Gah clipping. At seems like such fun when you think about it, but in reality it's a pretty sucky job. Rascal was supposed to be very difficult to clip, and terrified of the clippers buzzing but she was good as gold to do. We had a sedative on hand and used it after the bulk of the clipping was done to do her head and then so Kim could pull her mane.
It was Kate who was supposed to be good to clip that was difficult. She initially freaked out and then was really good to do most of it, but super touchy. I was doing under her flank and she jerked her leg forward and I cut her. Ad then forget about it. Obviously someone has clipped her and cut her armpits and flanks because as soon as we went to do those areas she really started to act up. Needless to say she has a very untidy clip in these areas. The plan was to have a staron her bum but then it looked stupid so I just took it off. She also didn't like me clipping up around her ears, and now she wont let me touch her ears. Stupid people who think ear twitching is ok.
Still the hair is off, and despite both of them looking like they were clipped with hedge trimmers, at least they will dry quickly now. It was interesting under Kates coat, she has a few patches of a skin problem. So she will have to be bathed today I guess. I know it's not good and I should just train them better, but I love clipping sedated horses. After all I only clip once a year and when they are asleep, you can dpo neater lines, they don't get itchy and you don't have things like Kates leg jerk/cut happening. It didn't help that I was running out of light and had to clip Kate in a hurry also I guess. After I was done, wiped the horses down and leapt straight into the shower, to get rid of the serious case of the itchies I had.
I have a love/hate relationship with my clippers...my horse stands, but sedating him is just so much better/easier b/c then he doesn't get impatient and start swishing and moving...and I'm totally with ya on the itchies! After body clipping I have horse hair in places where horse hair should never be!!! :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's a pain when you have to deal with problems other people caused by mishandling your horse before you got it! I don't clip so am spared the exercise.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't look that bad!
ReplyDeleteAt least it's not all scary looking like they just came out of an auction or something.
And Lacey was the same way with clippers too. She freaked out but after a while, she was OK with it.
i left a star on my horses hip last fall it turned out really well! i used masking tape (painter tape) to mark off the area and just clipped rigoshoulu ht up to the tape! i was impressed at how well it turned out. you should give it a try next year.
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