MEGAN: Hi, I'm Megan.
I'm a groom here at Windsor Show Stables, and today I'm going to show you how to body
clip a horse.
Today I'm doing a full body clip on Lupino, cause he's a show horse, so to go to the ring
we want his whole body clipped so he's nice and neat and trim all over.
But I'll show you some tips along the way on how to do some other techniques, as well.
So to start, I usually have an extension cord and then I use the Andis AGC 2-Speed Clippers.
I use a T-10 blade for the body and for some legs and some trickier spots I'll use the
10 blade, which is just a little bit of a shorter blade.
It's not quite as long.
And I just have a brush on hand to brush off any excess hair.
A clean horse, I think, first and foremost is the most important thing that you need
to have.
Secondly, good clippers.
Nice, sharp, clean blades.
If you have dull blades, again, it just doesn't cut as well.
If they're dirty, they don't move as quickly.
So those things are really important.
I usually start with the head and then I go to the legs and then I do the body, just because
I find the clippers are cool and they are honestly the most patient at the start.
So you want to go against the hair.
I mean if you go with it, nothing is going to clip off so you just kind of have to turn
it around and go the other way.
That's also the way to prevent the lines.
You just have to clip with the way that the hair grows.
There are areas where you'll see the hair grows in a different direction, especially
down in the chest or if they have whorls or anything those are spots where you've got
to go the other way.
I try to just use long tracks.
If there are lines, if you can kinda go back at them almost in a different direction, and
you can blend them a bit.
I never try to clip them the day before we're going to a show.
I like to give them a day or two, cause there's always going to be lines no matter what or
how well you do it.
You're going to have lines.
There are just tricky areas.
The knees, the hocks, the elbow area cause the skin is kind of wrinkly there, so you
might notice, I will pull at the skin and hold it taut so that I can go through there
smoother.
I don't think it's the most comfortable for them.
It's not like clipping their sides where there's nothing, it's just smooth, easy clipping.
It just takes a little more time and just looking twice to make sure you got everything.
If I have one that is sensitive, they're nervous about the clipping.
Lupino here, he came from Europe and clipping the ears isn't very common.
A lot of countries you're not even allowed to clip their ears.
(buzzing)
Hi, I know.
You know, he started to get upset so I kind of just try to take it slow.
Turn them off, rub them on his ears.
Even just the noise of it - cause it's loud and it's obviously a sensitive area.
You just have to go slow and I felt that he was spookier about having the right ear done,
so I would stop that, go to the left ear, do that and kind of just not get into a battle
with him.
If they really put up a fight, I find it's easier to just stop, move on, and maybe come
back to it.
It's not worth having a bad experience, so that then in the future they really don't
want you to ever touch them.
Good boy.
My biggest tip would be just practice.
It's just something that you have to do and if you're not sure, have someone that's done
it before help you, show you.
Watching other people, you know and having a nice patient horse.
You don't want to learn on one that doesn't enjoy being clipped or is frightened of it.
It takes a lot of practice and time.
If you're getting frustrated, I would just stop.
There are plenty of days - if I have one that's not cooperating, I just put them back in the
stable and come back the next day or in a couple of hours.
It's a long process for everyone.
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so if your blankets don't fit, you can exchange them for the right size.
Thanks for watching and have a great ride.