Ear Clipping Tricks

A small reaction in the moment is understandable. The 4 months of trauma overturning over a year of training though suggests that your horse doesn’t actually have the solid foundation you think he does. Having good ground manners when conditions are ideal is a great start, but it sounds like he could start building his ability to cope with less than ideal circumstances too.

It sounds like you’re a little overprotective and maybe walking on eggshells a bit around him, and he’s gotten used to that which makes any kind of pressure seem like a big deal to him. It’s all very well-intentioned but since he will be handled by other people he should be able to cope with normal handling practices as part of his basic training. Something like preparing him to be restrained for vet care is a necessary life skill - you personally may not want to use a twitch but he will encounter one at some point and if he responds by slamming against the wall you risk his safety and the safety of everyone around him. He sounds like a really good boy so I’m sure he’ll figure it out in no time. He just needs to reset his threshold a bit and learn to maintain those good ground manners even when things are happening that he isn’t crazy about.

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I like the ear plug idea because he doesn’t mind ear plugs, but he doesn’t like when the hair gets pulled. I’ll try working around them with the clippers and see if minimizing the noise helps. Thank you for the idea. And yes, I have a feeling he’s head shy with other people from being popped :frowning: and he may no associate me with the experience. :frowning: …oh and yes, I use cordless, quiet clippers :slight_smile:

Definitely don’t walk on egg shells around him. Quite the opposite actually lol. I did work slowly with him initially with the clippers but he adjusted immediately to clipping. He stands completely still for body clip and face still. Ears I just eased in to clipping in the beginning as no one wants to be attacked by clippers in the ears. This horse is solid. He’s a none spooker, will approach and handle anything so I do not think this is the issue.

These are the ones I started with after discovering the striking problem.

https://www.farmvet.com/Wahl-Super-Pocket-Clipper?CAWELAID=120037530000011852&gclid=Cj0KCQjwu-63BhC9ARIsAMMTLXTGXXT7rGUeHBNGhGge2yLoFuiGm847_ISwuJalChD4LLUZiq2T54saAma8EALw_wcB

(they used to be $12)

I also used to have his stall front open and just hang out outside the stall running normal clippers. He would paw until he gave himself the hiccups. I also sometimes got asked to clip or trim other horses, and I cross tied those horses right outside my horse’s stall. Eventually ventured into the stall with the mini clippers, but it took a long time before any clipping contact was made. And I had to keep the mini clippers for the head for a while before he could use other ones, but at least I could do some leg clipping with other clippers not long after the first good experience. Meanwhile, we could literally shockwave his head without drugs and he was fine with that.

Perfect, I’m going to grab these. I have a nice Wahl Bravura 5 in 1 that I use to clip his ears with and they’re pretty quiet, but maybe the smaller ones will be less intimidating.

My young horse is horrible for having his ears clipped and we’ve tried everything. Thank you for this suggestion, I think I’m going to suggest we try it!

Just know that you cannot buy replacement blades for those. It’s very wasteful IMO. But you have to buy a whole new complete clipper. I guess considering the price of some blades, it’s still not bad. I don’t know about sharpening them because they are tiny. Thankfully I was able to move on to larger cordless ones after 2 of these mini clippers.

For the clippers you linked, I have a set I use on my dog. Wahl will sharpen the blades and you can get replacement blades from them and I believe Chicks sells them, at least they used to.

They work great for between the dogs pads and around the face. Much less intimidating.

Oh that’s good to know! I contacted Wahl about mine (though it was years ago now), and they said there wasn’t anything they could do or replacement blades.