What to charge for body clipping?

[4horses]

I am quitting my job at the end of the month and am attempting to find a temporary job to hold me over until I find a more permanent position. I am considering taking up body clipping- I did a couple horses last year and everyone was happy. The only thing I have not done is faces- I don’t normally clip my horses face, other than under the chin. Is there anything I really should practice? Any tips for getting a really show-worthy clip job?

I’m looking at getting some Lister Star Clippers in addition to my Andis ACG 2 speed clippers.

Is $130 reasonable for a full body clip? and $90 for a body clip (without legs)
What should I charge for bathing the horse? Last year I ended up clipping some really dirty horses and it took twice as long as it should have.

[mmeqcenter]

Price will be somewhat dependent on your area and what the going rates are.

I’ve seen anywhere from $50-100 for partial clips, including trace, irish, blanket, and hunter, all of which leave the hair on the legs and have varying degrees of the face clipped. $125-200 for a full clip including full face and legs.

Personally, I would require the horse is freshly bathed and dry prior to my arrival. It’s a pain to have to bathe a horse then sit around and wait for them to dry. Could take hours depending on how long their hair is. If the horse is dirty, I’d either refuse to do them or charge extra for the extra time and blades required.

[luvmyhackney]

I used to pay 125.00 for body clipping my hairy beast of a pony. He was sparkly clean and dry plus worked prior to being clipped. He’s easy to clip and the clip job was pro level.

I’ve seen anywhere from 125.00 to 200.00 for a full size horse.

[2tempe]

Central Florida - seems to run $125 range full body, no face, horse cleaned and dry. So I think you are on the right pricing track. Worth pondering: Some horses get fussy before whole body is done and need a break. I use someone at our barn so my horse gets mostly done one day, then finished up the second day. If you have a couple at one location, you could give one a break while starting the other and thus not waste time/mileage, etc.
You could charge for bathing, but that’s taking up a lot of time waiting for the drying, so I’d say clean/dry only.

[lintesia]

I charge $150 and the horse must be clean. I find that horses are often better behaved when the owner is not present, so I don’t insist on the owner being there. At the same time, most of the clipping I do is at a training barn, so there’s a trainer or assistant on hand to help if there are difficulties (usually face).

The one time someone did not honor the bathing agreement, I gave them the choice of either rescheduling with a bath or paying an additional $50 to cover the cost of the Lister blade. (They chose the $50…)