I usually do a full body clip on my horse for winter in So California. The weather has been pretty mild the last few winters, with only a few nights getting down into the 30’s. I’m trying to reduce my horse expenses, and paying for blanketing is one of the things I can play with.
If I do a trace clip, can I get away with not blanketing?
I would think you would need to blanket those nights it gets down into the 40s and 30s. Maybe when you did the full clip you used a medium and now you can get away with a light, but I think he’ll still need a blanket.
If you do a complete trace clip yes you probably will need to blanket occasionally. If you do just a bib type clip you’ll probably be okay, especially if horse generally stays warm and is in a stall in really bad weather. I’ve done that even here and been fine.
I feel like you can get away with not clipping and not blanketing if you recognize that you’ll likely need extra time for cooldowns
I sometimes do a modified trace clip where I leave the belly hair. You can start with a narrow strip and see if that’s enough. You can always clip more later.
I would do the most minimal clip possible and see how that works for you. If your cool downs are still crazy long, then clip more. You’ll probably have to blanket if it gets below 50F. You have to replace what you took away essentially. I did an Irish Clip on my guy this year and he is always clothed up to 55-60F. He runs hot, but it’s been windy and rainy here so he’s been fine with a blanket.
If you do the trace clip above and leave hair on the underside, that may work. If the horse has free choice hay and shelter, that also works in your favor to keep the horse warm sans blanket.
What happens if you just don’t clip?
I have a small pony who I used to battle weight with (he preferred a pumpkin shape to a horse shape). I used to trace clip him (clipping his stomach also) and leave him blanketless all winter up here where it’s cold and wet all winter. If we hit a particularly bad cold spell I’d give him extra food.
So I would say “yes, asterix.” It will, of course, depend on how your horse deals with cold (which I say recognizing that you don’t really get cold cold). If yours is an easy keeper and not prone to getting cold I don’t see it being a problem. If you can throw him an extra flake or two on cold nights I would think you would be fine in your climate. With my pony I always aimed to clip during a not-terribly-cold week so he’d have a couple weeks worth of hair growth back on him by the time we hit a cold snap. Once that happened we were good to go for the rest of the winter.
I think if you clip, you have to be prepared to blanket at least some of the time. You are essentially taking away what the horse would naturally have to protect them against the weather. I would not, no holds barred, assume you could get away with not blanketing completely. Of course, there are lots of people in Europe with shaggy ponies who do a modified trace clip and don’t blanket, and their temperatures are more moderate than I am used to (more like your weather, I imagine). But I would certainly have blankets on hand just in case there is a freak weather system or sudden temperature drop or high volume of precipitation in a short period of time. I have a boarding barn and I always feel awful when I come across one of my boarder’s horses shivering and they don’t have a blanket for me to put on them (to the point that I now keep “spares” in common sizes to prevent this). Even my tough, outdoor 24/7 shaggy stock horse boarders get cold sometimes, and they are not clipped at all.
winter in So California. a few nights getting down into the 30’s.
here I always thought it was nothing but sun and fun there (well, and taxes), here the lowest we have been down to is 45f
As long as your horse has free choice hay and something to block the wind, I would think he’d be fine nekkid
I’m in SoCal and where I am it goes down into the 20s in winter and has gone lower - with snow.
But, it’s usually a lot more mild than many areas. We no longer clip at all. We’re no longer showing. Definitely blanket when it’s in the 30s. I would blanket in the 40s at night if the horse is clipped. And, as a previous poster stated it depends on the horse - even within the same breed. If the horse is shivering - it’s cold. If there’s wind chill, rain or snow - blanket.
Ours go in and out at will. So, we blanket. If it’s a sunny and cold day - the blankets will come off but not if the high is in the 30s.
Someone asked 'what happens if you don’t clip?" They grow their natural coats. We had one we called the wooly mammoth her coat came in so long and thick. Others don’t grow that much of a coat. So, you judge blanketing by the horse and the conditions - clipped or not.
I’m in Central VA, we do get temps down into the 20s fairly frequently and in the teens occasionally. My horses live out with access to shelter. Most years, I do a combination of a trace and a blanket clip, taking a little more hair than a trace, less than a blanket.
I only put turn out rugs on if the weather is REALLY foul - wet snow or sleet. Last winter I didn’t rug them at all because the winter was mild. I use mid weight turnouts.
I worked for a riding school for many years that handled all the schoolies this way - blanket clips, and turnout rugs only in the foulest weather.
This has worked well for me for years. However, my horses are both easy keepers and tend to get fat on free choice hay, and they are only in light work. This method probably wouldn’t be as successful with hard keepers or horses who were eating concentrates because of their work load.
As in all things horse, YMMV.
I think the most correct answer to your question is the entirely unhelpful “it depends.”
I don’t clip at all because I don’t ride hard enough to justify doing it. I also don’t, as a general rule for the average horse, blanket at all. But I’ll blanket an unclipped horse if they’re living outside and we’re going to have one of those freezing rain, 40 degree temperature drop cold front nights like we get sometimes in Florida in the winter.
Depending on temperature and humidity, your horse’s susceptibility to cold, whether he is inside at night or lives out, how thick a winter coat he has, and how much hair you take off in your clip, you may need to blanket with a trace clip or you may not.
Trace clip in S. Cal? I think unless he is thin or otherwise unwell, he will be perfectly fine without cloth-wear. He will still need a turnout sheet when it’s windy and cold, especially when windy and cold and rainy though.
Why clip at all? He’s pretty furry already, but the days are warm and he gets so sweaty where the girth goes. The current ten day forecast goes no lower that 70/50. The first year I owned him I didn’t clip him, and when I took him to a show in December, it was 99 degrees. (I did clip him after that.) You might remember the horrible fires we had last year in January due to hot dry weather. So I feel like I need to do something to help him stay cool.
I have a rain sheet for him if we get really wet weather.
I seem to be talking myself into clipping!
I used to trace clip my pony when I was riding heavily in winters. Honestly he was so much happier. That wooly coat in bright winter sun = miserable pony. I didn’t put sheet on him until it was close to 30s, and didn’t put lightweight blanket unless it was 20s or below. I think I used the lightweight blanket average once or twice a year when we had bad blizzards. He was quite happy in this arrangement. My horses live out 24x7 with shelters and trees.
What if you full clip him now? I’m not sure how the west coast works with climate and hair growth, but if the weather is mild now you may have a nice medium-length coat in a month or six weeks when it gets colder.
He’ll have summer weight coat for a few months if I do that.
I do a high trace clip on my furry beasts and don’t blanket, but I do leave the belly hair. Been doing this for years, for various horses, and they’ve always been fine. My horses have access to a barn and can get out of the weather.
A few 30ish nights over the entire winter would not make me blanket. If it gets below freezing, I up their hay.
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