Clipping - Fashion or Function
posted by citizen.K on Thursday, September 25th, 2008 / 
Print & Hang in the Barn
Okay, okay for all those natural horse people, yes I clip my horse’s whiskers. Believe it or not, they still are able to keep their balance, avoid hitting their head (even in the dark!), and still have not lost their eyes to dragonflies (no, not making that up - actually heard this once).
I am the first to admit I am a little lax in the horse grooming/polishing department. As you know, cleaning tack is one of my least favorite activities within the horse universe. Though I enjoy the act of grooming my horse, keeping up their appearance has never been a big priority (probably another reason I’m not a huge fan of the hunter ring). I mean, really; horses can still jump very well when they have a little five-o-clock shadow.
But, then I was looking at one of my horses’ who was a little past the five-o-clock shadow mark. With two inch long muzzle whiskers, he looked dumpy, un-athletic, unkempt, plain, and ugly! I realized the muzzle whiskers really made a horse look like crap. I never realized that before because I have, for the most part, been in barns where the majority of horses were kept clipped pretty regularly (at least they probably didn’t get past my description of a five-o-clock shadow - 1/2” of whisker length or so).
Horses can still jump very well, even with a five-o-clock shadow.
So, my horse that looked like I picked him up at an auction for $20 got a quick clipping, and “poof”, he was returned to his handsome, statuesque, regal, athletic self. He looked like a well bred jumping machine! I stood back and thought to myself, “How shallow of me”. To actually not be able to see the horse, who I know is a nice horse, behind the shadow of the long whiskers? Tisk tisk.
Again I turned to the barn masses for reconciliation. Look at that! Every horse with five-o-clock shadow whiskers was an unathletic, unimpressive nag! Not to say they didn’t have nice personalities…
Though judging a horse by its whiskers isn’t necessarily a 100% accurate look into their physical ability, always question a horse’s ability to be clipped, especially before purchase.
And getting past the muzzle, I wondered how much of the other “clipping” was done for fashion or function. I regularly clip my horse’s bridlepath, muzzle, eye whiskers, and the fetlock/pastern sometimes cleaning up around the cornet band.
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Muzzle – Fashion
Eye Whiskers – Fashion
Bridle Path – Function
Fetlock/Pastern – Fashion/Function
Cornet Band – I have no idea – I guess fashion or old habit drilled into my head!
Ears – Fashion/Function – not a regular clip job
Clipping the bridle path is something I let go way too long. Mostly, I just forget about it until I have a hard time getting my bridle to sit nicely. It definitely appears more comfortable for the horse to have a nice, clean bridle path, and it is WAY easier to install a bridle on their head this way. No doubt, there is fashion within the bridle path clipping. But, for me, the bridle path is purely function.
Clipping the fetlock/pastern area is both fashion and function. A few of my horses do get some draft-like feathers on their legs. Maybe if they WERE draft horses, it wouldn’t bother me so much. But, they are not draft horses, so I would rather them not look like draft horses. The ones that don’t grow “feathers” still look much nicer if the fetlock doesn’t have those long hairs.
There is some function to clipping the fetlock/pastern area. I have had horses that were prone to getting scratches and would clip there legs from the cornet band up to just below the knee from fall to the end of spring. This would keep the leg from staying wet while being outside in the mud or snow. Even if I couldn’t get to the barn everyday to make sure the leg was dry, with clipping, it would dry quickly after they were brought inside. I would suggest clipping here for any horse that gets scratches.
Why I clip the cornet band is really beyond me. You cannot tell unless you are up, very close to a horse whether or not the cornet band hairs have been “cleaned up”. I know I worked for a very anal trainer who required every horse’s cornet band to be trimmed with other regular clipping, so I can only imagine this is just habit.
As far as clipping the ears, I do tend to clean up the outer edge of the ear. If I am showing, I might clip the inside of the ear. I also have clipped the inside of ears for horses that have had fungus, warts, plaque (white spots), or excessive bug bites. Since I use fly masks with ear covers, I don’t worry too much about leaving the ears exposed. But, I don’t like to clip out the ears in the winter, unless showing. Mostly its just because I HATE when my ears are cold, so I imagine that the hair in the ears provides some protection from the elements.
Clipping a horse, I guess, has to do with equal parts fashion and function. As much as I don’t want to be one of those people who always needs a cleanly clipped horse, I am surprised at how much nicer a horse looks when clipped.
And I admit it; I’m shallow. I want my horses to have their muzzle whiskers and eye whiskers clipped. I will no longer allow any of my horses to grow past the five-o-clock shadow mark.
And though my husband faithfully trims his five-o-clock shadow everyday, for me, that’s more function than fashion. I like the scraggly, mountain man look, but damn does it hurt my face.
Clipping is not overrated.
