Putting a horse under lights, or body clipping?

[Spotless]

Hey all!

I show APHA/pinto HUS and ride at a hunter/jumper barn. No horses are under lights, and those in heavy work are just body clipped. How big of a no-no is that if I were to body clip my black gelding and take him to some breed shows in the spring? He gets harrier than a shetland so I have to do something. He was put under lights as a 2 and 3 YO before I got him, and from what I remember he still got pretty fuzzy. I’ve never put a horse under lights.

Tips, help?

[Palm_Beach]

I’ve never done it, but I’ve clipped in late February and had a beautiful coat.

[saddleup]

I show APHA and my gelding is under lights this year, but previously I’ve had him at home and he got hairy, then went to the trainer’s in January and we ended up having to body clip him when we couldn’t force his shedding out in time for the first show. It wasn’t a big deal. There were others there who were also clipped. Fortunately mine looks great with a body clip, and his color isn’t altered. But I’ll admit some of the others, especially the bays, suffered a bit in comparison to the horses who had been under lights. I’ve never seen one with a trace clip other variety of clip that you commonly see at hunter/jumper shows in the spring. Only a full body clip. But where you live might determine what’s the “norm”.

[sandsarita]

I show Aqha and have done both. I prefer lights and blankets as doing a total body clip is just miserable for me and horse alike. However if your barn doesn’t offer lights or your horse blows a hair coat you may have to clip. I clipped my gray for the Aqha world show in November and you couldn’t tell he was even clipped. His system was kinda messed up last year and he blew his coat twice so after world I took him off of lights for 2 months then put him back under. He never really grew a thick coat back in and hasn’t had any issues this year, knock on wood

[findeight]

Lights have to be a certain candle power or above to effect the coat, not something you can tinker together at home…and the cost to operate them is noticeable on your untility bill.

I’ve kept in both environments and, honestly, couldn’t tell the difference between a couple of weeks old body clip and an under the lights coat… EXCEPT on horses that have funky undercoat colors but even those slicked up can be very attractive if it’s a good clip with good clippers/blades instead of a hack job.

[Showbizz]

Different breeds prefer different methods. I mostly show Arabians, and that breed tolerates clipping or lights equally. I’ve found the stock breeds to greatly prefer lights. Honestly, I’m great at clipping, but I don’t blame them. I think a horse under lights looks better than even a perfect clip job, EXCEPT for grays!

[Spotless]

Thanks everyone! Sounds like I will just end up body clipping the hairy beast.

[Montanas_Girl]

Given enough lead time, both will work equally well. Be sure your horse is getting a well-balanced diet and plenty of regular grooming. As an example, both of these photos are of the same horse (a chestnut, so VERY prone to the post-clipping ugly coat color changes) and both were taken in April. The first photo was taken after about a month under lights (“light” really - a single work light that we rigged up in his stall, so far from perfect). The second was taken about a month after being body clipped. Other than the fact that he is obviously much older and not fit in the second photo, you’ll see that the end result for his coat was pretty much the same either way.

Clipping is much simpler than lights, if that helps push you further towards that decision. :yes:

[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:9873927}[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“title”:“TAHA 1.jpg”,“data-attachmentid”:9873925}[/ATTACH]