What clip? Can’t choose, been too long since I had to!!

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maya2008

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Cob x trotter - sweating buckets from a trot and canter hack (neck, shoulders, body) less with a shorter session in the arena. Currently living out. Could stable. Arena work 3x a week, walk/trot hack twice (well, canter in good weather!). Doesn’t jump - dressage pony in training.

My go-to before her was an Irish clip (low to start with, revising upwards as needed). But that was years ago on natives who lived out without access to a stable. She has a much thicker coat. Plus I want to go out and compete once we have the basics in place so needs to look sort of smart. Want to leave the head on.

Irish? Trace? How high would you go?
 
I take the whole body off leave half the face and legs on my Arab's and they basically live out only come in if it's vile.

If you really don't want to do that I do what I call a front and belly clip, so half head whole neck then do a line from the wither to the end of the belly, or you can sort of do a blanket with a line straight down then across to belly if you want more hair left on.

Still looks smart for competing but stops the sweating.
 
If in doubt clip em out … I tend to start with a hunter these days (and a full clip on the show cob)everything else is just faffing about . Rugs are good and you can keep them warm and it’s so mild at the moment my chap sweats buckets even on a walk hack… it’s all coming off on Tuesday
 
Jenko109 said:
Just whip the lot off other than legs and half head.

Nobody wants to mess about with lines 😅
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This is my thoughts as long as you have plenty of good rugs it's fine mine always cope fine I sometimes just clip the tummy the way the hair lies so it keeps a light covering and you can't see it.
 
Pinkvboots said:
This is my thoughts as long as you have plenty of good rugs it's fine mine always cope fine I sometimes just clip the tummy the way the hair lies so it keeps a light covering and you can't see it.
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I think I have rug trauma from having had a TB - the last few years with natives and just a rainsheet have been very relaxing! Have hunted down a medium weight though and can order more once we have seen how much we can get off (first clip with us, not clipped in previous home - hence not wanting to faff with head on clip no.1!).

Do I take it from all these replies that cobs run v hot and I will have to take off a lot more than with a silky haired NF to get the same effect?
 
Another vote for blanket- one of the easier ones to get (tolerably) tidy lines and leaves enough on to not have to go mad with the rugging.
ETA Just don't do what I did and make your mind up as you go along with the clip- mine is now sporting a strange mixture of trace/blanket /Irish as I wasn't sure what I was going for when I started 😆.
 
I've just done a blanket clip on one of mine. She has arthritis in her SI area, so it keeps her back warm while stopping her sweating. Interestingly somebody told me that her professional clipper said a blanket clip is one of the hardest to do due to the straight lines!
 
There was a thread a while back with pictures with lots of nice variations on irish/chaser/blanket to inspire you.

Show me your blanket/chaser/irish clips!

I need to clip my boy in the next couple of weeks but he's not in heavy work as coming back from rehab so wanting to give him either a blanket clip or an irish clip but with all of the neck off which is what he's had before. Any tips for getting the lines even on both sides would be great! For...
forums.horseandhound.co.uk forums.horseandhound.co.uk
 
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My horses live out and are out blood hounding etc at weekends so I clip out but leave legs & half head, usually take the legs off in January, obviously I rug accordingly but makes life so much easier getting them clean & dry x
 
We did a blanket clip on our Welsh D in October but it had grown back by November 😂 we’ve re clipped her and done a full clip (with legs on) and it’s much better, she was super sweaty still with the blanket clip, it just wasn’t enough off for her. I’d go full clip if I were you and you have some good rugs
 
maya2008 said:
I think I have rug trauma from having had a TB - the last few years with natives and just a rainsheet have been very relaxing! Have hunted down a medium weight though and can order more once we have seen how much we can get off (first clip with us, not clipped in previous home - hence not wanting to faff with head on clip no.1!).

Do I take it from all these replies that cobs run v hot and I will have to take off a lot more than with a silky haired NF to get the same effect?
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A medium weight will be fine if you clip most of it off.

Louis was clipped about 3 weeks ago his in 100g at night living out, Arabi is in the same although not clipped yet he has a much finer coat.

I only use neck rugs in awful rain and snow weather and they cope fine I feed them ad lib hay in winter as I don't have a huge field.
 
Cowpony said:
I've just done a blanket clip on one of mine. She has arthritis in her SI area, so it keeps her back warm while stopping her sweating. Interestingly somebody told me that her professional clipper said a blanket clip is one of the hardest to do due to the straight lines!
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I agree I used to clip horses for extra money when I worked with horses blanket clips are the most difficult I hated doing them 🙈
 
I always take everything off - I think it looks smarter.
I also think half head, legs, and saddle mark left on is smart too :)

Only because you said you wanted to show - otherwise I'd say Irish clip to start and take more off if needs be.
 