7 Responses to “Clipping - Fashion or Function”
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September 26th, 2008 at 1:17 am
O.K., so my horse doesn’t clip and, since he’s already 4, I assume he probably never will. I can do his legs and muzzle without a whole lot of problems, but his ears and bridle path require some combination of ace, twitch, lip chain, and a strong assistant. I got my horse from the racetrack directly, and I asked the person who trained him there why they don’t teach racehorses to clip. She said that the buzzing of the starting gate sounds a lot like the buzzing of clippers in the horse’s ears. Since they want the horses to burst from the starting gate when they hear the buzz, they don’t want to do anything to desensitize them to that sound. Which, if you’re training racehorses, makes sense. I had no idea until I asked her. I always thought it was strange the way they trained their racehorses to not spook at tractors, flowers, trains, cars, puddles, mud, etc. but never clipper-trained them. now I know.
I let my horse go a long time between clippings for this reason. It’s kind of an ordeal and not something I really want to do to him everyday. I’ve also never been able to get a non-clipping horse to be calm about having his ears or bridle path clipped. Legs, body and muzzle I can handle but the ear area is a no-go. I once heard of someone who attached a pair of small battery-operated clippers to the crown of their horse’s halter, put the halter on the horse, turned the clippers on and just left them on until the battery ran down (it took about 2 days). The horse had a big freak out but eventually calmed down and was easy to clip from there on out. I haven’t had the balls to try that myself yet–mainly because I worry about some freak accident involving my horse and some fast-moving blades.
September 26th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
I bet with alot of patience and rewarding small steps of progress, the above horse will eventually allow himself to be clipped. I don’t think that a lack of “imprinting” at a young age necessarily precludes the horse from learning a task as an adult. The trick is to be so painfully patient that something like the horse taking a breath instead of pulling on the lead shank is enough progress for you to quit for the day. We got an actual draft-cross hunt horse who needed amounts of Ace that would induce general anaethesia in a smaller horse for clipping and shoeing (eep!).
He has natural feathers, too, and often in the damp times of the year gets scurfies on his fetlocks, so we needed to clip them to help that heal up. It took days and days, starting with having him eat his hay queitly in his stall and turn the clippers on in the aisle and waiting for him to go back to eating his hay. Really painstaking stuff. (I don’t think I would encourage the unsupervised clippers-tied-to-loose-horse idea, but I’m a bit on the conservative side.) But he finally figured out that the clippers weren’t bad news and, bonus, he realized he LOOOOVES getting his chin and muzzle clipped. I guess the vibrations are relaxing? I’ve never seen anything like it: he actually leaned his chin on the clippers and closed his eyes like it was yoga.
Don’t give up yet!! Remember, part of the horse’s concern about ear-clipping is the ear-grabbing part. If they get really desensitized to your touching, pulling, folding and brushing the ears, make the same movements with the clippers off, then on. Don’t try to CLIP the ears, just try to make the clippers seem like a noisy brush until he relaxes.
I think bridlepath clipping is vital for the horses’ comfort — your bit is actually sitting in a different place in the horse’s mouth as his hair pushes it up. Also, the longer cheek and chin hairs can get caught in the buckles of your bridle and pinch. I’ve never been “cleanshaver” for the muzzle, but it sure does look better once it’s done.
Bridlepaths can be “fashion” in some breeds like Arabs and show Quarter Horses, where they lengthen the bridlepath to accentuate neck muscling. It takes a looong time to grow back in if you cut it too far, though!!!
September 27th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Elana–thanks. I definitely started desensitizing him to having his ears handled a while back, so that hurdle is past. Also, he’s fine having his bridlepath brushed and messed with. I can turn the clippers on near his ear area with no real problem, but he about flips over backward when they touch him. He’s fine getting his muzzle, legs, and jaw hairs clipped. I’ll keep being persistent, definitely. I have him for 4 more years before he’ll be old enough to be sold. So that’s enough time I think to work through anything. But if we don’t get the clipper thing done, I won’t be too surprised.
September 29th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
I “trim” my horse in the beginning of the spring to prepare for the show season and the warm weather. I clip his ears, fetlocks, lower legs, bridle path, and leave about 1/2 of his muzzle whiskers and eye whiskers and pull his mane. In the winter however, he gets to be a furry, hairy boy. And I will admit that horses look nicer clipped because it refines their features but at times you have to let a horse be a horse.
October 12th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Kay,
Do you scissor his bridle-path? If not, you may find it less difficult and traumatic to desensitize your horse to the idea of you being up and around that area trimming w/ a quiet pair of scissors. I’ve had to do it countless times, quickly and simply, no electric or batteries required. I’ve done fetlock (tricky) and coronet the same way in a pinch.
October 31st, 2008 at 4:42 am
Courtney,
I have considered that but he’s such a jumpy horse that I fear that he would flinch and I’d cut his ear. He did well when I clipped him a month ago–I held his ear a certain way and he stood perfectly still. Not an ear twitch, but more like an ear squeeze and he wasn’t touchy about his ears afterwards so I know it didn’t hurt him.
November 19th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
I had a friend who clipped her horse’s muzzle for the first time while at a show… no problem with the clipping, but for the rest of the weekend, every time he went to get a bite of hay, he would hit the hay with his muzzle and panic!! Now he was not the *brightest* horse, but as always, it’s good to introduce new stuff at home.