Clipping

UUUhhhhhhhhhhhh. I have so many cure pictures to share with you and lots of good news, but I'm too tired right now. I went out today to clip Connie and Kate as their winter coats are starting to shift and I'm sick of taking them out and having them mistaken for a goat (Kate) and a yak (Connie). I don't love clipping now the novelty has worn off but it's not a job I hate and I can do a reasonable full clip in about 45 mins to an hour depending on equine co-operation.

Today was an absolute debacle though. My clippers would just not work that well. I got half a horse done before they stopped cutting well. I muddled on and got Kate finished, though it's not a very smooth even job. Ultimately though her hair is gone and thats the most important thing. She is going to be a lot less of a sweaty muddy mess now. So I started Connie hoping her coarser coat must cut better, and I had the same problems. It would cut for a sweep or two but then just stop cutting. I checked the brushes and then broke a brushes cap which is now replaced with one that sort of works that I stole from an ancient set of cow clippers.

They still wouldn't work that well and Dad had a play around for a while and then gave up. If he can't fix it, it's a problem because he is like Macgyver all he needs is gum and a bit of string and he can fix anything. In the end I would do a sweep and when they stopped cutting I'd tighten the blades a quarter turn and they would cut. Then that stopped working and then I don't know what happened but they just started working and I got Connie finished, legs and all. I don't know how good it will look because by this time I was clipping under a single light bulb and was struggling with the shadows. Thankfully, Connie is a real doll to clip and isn't phased by the clippers at all. She also gets these crazy dapples when she is clipped as well, that are tan circles with a darker inside which is rather odd. She has a lot of birdcatcher spots at the moment as well so she is looking pretty gorgeous now that her beard is gone.

Kate is harder to clip so I give her an oral sedative. Someone must have done a cut her armpits up pretty good though because even sleepy as she still wont let you clip her legs and is very touchy when you do under her chest and behind her elbows, she tries to lay down/collapse in front. I don't think it's worth the battle really just to have perfectly tidy armpits, so she looks like a french woman with her hair au natural. Poor old Kate. I will probably take her over to the vet in the next couple of weeks and get this knee sorted out. Now I just have three manes to pull and one to roach and everything will be show ready. Oh and yea today clipping took me 4 and a half hours to do two horses. Lame. My arm is tired.