Which blades do I have?
I bought new but from an individual Oster Clipmasters. My blades say AU 84. How do I if these are fine or medium blades?
83/84 AU are the blades you want. 
You’ve got the right ones for a body clip.
Do any of our western Washington riders hire out to do body clips? I’ve been looking for someone to clip my mare, but no luck so far. I’ve only done one body clip myself and it was a spectacular disaster. I used to have my trainer do it, but she moved. My mare is in Roy, and extremely well behaved. I do own a pair of heavy duty clippers, but I was having problems with them last time I tried to use them. New blades, so I’m not sure what the problem is.
I am surprised no one has mentioned wearing a rain coat! I was a late convert to doing this, but OMG! What a difference in hairiness! Except on an extremely warm day, I wear one every time I clip. No hair. None.
I clip both wet and dry. Dry for clients as that is what I am provided, wet on ones in the barn that I control. I love wet EXCEPT on lower legs. I find dry easier there.
A clean horse really is key to a good job. I don’t care about dulling blades, as I have so many sets, but to really get an even clip job, horse must be clean.
I am surprised no one has mentioned wearing a rain coat! I was a late convert to doing this, but OMG! What a difference in hairiness! Except on an extremely warm day, I wear one every time I clip. No hair. None.
I clip both wet and dry. Dry for clients as that is what I am provided, wet on ones in the barn that I control. I love wet EXCEPT on lower legs. I find dry easier there.
A clean horse really is key to a good job. I don’t care about dulling blades, as I have so many sets, but to really get an even clip job, horse must be clean.
[QUOTE=Small Change;7191436]
83/84 AU are the blades you want. You’ve got the right ones for a body clip.[/QUOTE]
Great! Thanks!
I wear a full rain suit when I clip to keep the hair off me. Sometimes I also wear a face mask since I seem to always end up with a sinus infection.
[QUOTE=PNWjumper;7189777]
Horse has to be WET, not damp and not in the process of drying at all. I keep a sponge in a bucket and wet an area before clipping. If the hair starts to dry at all it becomes a nightmare to try to get through. Wet hair is good, dry hair is fine, but damp is the worst of the worst.
My routine is to give the horse a bath and then not scrape much (if any) water off of them, followed by spraying them with show sheen, and then starting the process. Once I’ve finished a front quarter (neck/shoulders) I wet the sponge, rewet the horse and then proceed to the next section. It’s faster, the clippers stay cooler, and my horses are better behaved than when I try to clip dry (because it takes me less time - not because wet clipping is someone nicer on the horse ;)). Not to mention the fact that my ill-planned dry clips last year rendered one of my favorite coats too hairy to wear again.
I remember being really skeptical the first year I tried it. Right before I started I was watching my vet wash a horse’s leg (wound) before clipping the hair and then addressing the injury, and I commented that I was getting ready to try wet clipping for the first time. She looked at me kind of puzzled and said, “why would you clip dry hair?”
I’m a total convert. Especially after getting lazy last year and proving to myself 3 times over how awful it is to clip dry! Even cleaning up the hair afterwards is 10x the pain!
And for the record, this is what my mare had to say about dry clipping last year:
http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/a484/PNWjumper/Facebook/Mobile%20Uploads/483128_10151328761053408_1032036808_n.jpg[/QUOTE]
For what it’s worth mine I towel-dry mine so she’s more damp than wet, and by the time I get to the end it’s pretty dry. I use a lot of show sheen and didn’t have trouble with the hair clumping up, but maybe mine just doesn’t have as thick a coat as yours. I mostly do it because it takes forever for a shaggy horse to dry in the cold covered in coolers.
Thanks everyone for the tips! Luckily it took a LOT less time this time around! Then again the showsheen helped, a super clean horse helped (bathed twice) and of course little hair to clip helped too!
It took me about 4 hours, but this included breaks for my boy along with adding some shamrocks on his bum for good luck!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=598250679181&l=073496f0ec
I wear clear safety glasses and a dust mask from Home Depot when I clip. Helps a TON with not having to stop to blow my nose and rinse out my eyes.
Thanks to the suggestions of PNWjumper I will be experimenting with wet clipping of my medium pony in a week or two and have results for you all.
For those of you heading to Home Depot for face masks to keep from breathing in the dry hair, swing by the paint aisle and pick up a painter’s jump suit ($6-$9); it will keep the hair off of your clothes and when you’re done, unzip it and throw it away!
[QUOTE=MojitoMare;7191448]
Do any of our western Washington riders hire out to do body clips? I’ve been looking for someone to clip my mare, but no luck so far. I’ve only done one body clip myself and it was a spectacular disaster. I used to have my trainer do it, but she moved. My mare is in Roy, and extremely well behaved. I do own a pair of heavy duty clippers, but I was having problems with them last time I tried to use them. New blades, so I’m not sure what the problem is.[/QUOTE]
The barn my daughter takes lessons at has someone coming out to do body clips. We’re on the peninsula, but it sounds like she’s coming over from the other side. I can ask for contact info if you would like?
[QUOTE=ByTheBook;7189369]
I won’t throw in on the body, since you have gotten a good bit of advice about it. For clipping the face, use a #10 blade and clip the whole head. Then go back with a #15 (if you use anything tighter than a #15, he will look like an Arabian–ha!) and clip from the tear bone down to under the jaw and the underside of the jaw. Then clip a “v” in the forehead, following the natural like of the horse’s forehead and extending down to the inside corners of the eyes. Then clear the forehead, bridge of the nose, and the forehead with the #15’s. This makes the head look more refined. To be honest, I do also clip above the eyes with a #40 and the muzzle with a very faint “v” between the nostrils, just to clean up the areas with very fine hair anyway. Make sure you do the outside of the ears with the #10’s for home or #15’s if you are going to show. Clean out the ears with a #50. Also, bridle path in #50’s. If you’d like pics, just let me know. I have to clip today anyway. Good luck!
ETA: Always wipe the face with a damp cloth afterwards to pick up any loose hair and take a baby wipe or a paper towel with alcohol on it to wipe out the ears after clipping them.[/QUOTE]
ByTheBook:: I sooo wish you had a diagram for this explanation… I want to try it out
Susan Harris’ book Grooming to Win has this nicely diagrammed and written. That book is my bible.
