Body clipping a horse with an ugly/dull coat.......

[kryptoniteqhs]

Ok, so every year my barrel horse gets a wierd coat, its ugly, dull, and kind of curly (no he does not have cushings). He then starts shedding in patches in april and doesnt fully shed out and look normal and sleek and shiney until mid june. Im thinking of body clipping him real soon (it seems like the right time, its warming up, but he still has longish hair for the most part). Im hoping that maybe if we take all this crap hair off that maybe when his new hair comes back, it wont be so yukky next time, plus we can get rid of all of it sooner and he wont get as hot bc he will be ridden a lot and hard (btw i just started him on a hoof and coat, so maybe well be fine next winter anyway). Im worried that the hair will come back and he'll be stuck with a thick/coarse coat all summer that wont come off with out body clipping. I had bought a halter filly one time that had been body clipped and her hair would not come off all summer! what do you think?

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

Most wait till the summer coat begins to come in and then body clip with a long blade. By waiting till the summer coat is coming in, and the horse is committed to shedding the winter (it has started coming out) then clipping him long you avoid damaging the new summer coat (still short) but you get rid of the over long curly stuff that tends to mat. You also leave the horse with enough coat to stay warm at rest yet dry easy after work. That helps avoid the problem of the horse deciding to keep both coats too.

I have to do this with one Morgan that has a bit of the curly coat gene and will mat to the point of weeping sores behind his elbows, between his hinds and over his flank/belly if I do much spring riding. I was just eyeing him up for the right moment yesterday, he is not quite there yet. I just do a patchwork job on him, the whole horse would be way too much work!

ETA don't clip under your saddle, it's too irritating.

 

[goodhors]

We have had good luck with getting ours shed clean by starting conditioning works. They are used about 4-5 days a week, sweated and then cooled off with coolers until dry. You put the cooler square on in stall until it looks frosted, change to another cooler square, continue until horse is dry. Usually takes 1 per horse unless they are VERY hairy. Seems like after the first couple weeks of being sweated, the hair starts falling off, even with cooler temps outside. They are so unfit, that just walking a couple miles will get them sweating at the beginning!! Sweat is nasty, dirty foam the first few times, then the clear stuff comes as pores are opened, horses quit being dumb dancing along. Funny how sweat only gets foamy then when horse is upset, otherwise it stays clearn.

Have you tried feeding any corn oil, extra soybean meal, for coat improvement? Mine get soybean meal in with their corn and oats, has been great for hooves and hair coats, since both are protein. Starting now, additive like that should help the new hair coming in look better.

Lastly, is horse really CLEAN to the skin? They do get pretty filthy during winter, not washed or brushed as much as in summer. Winter hair is also bleached out a bit here, not as nice as summer hair. Being longer, winter hair just doesn't seem to have the appearance we expect of a summer horse coat.

If he has the matting problem mentioned, maybe you could trim those areas with clippers, so they dry faster, don't mat up. Armpit, base of windpipe, between hind legs if they rub.

I would wait to see if working him more as you get him condtioned for competition, doing long rides, sweating him regular, then cooling him off, brings off the hair. Soybean meal, corn oil, could help with the shine part.

You can always clip him later. We body clip for competiton in summer heat. Helps us quickly lower temps and respiration in the Vet box 10 minutes we are allowed. We try to body clip about 14 days before competition. Ours are hosed and bathed after being sweated daily, to get back the shine. That first couple days they look WEIRD! By the 14th day, they have enough shine to blind you. Ours are driven, not ridden, so have had no problems under harness. Not sure of the ridden clipped horse being irritated. I use fleece pads for riding, have never had a sore horse with them when we go from driven to ridden after competitions.

Clipping a clean horse saves wear on your blades. Keeping blades from overheating allows them to stay sharp longer, doesn't BURN the horse. We have a couple sets of the big Oster/Sunbeam clippers, so we alternate when body clipping to prevent overheating. Doing 2-4 animals at one time, you can go faster with a couple sets of clippers. Oddly enough, the single speed clipper seems much more powerful to cut with, takes lots longer to get hot. Mine don't care about noise or speed of blades, so single speed works fine here. I use the common blades, 83-84 top and bottom for body clipping. Not too short of hair.

 

[currycomb]

do not know how true this next statement is, but show folks mention it alot. if you worm with ivermectin, the coat tends to hang on, so maybe worm with something else until fully shedded out. horses get 2 new sets of hair. summer coat starts forming in dec, and winter coat starts in july if i remember correctly. you could also do a hunter clip, just shave where the horse sweats the most, and then they cool down faster(neck, behind elbow, flanks, etc)