mare twitchy to clip - suggestions?

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HenryandPeta

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Hi all. I clipped a friends horses for her at the weekend, little pony gelding was a star, absolute rock. The mare however, was being a typical mare! She was fine to do chest, neck, even belly, but when it came to the flank area (I was doing a blanket on her) that was it! She jumped (I nicked her with the blades
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) she raised her hind leg and threatened to kick me.

We held her foreleg up, she still managed to try and kick me (on two legs)! Her ears were flat, she was leaping about, hind legs flailing, so we tried: calming her, holding the clippers near her, even on her so she could feel the vibes - fine. As soon as I moved to the flank, fine, but as soon as I went to actually clip the hair, she'd go insane again.
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When she really lashed out meaning to get me, I shouted and slapped her on the butt. Didn't have any impact! I could hold the clippers right at the twitchy bit, but as soon as the blades touched her, she'd be off. I tried the other side where she wasn't cut, and same reaction. btw, the cut wasn't bad, just a nick. We tried twitching her too, no difference.

Now, does anyone have any suggestions for next time? Her owners said they would get a bic razor out and do the inch of hair I couldn't get when she'd calmed down, but they want me to do her again when she starts to get hairy. I don't mind clipping her, she was only mean when it came to the flanks, but does anyone have suggestions for how to approach this tickly spot without causing her to get upset (she's a sensitive tb mare!)? Do you think Sedalin might help?
 
My boy is a little twitchy under the belly and can snap his back legs up but when i held the front leg he stopped. Sedalin is your best bet as I've heard the vet given one can cause more twitching and sweating. But maybe next time just do a tracer. Not as good as a blanket but at least u wont get kicked.
 
Before going down the sedation route, you could try desensitising her, or the owners could and start now before it gets to clipping time.

There is also twitching her and then the medical sedation route.

I'm not a big lover of Sedalin and prefer acp's, but if you do need to go down the sedation route, I'd try a combination - either twitching alone, Sedlin, twitching and sedalin etc.

What works for one horse might not work for another.

My mare was a nightmare with clippers. She was absolutely petrified as soon as she heard the noise. We went down the desensitising route and went from a horse who completely freaked, went vertical at the sound of clippers, to a horse who could be clipped.
 
How did you desensitise? We have a gelding who has stood in his stable leaning over the door watching other horses being clipped not freaking at all then as soon as he comes out and is tied up freaks with the sound of the clippers we doped him last year as he really is so quick with his back feet. Just havent had this problem with any other horse. He is 7 and hadnt been clipped before we got him. I would just love to get to the point where you could clip without dope.
 
We started with turning the clippers on outside a little bit away from her stable and leaving them on. Evenutally moved to having them on outside her stable.

I then sat in her stable with the clippers off until she came over to me and sniffed them (she was a nosy bugger). The next day, I sat in her stable with them turned on and again, she eventually came over for a sniff.

Then I walked around her stable with them turned on, she carried on munching her haylage.

We then tied two of her mates outside her stable and clipped them.

The next step we placed the clippers on her turned off, progressing to placing them on her turned on - but no clipping. Eventually we moved the clippers on her turned off and again turned on.

The process was over a couple of weeks. We took it slowly and at her pace, not moving to the next step until she was entirely comfortable with it.

We did still twitch to clip though.
 
Good advice. We will bring the clippers to him and sit and be patient and see what happens, as I said he will watch the others being clipped 2 feet away from him with no problem at all. Lets hope we can get there with him. Thanks
 
One question - did you check the temperature of the blades when you were doing her flanks. They often get twitchy when the blades get hot.

I would also start off with the worst area first.

Also for getting her used to them there are some little hand held ones you can buy for £10, they are useful for buzzing around the horse getting them used to sound and vibration (they are not great for actually trimming anything though!)
 
Thanks everyone. I actually switched clippers to my Wahl trimmers for her flanks, so the blades were very quiet and cool. Still the same reaction! She isn't bothered by either set of clippers anywhere else on her, I even did her face with my small ones, no problems at all!

Will chat to the owner and suggest they get those little trimmers though Cotswolds SJ, thanks - good idea to get her more used to buzzing in that area!
 
my mare is like this but all over. You can hold the clippers on her move them all about her body and shes fine, its when you actually go to clip she turns into the spawn of satan.
we used to sedate her and I could clip her but she would still have tantrums which could be worse as no warning (she had an elephant dose, new vets wouldnt sedate her till i showed them the list of amounts/drug she needed that had been signed by my normal vet.)
i now have my Natural Horsemanship trainer come when I want to clip her. we use a lip rope on her, she still has her moments but they are becoming a lot less frequent and the signs she shows before she has a tantrum are a lot more obvious so we can stop before she has one and calm her down. So much happier horse all round

i have tried all the desensitisation tricks and they dont work
 
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