I tried them; I had the same problems. I sent them back.
Check the air vent. Because the things were made for sheep, the air vent is designed for wool, not horse hair, so horse hair can clog it more quickly than you’d expect. I took the vent cover off mine and brush it out every time I stop to oil blades. (And I alternate, oil one pause, Kool Lube the next.)
If the blades are getting hot, not the body, check that you’re tensioning them correctly.
You need to not only oil the blades frequently, but make sure the oil gets distributed throughout the clippers. What works for me:
Before the clippers get hot:
- Turn off. Brush the worst of the hair off of the blades with a dedicated stiff brush.
- Apply oil to all of the points as described in the user manual (found online).
- Turn clippers back on and rotate them every which way – side to side, upside down, etc.
- Turn off. Wipe off excess oil. Turn back on and resume clipping.
Also make sure the tension is set correctly. I had a set of Lister Clippers where the tension knob malfunctioned and wouldn’t stay in place.
The steps for oiling them can seem tedious as first, but once it becomes a habit you won’t even think about it. I’ve always felt that that the extra time it takes is more than offset by the efficiency of the clipping and how easy the clippers are on my hands and face(!). If I get carried away and don’t oil them before the clippers get way too hot, I set them aside and work on the face, lower legs, mane line - an area where I’m using different clippers (in my case, Andis AGC).
2 Likes
Barring some sort of engine defect in that one pair of clippers, I’m guessing that you weren’t oiling all the bits enough and/or not being diligent with tensioning. Personal experience has taught me the blades will get hot if either of those two tasks are not managed. But the reason they get so hot is that the engine does. not. slow. down. Ever. Once other clippers get hot, they stop cutting well so you are kind of forced to stop clipping or address the issue. Listers don’t care, they work on the principal that there’s a lot more sheep to shear and the human should be smarter than the machine. 
I need to resurrect this post to ask @Railbird if those clippers held up at all? I have one horse that I body clip a couple of times a year and for the last 5 years I’ve struggled through with very old Oster A5 clippers. But I just have a hard time spending $$$ on giant clippers I will use 2-3 times each year. My guy grows a pretty decent coat and we live in New England and he lives out most of the time. I’m happy to replace the blades with higher quality to avoid lines and the pony will be squeaky clean before clipping!
The motor is running fine, but unfortunately I let someone borrow them who lost some parts that I haven’t been able to replace (though admittedly because I sold my hairy yak pony so I have not tried too hard.) For the price I still think worth a shot if you’re just doing one horse a couple times a year.
