Poor old Connie is not very amused with me!! I just brought new clippers, quiet, good cordless clippers. They were so light and not worrying about the cord when she swung around was awesome. The blades were so deliciously sharp and it really looked like it was going to be an epic clip. You know one of those clips where your friend goes 'remember that clip of 2012' and you look off into the distance with a half smile on your face remembering the perfection that was that clip.
Alas it was not meant to be for me this year, but I still have high hopes for '13! It's actually a pretty good clip and my new clippers are the bomb diggity. The problem was Connies rain scald, (that and her belly refused to dry after her bath). She looks definitely like she has some horse leprosy. I'd put a picture up, but she doesn't want the internet to see her all diseased like. The scaly skin did a lot to blunting my blades rapidly. It doesn't look active anymore but I suspect once the baldy type parts grow in she is going to have the weirdest hair patterns. I may have to clip again in like two weeks, which isn't a happy thought. The hair is so invasive, it just gets everywhere! Especially when you do up the neck and it falls straight into your face. Blerk! I get so carried away as well. The only hair left is on the front of her head and she is lucky to have that, I had to stop because I had to go! I even had a moment when I thought seriously about hogging her. Luckily my sense returned and she still has her mane. She doesn't have the face to pull it off. The bonus of her being clipped as that I can really treat the rain scald that I have too, though looking at her general condition I suspect she is probably a bit low in copper.
I thought I would consider the pros and cons of clipping.
Pros.
-If done well horse looks very tidy and you look like a pro.
-Horse dries faster and stays cleaner.
-If you don't clip and ride a hairy horse at shows you look like a newb.
Cons.
-Hair in the eyes.
-Hair up the nose.
-Hair in the bra.
-Many horses twitchy to clip, making it hard to do a good job.
-Hair in the shirt.
-Takes a lot of practice to do a good clip job, which means lots of hair in the face.
-Your arm still feels vibratey for hours afterwards.
-A bad clip makes you look like newb.
-When you miss a patch and don't notice soon enough to tidy it up, that patch is all you see until the summer coat comes in and it will really really annoy you.
-Hair in the mouth.
-It's nearly impossible to have even lines when you do blanket or trace clips.
-You spend a ridiculous amount of time hunched under your horses belly and close to those very hard feet while your horse gets increasingly ticklish.
-It takes a long time to do well.
-Did I mention the hair???
Haha!!! I'm the resident barn clipper by merit of being too dumb to say no the first couple of times, and then getting quite good at it. The solution to uneven lines in a trace clip is just to full body clip because it looks a million times better anyways.
ReplyDeleteIt helps somewhat to clip in a good rain coat--the waterproofiness does keep the hair mostly out of your bra. I read about a pro clipper who actually uses those cape like things hair dressers put on you for a haircut, which she says works really well. That said, I have no idea where to get one and suspect it might spook the stupid ones.
It does get faster. By the 10th or 12th horse, you'll have a great system down. I do like drugs, though. Makes the horses so much easier to deal with.
Ha ha ha.
ReplyDeleteEspecially "hair in the bra". Priceless.