I have a cob who grows a ridiculously thick coat. Over the last few years when he's been in and out of work I've done Irish/Chaser type clips varying the amount taken off, sometimes taking half head off. We used to compete the yards ponies and horses, most off whom had chaser clips, the stickler for immaculate turnout YO deemed it smart enough. With chaser clip the heaviest he's in is a 100g.

One thing that has caught me out with him is if he's fully clipped he goes from a hot horse to needing well rugged. Looking at the amount of hair that comes off especially over his backside and back it shouldn't surprise me really but I did under rug a few times in the cold, wet weather, he mainly lives out. Although he may be unusual in this as my other cob never needed the amount of rugging when fully clipped.
 
Unless not really working I always do everything off apart from half head, legs and a saddle patch. Looks smart and easy to do. I know it's personal but for me blanket clips are not a flattering look, so if I had a young horse I'd just do a high Irish, so all neck and belly if I didn't want to do a full clip.
 
Agree with leaving half head, legs and a saddle patch (a lozenge / half pad shape). It is the least number of lines to keep straight and has the bonus that most are hidden or only visible from one side at a time. I’m not very good at clipping…
 
maya2008 said:
Cob x trotter - sweating buckets from a trot and canter hack (neck, shoulders, body) less with a shorter session in the arena. Currently living out. Could stable. Arena work 3x a week, walk/trot hack twice (well, canter in good weather!). Doesn’t jump - dressage pony in training.

My go-to before her was an Irish clip (low to start with, revising upwards as needed). But that was years ago on natives who lived out without access to a stable. She has a much thicker coat. Plus I want to go out and compete once we have the basics in place so needs to look sort of smart. Want to leave the head on.

Irish? Trace? How high would you go?
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Whole body except legs. Hunter.

Rocky (whom I exercise for someone) lives out with a hunter. Obviously you rug up but even then Rocky doesn’t always want a heavy rug especially since it’s been mild.

Honestly it’ll be much easier to manage with a hunter. Especially in the spring when it’s malting time!!!!
 
Clipped my clyde all year round fully. Just left a saddle patch and half head. Clipped every 6 weeks. He was in full work though.
 
Well… you’re all right that I’m going to need to take a lot off! Pony was terrified to start with so we made it to bib and stopped. She then went on an hour’s hack and came home drenched. So plan is to spend the next week on mega desensitisation and then see what she will tolerate that will take the most off. I don’t think I will be able to get it all off for a few months because I need time to build trust. But equally need her not soaking wet all over after every ride!

In contrast, son’s 4yo had never been clipped before and that was SO much easier. One bib clip - but I only stopped there because she’s young and was being so good I wanted to stop before she ran out of patience. She was an absolute angel. Will probably use her as a good example for the cob x as I’d like to take the belly off too!

Thanks for all the ideas! Next year when she’s a pro at this, I think I’ll be definitely heading down the hunter clip route. It’s like owning a large Shetland - so much hair!
 
maya2008 said:
Well… you’re all right that I’m going to need to take a lot off! Pony was terrified to start with so we made it to bib and stopped. She then went on an hour’s hack and came home drenched. So plan is to spend the next week on mega desensitisation and then see what she will tolerate that will take the most off. I don’t think I will be able to get it all off for a few months because I need time to build trust. But equally need her not soaking wet all over after every ride!

In contrast, son’s 4yo had never been clipped before and that was SO much easier. One bib clip - but I only stopped there because she’s young and was being so good I wanted to stop before she ran out of patience. She was an absolute angel. Will probably use her as a good example for the cob x as I’d like to take the belly off too!

Thanks for all the ideas! Next year when she’s a pro at this, I think I’ll be definitely heading down the hunter clip route. It’s like owning a large Shetland - so much hair!
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Practice makes perfect! If you have a horse thats dead relaxed about clipping you can tie them up next to each other and run the clippers over the calm horse. I once had to tie the spooky pony about 20 metres away and work closer over a few weeks!
You can also use things like massage mitts or electric toothbrushes to get them used to the buzzing. Also bribery and corruption!
 
I think it is rather funny that people are saying easier to whip it all off and rug, when then you have all the faff of which rug, muddy rugs, torn rugs etc. to deal with for the whole winter, where you could spend a bit more time getting a clip line right and not bother with rugging at all! A one off hit of faff versus months of "expensive!" faff.
Though when I compare my fuzzy, lightly clipped and often muddy pony with the sleek fully clipped and rugged very smart beasties, I can see why people choose to do it.
 
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