Partial clip advice

[clyde.bay]

I’ve decided to move my horse to a barn with an indoor ring so we can continue to ride this winter. Horse has been un-blanketed so far and already has developed a Sasquatch-esque coat. He will be going to a clinic in a week, and I’m concerned that he will sweat too much and get a chill. Also, I don’t think that when he moves to an indoor facility it will be practical to ride him with his full coat. So, I’m considering doing a partial clip. I have blankets for him, including with neck covers, but would prefer that I don’t have to blanket him too heavily. We live in a very cold climate, but it doesn’t get very cold until January. I realize that a trace clip might be my best bet, but I don’t love the look and am likely to make it look quite amateur-ish.
So I have a couple questions - what partial clips do you do on your horses? Pictures?
If I do a blanket clip or a similar clip, where his whole neck is bare, will his coat grow back enough that I can then just do a low trace clip in the very cold months?
With blanket clips and clips where his whole neck is bare, do you think it looks better to clip to the cheekpieces (i.e. half his head) or just trim up the beard area?

I would at least like him to look nice-ish for his clinic next week!

[Magicboy]

My problem with clipping this time of year is if I leave legs alone, eventually my gelding looks like he’s wearing very long stockings…I do a full body clip now then by January, just a blanket clip. He’s out 24/7 and wears a blanket, no nevk cover

[akhunterrider]

I have really only done body clipping on on of my horses. I live in Kansas, so we do get some pretty cold temperatures. I am unable to easily go to the barn more than once per day, so blanketing precisely for the temperate can be tough for me when only boarding at a partial care facility.

I was not attending any clinics in the winter when I have my last horse, but his body was clipped, but I left his belly, face and legs alone since he lived outside in a run with just an over head shelter.

My current horse is hopefully moving for a few months this winter so I have an indoor to use. Since he’ll get turned out during the day and be in a stall with attached run the rest of the time, I won’t do a full body clip. I’ll likely just to a bib clip to start off with and go to a trace clip if that ends up not being enough.

[clyde.bay]

[QUOTE=Magicboy;8386865]
My problem with clipping this time of year is if I leave legs alone, eventually my gelding looks like he’s wearing very long stockings…I do a full body clip now then by January, just a blanket clip. He’s out 24/7 and wears a blanket, no nevk cover[/QUOTE]

When you do a blanket clip, what do you do about the head? I am not willing to clip his face because the weather is still pretty variable, but am wondering if it would look better if I clipped to the cheekpieces or just left his head alone.

[enjoytheride]

I do a modified Irish Clip, I leave the head and as much of the neck as possible hairy, as well as the legs. I’m not concerned about my horse looking fancy, but being comfortable.

[GoodTimes]

I’m up in Alberta, horse lives out 24/7 with a run-in, but our indoor is heated.
We’re currently hovering around freezing during the day, below freezing at night.
I clipped two weeks ago and left his entire head unclipped, legs and belly unclipped as well. I’m attending a clinic with Archie Cox in a few weeks, I might trim some of the extra long hairs around his face, but I won’t clip it. He wears a blanket with a neck cover,
I’ll probably do some sort of trace clip in January unless it looking like a mild winter, then I’ll do another blanket clip.
In the spring before show season I’ll do a full clip.

[Equitational]

Do you a trace clip. Just the under side of the neck, belly and half way up the barrel. Just Google “trace clip on horse” and it will come up with different variations. I tend to tapper it at the flank, but others clip from their stifle to their haunch.

[Small_Change]

This chaser clip works nicely, and leaves hair on over the back. I do it on a lot of horses in our area, and as a bonus, it’s not as finicky as some of the trace clips that leave “wheel wells” on the flanks. For the head, just clip from the cheek pieces back - looks really tidy and still protects the ears.

Edited to add that it’s also very easy to modify the chaser clip to leave more hair on if you need to. Just drop the line lower and tie it in further up the neck. You can even leave a strip of coat on the top of the neck right to the ears, leading into the coat left on the head if you’d like.

[clyde.bay]

Thanks Small Change - that looks really nice! And it looks a lot easier than my previous attempt at a trace clip - couldn’t get the lines straight, not pretty

I will probably end up doing a low trace clip when it is actually cold and we aren’t venturing out in public anymore

[yellowbritches]

[QUOTE=Magicboy;8386865]
My problem with clipping this time of year is if I leave legs alone, eventually my gelding looks like he’s wearing very long stockings…I do a full body clip now then by January, just a blanket clip. He’s out 24/7 and wears a blanket, no nevk cover[/QUOTE]
This is my plan this year. I will clip him within a inch of his life next week (would have done it weeks ago, but life got in the way and he ended up on unexpected vacation). Then I’m going to try a blanket clip. My guess is I’ll want to clip him again in late winter/early spring, so I’ll do all of him.

