand inbetween which he was fine with, but he's not going out in public and is black with a fine coat, so you can hardly tell where the lines are. Next time I'll probably run the clippers along his jaw to take off his beard if he's ok with that - the aim is to do a half-head in the end but there's no hurry!

Personally I like to take all the head off, but I don't clip so many hunters anymore - just leisure horses, and owners all like half-heads in case they get chilly in the field, which is fair enough.
 
I do a full clip with half head. It neatens up the jawline and mine is fine with mahoosive clippers round her head surprisingly. Her right shoulder and top of her neck are a different matter though, she looks a bit motheaten as they need to be done in stages/snatches. At least she stays cool when working though.
 
I only do half heads on mine as they live out.

Is it just me that thinks it dam cruel to do a full face clip and then kick said horse out in the freezing cold??? Not too bad atm but in jan,feb its bloody cold and then someone clips all there hair off there face just because it looks smart??

Smart isn't everything. Big rugs ain't gonna keep there face warm in a stable or out in the field.
 
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