To clip or not to clip... that is the question???

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Grace starts her ridden work in a week's time... I have to start by riding her for 30 minutes in walk, and over four weeks (although I am going to do it over six weeks to fit in with her colic surgery recovery period) increase it to an hour. She has thrown up a coat which is not massively thick but thick enough. The problem is, when she is ridden she does get warm under the saddle area and gets what can only be described as a heat rash.

Now she will be being walked for an hour for four weeks really (as opposed to the two and rescan) and I really don't know whether to just whip her body off now and leave her legs on???
 
I would wait amd see how sane she will be under saddle before you whip everything off, otherwise a chilly wind up her bum might make for some explosions!
 
personally i wouldnt clip, not when we are coming up to spring and shes only in walk work. She will soon start shedding it now anyways
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Bloss is moulting like anything, im spending about 20mins groom her with one of those shedding blade things every night at the moment
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I wouldnt.

My two arent clipped but are in full work and cope very well. Clipping just for walk work sounds a bit lethal to me!!
 
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Normally I wouldn't consider it, but because of these heat bumps she has got in the past, that is the only reason I was thinking about it
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They are like strange little lumps with a head on, and she gets them under the numnah area when not clipped but nothing at all when clipped. It is almost as if the hair irritates, but then she is fine with her summer coat
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My mare used to get these I could only use the saddle cloth once to stop them getting worse. I had to use non bio washing powder and no fabric softner as advised by my vet. I am thinking of clipping again but my pony is in full work.
 
I wouldn't clip either just for walking. However, if you do decide to clip, you need to do it fairly quickly as horses' summer coats will start to come through fairly soon, and you want to try and avoid damaging them. We've just finished giving ours their last ones of the year.
 
I wouldn't clip, not because of the summer coat thing as I don't think that actually happens. But you are just walking. If you clip all her hair off will she then be putting more energy into keeping warm rather than healing?
 
Personally I'd just leave her be now ... I've left H without a clip and she's being schooled hard for an hour every other day - she's a sweaty type but is coping very well - and I'm now considering never clipping her as she's been absolutely fine with her coat on - If you want her to be comfortable she's more likely to be comfortable with a coat than looking nice and clipped but jigging to keep warm!
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Kate x
 
B gets that heat rash too - on him it is very painful. I don't believe you'll 'damage' the summer coat - think that is an old wives tale and anyway she's not a show horse so who cares?! I've clipped in March and not had a problem with the summer coat.

Anyway, that's besides the point - what I was going to suggest is would it be worth doing a sort of 'reverse clip'? So take off the bit where the saddle cloth goes but leave the rest on, so she is still warm and toasty but you minimise the chance of her getting heat rash? Yes, it'll look mighty odd, but if it helps her, then who gives a stuff? Anyway it'll be covered by the saddle when you are on her and no-one will know!
 
Mine got a bib /trace clip when started doing trot work, but to be honest with this time of year i would take all or nothing off. Mine is getting his last clip this weekend just to take off cat hairs/scruffy bits before his coat grows back!!
 
Agree here with not taking anything off, I couldn't believe the huge change in my boy's temperament for taking his suit all off and he's only in very light work but sweats buckets. If it wasn't for vanity (I know shoot me now) and because I want to show him this year I wouldn't have bothered. As for the heat rash thingy, I would be careful about what you wash your pads in, like Ship I can only use a non bio. I also use a cotton stable rubber under my pads and just wash the cotton sheets so that he has a new one on each time, its a racing thing but works really well.
 
Just to add - I was advised by vets to use a sheepskin half pad next to his skin as it is wicking and naturally anti-bacterial. That and clipping has worked a treat.
 
My mare gets a heat rash if she gets too warm to, but I have done a half blankety clip kind of thing. I haven't done a proper blanket clip, but clipped sort of from the top of her bag legs in a near enough diagonal line to her withers, so half of where her saddle is clipped.
My mare is coping really well with this - enough hair gone to keep her cool, but she still has all her bum hair to keep her bottom nice and cosy!
 
I have decided to clip some of her off... legs are definitely staying on, but will see what the lady clipping thinks as to what needs to come off.

She has that many clipped patches on her poor girl that she looks quite ridiculous at the moment, so I thought it might give her a better summer coat if we took her body off. She also seems quite itchy at the moment...

Although she will only be walking (yes, this does make me slightly anxious about whether she will fully understand this concept), she will still be doing more than an hour at walk in about 2-3 weeks time and this will continue for a good 4 weeks (I would rather do a bit longer before she is rescanned etc etc). She gets a rash under her saddle area, but we think it is the fur irratating the skin rather than the pad itself or what I wash it in because she does not come up in the rash when the pad is directly next to clipped skin...
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I know she is still recovering, but many other horses I know recovering from surgery are clipped out fully, so I don't think this will make too much of a difference to her recovery
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