OP, when I don’t clip the whole face, I prefer to do up the cheekbones, as I think it is a little cleaner looking. I’ll only leave he head of the horse is REALLY bad or the owner asked for it that way.

[SonnysMom]

My horse is getting the chaser clip this year. I have used something similar in the past. Basically a diagonal line from wither to stifle, everything in front of the line clipped except the legs. This year I am going to leave a little more on.

[BeeHoney]

I would say to clip the face. Unless your horse is living out 24/7 there’s no reason not to. The hair will have grown back by the time the weather is really terrible. An unclipped face and ears looks terrible. I hate leaving the “stockings” on h/j horses. I only leave the legs on fox hunters, and then only if their legs aren’t ridiculously furry llama legs.

[clyde.bay]

I think I will do the half face (to cheekbones), and clean up his ears and obviously trim whiskers. I will also clean up any guard hairs and his socks. Unfortunately, where he is right now, if the weather turns during the daytime, (i.e. gets cold and wet), they will not be brought in (and he doesn’t get space in the small shelter) so I feel bad taking away too much of his natural defences when I can’t cover them! I agree that a body-clip looks best, but I don’t think it’s fair to him given his living situation. His comfort comes first, and appearances second.

[pacific_jumper]

I agree with those who have suggested chaser/irish clips. I find they are much more attractive than trace clips and can be easily modified for your situation. Its also one single line, much simpiler than a trace clip with the same benefits.

[SophieTwoSocks]

I would also consider how much your horse generally sweats when clipping and how often you’re planning to be riding. I’m having a more relaxed winter this year and most likely not going to be showing, horse will be out during the day and stabled at night. It gets pretty chilly up here and we get a good amount of snow. Most irritating thing is how much my horse sweats. She thinks about being ridden and sweats. I chose to clip her body and face and leave her legs(she looks somewhat ridiculous - but she’ll have some hair on her legs when turned out in the potential 3’ of snow)

I’ve done all sorts of clipping patterns over the years. As long as your clip looks neat and tidy you should be fine! And even if you choose to leave legs, face, etc. there are still ways to tidy up those areas without removing all of the hair.

[clyde.bay]

Thanks for all the advice - I think the chaser/Irish clip is going to be the way to go - hopefully I will be able to make it look nice and neat - he’s still not clipped yet and he broke a sweat during a 20 minute light ride outside today

[SophieTwoSocks]

I did my first clipping about 2-3 weeks ago, which is a bit early in the season but she was getting too sweaty during our rides and it looks like I’m going to have to clip again in the very near future as she’s becoming very sweaty again.

The joys of horse riding in the winter months!

[mvp]

[QUOTE=Small Change;8387094]
This chaser clip works nicely, and leaves hair on over the back. I do it on a lot of horses in our area, and as a bonus, it’s not as finicky as some of the trace clips that leave “wheel wells” on the flanks. For the head, just clip from the cheek pieces back - looks really tidy and still protects the ears.

Edited to add that it’s also very easy to modify the chaser clip to leave more hair on if you need to. Just drop the line lower and tie it in further up the neck. You can even leave a strip of coat on the top of the neck right to the ears, leading into the coat left on the head if you’d like.[/QUOTE]

That’s a lovely clip— complementary to the horse, functional and well-done. Great model, too. I could pet that one and feed him candy all day.

[Simbalism]

I have done an Irish clip on one of my TB mares last year and just did it again last week to be prepared for the winter. I did modify it as her head should have been clipped. I just ended the clip under her neck. It looks pretty decent and was not too hard to do.

[winter]

I always do full body, chaser or bib clip depending on horse. I HATE trace clips. They are so ugly. I also won’t do a full body while leaving the legs/head and belly on that seems so popular up here. It’s also ugly and not functional since it leaves hair in the girth area.

The chaser as pictured is really useful. I draw a straight line from behind the ear to the stifle and clip everything below the line. I always partially clip the head and take off everything behind the cheek piece. I leave ears on. I have done it many times on a horse that lives out, in Canada with a neck piece on in colder weather. For a horse who does less work I will just vary how high the line is. For one that works very rarely I will do a bib clip: just take off the gullet of the neck and front of the chest.