Body Clipping: Not just for hairy men

In my last blog post I discussed blankets. This week, keeping with a like vein, I’ll talk about body clipping. Growing up I didn’t know what body clipping was. Our horses lived in a run in shed 24/7 and looked like moose in the winter. The only time they got blankets was when it was snowing out or the temperature dropped below 10 degrees. I body clipped my first horse, a chestnut mare named Gypsy, when I was a freshman in college. It was part of the practicum course I was taking. Every freshman in the equine studies program was given one school horse to body clip (why they decided it was a good idea to give freshman this task, I have no idea). Many roles of duct tape, anti-cooling spray, and clipper blades later Gypsy kinda sorta had something that vaguely resembled a trace clip.

I received a B+ for my efforts and moved on.

Last winter I decided to give Poppy a full body clip. I was determined my horse would not resemble a yak four months out of the year, and my attempt to shear off her hair was largely successful except for a big patch on her rump and under her belly that the clipper blades just wouldn’t cut through. I also clipped Darwin, although I only did the bare minimum because a) I knew he wouldn’t be in a lot of work during the winter and b) his hair is much finer than Poppy’s. He just got from his chest up to his chin bone clipped. Body clipping both of my horses helped a ton with grooming, cooling out, and just keeping them neat and tidy overall which I believe are the three big benefits and reasons why people clip their horses during the winter. If you are only going to ride your horse occasionally, then there really is no reason to clip. And the golden rule of clipping: if you body clip, you must blanket.

There are six main types of body clips. It is ultimately up to you to decide what clip you do. Determining what clip depends on a variety of factors, including:

- how much work your horse is going to be doing
- how much you want to blanket
- how fuzzy your horse gets

The following are pictures of each of the clips and here is a great website to get a more exact idea of what area of the body each clip covers: New Rider Body Clip Article.






What clip, or if you even decide to clip, is up to you. If you do decide to clip, put in the time necessary to do a good job. Your horse is going to look like this for the rest of the winter and just like you wouldn’t want a bad hair cut, neither do they. Duct tape helps get clean, crisp lines. As does taking your time and being patient. Are you clipping your horse this winter? If so, what clip are you doing? Pictures are welcome! Personally, I’m thinking of doing something like this: