How does everyone get the insides of their horses ears clipped ? My horses and I both end up frustrated with me having to employ a twitch to get the job done … I use a small , cordless , quiet clippers .
Do you have to clip their ears? I don’t - and I show.
I’d hate it too. I can barely stand q-tips near my ears, much less something big and vibrating.
TBH I think it tickles most horses. some learn to be okay with it but if it is causing more trouble than it’s worth, it’s just as easy to just snip the excess tufts with scissors.
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I also just trim with scissors. (fold the ear in half and trim what sticks out)
I think that is sufficient for most disciplines, unless you’re doing halter.
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You’re supposed to clip them:confused:
Wanders off to ranch horse ring, looking confused
:lol:
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I show (locally) but my horses live outside 24/7 so I don’t want to clip the hair inside their ears. They need that for bugs. I just tidy them up with a scissors.
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Don’t clip them.
Horses are supposed to have hair in their ears, and whiskers.
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I just gently pinch the ear and fold the sides together and tidy the edges. Hair stays on the inside. If the horse told me NO, I wouldn’t bother. Cosmetics are not a reason for a fight.
Susan
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I’m with everyone else. I show regularly (in the hunter and jumper rings) and I do not clip ears. Like others, I fold them in half, trim the hair that sticks out and call it good. There are times (like when I’m using ear plugs) that I think clipping the ears might help the process a bit, but that hasn’t ever prompted me to change my program.
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I don’t
I don’t clip the inside of the ears or whiskers and I show. They need that hair to keep bugs out and they need whiskers for proprioception. I do the same as Kyrabee - fold the ears together and clip what’s sticking out.
In the beginning, most horses object to even this, but I desensitize by brushing the inside of the ear gently in the direction of the hair with a soft brush every day. By the time I clip, they don’t care.
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I just fold and clip the bottom part that hangs out. It can get gross with ?wax? and creeps me out. A million years ago I did whiskers and ears for dressage. Now I wish I could apologize to marsey. It didn’t bother her, but still. I learned not to clip the actual hair on her muzzle too, it makes it a creepy feeling rubbery nose. (I thought it might look cool, like those show arabians with their black oiled muzzles)
Only thing I clip is a bridle path & legs. Whiskers and ears are left how nature intended.
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When in a barn that wanted the insides of the ears completely out I used the smallest, quietest cordless clippers I could find and desensitized.
Current barn clips the outsides and maybe sculpts in a bit. They do muzzles, but not eye whiskers. We show A shows and it doesn’t seem to matter at all. The groom doesn’t love it, but the trainer insists.
Same as everyone above. I don’t do ears or muzzles. Just legs and bridle paths. If I had one with really fluffy ears, I’d fold and cut the excess, but neither of mine do at the moment and I show in a bonnet anyways. Clipping ears is not the hill I’m going to die on.
Like everyone else, I stopped clipping a long time ago. Especially the ear. All that fuzz keeps the bugs out.
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I clip mine because he likes to wear ear plugs but doesn’t like me pulling his hair to get the plugs in and out. He had a hard time learning to be clipped in general, but once he was ok with clippers, ears were easy so long as the clippers are quiet (see need for ear plugs above). He wears a fly mask with ear covers to help protect from bugs otherwise, and the ears don’t have to be totally smooth to get the job done with ear plugs.
Some horses like you to take a very firm hold of the ear. Others hate this and on those you need to make just light strokes with the clippers. Desensitizing the bridle path area first usually helps. Horses with aural plaques or similar painful issues may never be ok with clippers.
I teach them to drop their heads so I can do what I need. I’m vertically challenged, so it’s necessary. You need to teach them to give to pressure, then shape the head dropping until they are really solid with that. Once they know the head drop response, you introduce the clippers gradually, first off and then on a low vibration.
It’s always a huge mistake to do anything like twitching when you are trying to train a horse. Over time, you want them to be confident that the things you are doing are not going to hurt them, so they learn quickly and don’t get anxious.
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Another vote for don’t clip them. I sometimes “neaten” them up with scissors but no clipping. Seriously the idea of clippers buzzing in my ears thoroughly creeps me out. I’d go the better living through chemicals route before I’d go the twitch route for clipping though.
I clipped only when showing breed or Rated Open with horses that were mostly stall kept in barns with fly control systems but otherwise it’s a PITA that’s unnecessary and takes a long time to condition a horse to accept.
If you must, you start just handling the ears every time you groom. Use a towel to gently wipe the tips clean eventually. No pressure, slow and easy. Then the quietest cordless clippers you can find, run them around the head without touching until they accept the noise, then place them against the cheek while running to accept the vibration. It should take about a month with daily handling. Some quicker, some never mind it, others maybe longer. But you cant just try to school them to it occasionally, got to be every time you handle them you handle the ears.
Even if you never intend to clip, horse should be schooled to allow it’s ears to be handled without turning into a giraffe. Check for ticks, Doctor, gently clean and makes them much easier to bridle if they don’t mind their ears touched. Many of them learn to love their ears scratched and the tips gently wiped clean and its a huge trust thing.
Found that putting in ear plugs not only lessens and noise but keeps the hair from falling inside the ear resulting in head shaking. I’d hate that, can’t imagine they don’t too.
NOT directed at you OP–Some people create this issue by spraying horses in the ears while bathing. Always use a sponge. Note that babies don’t mind at all when their ears brush up against mama while nursing. Ear-handling evasion is often man-made garbage.
