What are the pros and cons of clipping horses.
Unless you live in a tropical climate, an inseparable element of riding horses in winter is dealing with your horse’s winter coat. In the text devoted to rugging horses we already mentioned this natural process of growing a longer and thicker coat, thanks to which horses adapt to the changing weather conditions. If, however, you do not intend to interrupt training in winter, you have to reckon with the fact that your mount’s winter coat can also create certain problems. The answer to them is clipping horses, which in recent years has become something very popular and accessible to a wide group of riders. From this article you will learn when clipping can realistically increase your horse’s comfort and when it is not necessary. You will also learn which hairs not to clip under any circumstances and what the most commonly used clipping options are.
Clipping horses and their nature.
One of the most commonly used arguments against clipping is that it is contrary to the horse’s nature. It is hard not to agree with this statement, but it is worth asking yourself in this case a question – is the natural solution really always the best solution for my horse? You will almost never come across solutions that are universal, with an identical effect for all horses. That is why, when considering clipping (or anything else that can affect your horse’s welfare), you have to take into account its individual conditions and requirements. When deciding whether to clip a horse or not you have to take into account:
- The climate you live in and the prevailing weather conditions (temperature, humidity).
- The intensity of your horse’s training and where it takes place (in the open, an indoor arena).
- Your horse’s living conditions (does it stand 24 hours a day in the paddock, or perhaps spends most of the time in the stable).
- The horse’s age and its general condition.
A horse that is healthy and in good condition, that has constant access to roughage and is well prepared for winter, and adapted to staying outside, will survive the winter without any problem, often even without the need for rugging. The abundant coat and the natural oils secreted by the skin, which lubricate it, provide appropriate protection during cold, rain or snow. So if your horse lives in an open stable or spends most of its time outside, and on top of that does not work regularly under saddle in winter or, e.g., mainly goes for light hacks, then there is no point in depriving it of this natural protection by clipping the coat.
If, however, your horse spends most of the day in the stable, and you intend to ride regularly in winter (especially in an indoor arena, where the temperature is higher than outside), train and compete in competitions, then your horse’s long winter coat can present certain problems.
A horse’s winter coat – does it really only protect?
As we have already established, the winter coat is meant to protect the horse from unfavourable weather conditions and maintain an appropriate body temperature by trapping a layer of warmed air right next to the skin. It must be admitted that it performs this task perfectly…until the moment the horse begins intensive work under saddle. During exertion, the long coat causes excessive sweating and overheating.
Unlike, e.g., rain, when water rarely reaches the skin, causing chilling, sweat gets out through the skin and immediately disrupts the entire thermal insulation system. Research proves that a sweaty horse loses body heat about 20 x faster than a dry horse.
As we know, the greatest threat to a horse’s health is not the cold itself, but precisely a damp coat, especially in combination with wind or even a slight draught. Even observing horses in the paddock, we can notice that they stand motionless in a downpour or a snowstorm, but in stronger wind they seek shelter among each other, between the trees, or hide in field shelters.
So when training in winter (we are talking here about intensive training, during which the horse sweats) on a horse with a long coat, we have to take into account that we will need a lot of time to gradually allow its coat to dry and its body to return to the appropriate temperature. A solarium can be helpful in this, but not all centres have access to this type of equipment. In practice this usually means very long walking after training and a gradual change of rugs so that the horse can slowly dry and not be exposed to a sudden change of temperature.
Clipping horses – what does it entail?
An appropriately chosen clip will certainly largely solve the problem of overheating during training, or very long drying after it. We have to reckon, however, with the fact that in our climate a clipped horse must be rugged at all times. This applies not only to the time it spends in the paddock, but also in the stable. The truth is that to help your horse maintain the appropriate temperature at all times, you will need quite a sizeable collection of rugs. The basic set is:
- Stable rugs of various thicknesses (or a special insulating layer put under the stable rug).
- A fleece rug, which can be used as a cooler rug, or a turnout rug on warmer and, more importantly, windless and dry days.
- A waterproof and windproof turnout rug.
- An exercise sheet, which you will be able to put on for training on particularly frosty days.
Remember that overheating is equally dangerous (if not more so) for your horse than chilling. By depriving it of its natural protection and temperature regulation system in the form of the coat, the responsibility for providing it with appropriate thermal comfort under changing conditions rests on you.
Clipping whiskers and hair in the ears – can this be done?
Before we explain exactly why, we can already give the answer to this question and it is – NO!
Some horses have very long and visible whiskers (otherwise called sensory hairs) on the muzzle and around the eyes. Some owners may therefore be tempted, especially before competitions, when we want everything to be buttoned up to the last button, to trim these hairs. Let us remember, however, that whiskers are not ordinary hairs, and their function is quite complex and irreplaceable. By means of the whiskers the horse is able to sense objects located close to the muzzle (its eyes are not able to see them from such a close distance) and assess at what distance they are. The whiskers around the eyes help horses, e.g., avoid branches or other objects dangerous to the eyes.
By depriving the horse of sensory hairs, we at the same time deprive it of a very important part of the sense of touch. In Germany, for example, the removal of whiskers was banned as early as 1998, and not following this rule can result in the horse’s elimination from a competition. The matter is similar with the hair in a horse’s ears. Their task is to protect the horse’s ears from insects or other contaminants getting inside, and to protect the delicate interior of the horse’s ears from sunlight. If your horse’s ears are very “shaggy”, you can slightly trim the hair, especially that growing from the outer edge of the ear, but a better solution (if aesthetic considerations matter to you, especially during competitions) may be to mask this fact with an ear bonnet.
To sum up…
There is no universal answer to the question of whether horses should be clipped during the winter season; everything depends on individual conditions. In a great simplification it can be summed up like this:
- If you do not have access to an arena, your horse is used to spending a large part of the day outside, and your work in winter will not be intensive (hacks in the open, light rides in an outdoor arena), then clipping seems pointless.
- If you intend to train/compete regularly throughout the season, and your training will take place in an indoor arena, then you can consider a full clip. In such a case only the coat under the saddle and sometimes on the head is left (especially in horses difficult to clip).
- If you intend to ride regularly, mainly in an arena, and your horse has an abundant coat, then maybe you should consider a “blanket” clip. Then the coat is clipped on the neck, shoulders and lower part of the barrel, and left on the hindquarters, legs, upper part of the barrel and head. A variation of such a clip is also the “trace” clip, which looks like a blanket clip with the difference that the hair is also left on the head and the upper half of the neck. Thanks to such a solution the horse should not overheat during lighter work and will be partially protected in the most sensitive zones.
