I think clipping with a short guard would definitely be the safe way to go if you’re worried about buzzing the ends of the summer coats off.
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manitoban here - we get massive temperature swings here quite often, I do a bib clip on my guys and they do fine
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This is my experience too. I am not quite as far North as you are, but historically spring is a time with some weather extremes. It always has been. Random stupid hot days, random below freezing days. Oh darn, everything is covered with ice now to where did all these bugs come from.
On the crazy hot days I make sure my horses have shelter, hay, and water. The same thing I do on the ice covered days.
If I am going to work them but their winter coat is making that hard, I do as has been suggested up thread, I clip.
Edit to fix some really bad typing. Darn, why does proof reading not work when it is your own typing.
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Disclaimer - I have a Fjord. Keeping him cool enough year round is the name of our game.
He has some form of some kind of clip year round in the Great Lakes region. He gets fully body clipped once the humidity really starts kicking in which is late May early June. Our falls tend to have a LOT of hot days nows so he gets more of a trace clip/Irish hybrid clip starting in Oct/Nov. Then I let it grow out over the winter. Even with our low temps, I didn’t need to cover him with anything this winter and it was a rough one. I just did a generous trace clip again coming into the spring temps.
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Those types of swings are typical of the Colorado Front Range. I don’t know what I would have done with blanketing if DH hadn’t been home to put on and take off blankets as needed. Occasionally, though, we would have bedtime in the 55 degree F neighborhood, with snow moving in overnight. So the decision was always tough, especially since I had two that would stand outside no matter what. My Teflon princess (Paint mare) was always in one of the sheds, so I didn’t worry about her so much. All of them were old, and no longer able to stay comfortable just with free choice hay to keep them warm.
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I first read about the zebra clip being done as a winter clip for a horse that tended to get cold easily, but also sweated a ton in work. The stripes allow the horse to flatten the coat and let the heat dissipate more easily off the clipped stripes. Stripes spread the effect over the entire horse instead of just the larger clipped areas of trace or Irish clips. Similarly the hairy stripes can stand up to keep the horse warm, and the clipped stripes end up becoming pockets of warm air under a blanket.
In my horse’s case, he had trouble with the summer heat, and grew a weirdly dense summer coat that was only slightly longer than a normal summer coat. The first year I clipped him I did a reverse blanket clip, removing the hair from the area covered by his flysheet. The fly sheet was necessary because it was also prime deer and horse fly season.
A couple of years later I wanted to try clipping earlier, before the summer coat had finished growing, hoping there would be enough hair growth to allow me to take the fly sheet off during the hottest part of the summer. The problem was that the nights were still too cold for a body clipped horse living outside. So I tried the zebra clip. I figured I could clip the stripes off later, using the comb attachment to leave some length, if he needed the extra cooling.
The zebra stripes worked to keep him warm enough at night, and the coat growth was enough to allow me to take the fly sheet off later. I didn’t actually have to clip the stripes off.
This photo is probably a couple of months after the clip and the stripes have become less visible as the summer coat shed and winter coat started to show. Probably late July. I was starting with a low modified trace clip leftover from winter and the stripes were just done in the unclipped hair, the modified trace was unclipped with the elbow to stifle belly line pushed lower, still leaving unclipped hair along his bottom line as bug protection.
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It shouldn’t because it isn’t real. It was made up to make people like you stressed out. Don’t let it control your emotions. Anything the government wants to tax you to change the climate isn’t real.
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…uh so what about all the scientific evidence? That’s just… made up?
I mean I don’t even think the government cares about climate change anyway. Why would they? Their pockets are line by the people/companies actively accelerating it… not Big Science or whatever.
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Major storms moving through the East at this moment will take temperatures from 88 degrees (F) in New York Finger Lakes Region to 37 degrees by the morning. When I was young I don’t remember storms of this type other than in late summer. Now we have the chance for them all year long and damaging winds have definitely increased over the years.
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The problem is that most of the science is funded by the government so you have to tow the line.
You shouldnt let this crap give you anxiety. That’s what they want. They want you in a constant state of fear.
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It happens. I lived through Hugo, Katrina, the 2015 Snowstorm of Boston, The huge snowstorm in Tryon and then Helene. Nothing to do with climate change.
Now if you want to jump in the rabbit hole with me on Chem Trails and HAARP we can go. I find it funny that a few months after the Nothern lights that hit Tryon, the hurricane hit (I do have pictures of that and yes, I was in ground zero. Still had to drive to work under the storm though. Coming home it was like a bomb went off.)
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lol. Hilarious. Give me a second. I need to go grab my Reynolds wrap and fashion a tinfoil hat.
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I haven’t had such a good laugh all day.
Those that started with the early warning about climate change weren’t scientists, and they didn’t do research for the government…they were fisherman, Native Alaskans, National Park rangers, scuba divers, mountain climbers, farmers. Even the American Petroleum Institute ( a trade association) were aware of global warming as far back as the 1950’s and 1960’s. Exxon and Shell confirmed the links between fossil fuel emissions and the planetary consequences back in the 1980’s.
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That is cool! How long did it take to do?
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Sometimes I forget that people like this actually exist. God bless America
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That’s what Big Tinfoil wants.
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I agree. Bought the farmette in January 2000. Started noticing extreme wind issues 2017.
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Same…only I bought mine in the late ‘80s. Wind has changed, rain has really changed. I used to have a very small creek that was dry 9 months of the year. About 10 years ago, I spent thousands of dollars putting in big commercial culverts to prevent flooding. Now I wish they were bigger. Making hay is hard… windows are very narrow.
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Tell me about it!! Had 3 trees blow over about an hour ago.
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OMG, the wind, yes, it never stops it seems. It’s exhausting! It will be quiet until about 9am, and then kicks into gear.
@RedHorses That looks cool, makes your horse look brindle!
I dissuaded a couple clients from hauling out to trail ride saturday - it’s hard because I get they want to make the most of the nice weekends, but I can’t imagine it would be good for the hairy beasts to trail ride and haul in the unseasonal heat.
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