To Clip or Not to Clip

Never heard such rubbish as clipping removes the shine.
I clip October time and two or three times during the winter as the horses are in full work. As soon as their winter woollies are off they shine.

I rarely body clip in the summer -the weather is not that hot in the UK and there is no need.

I did have a pony who had Cushings which meant she always had a very woolly coat and I would clip her in the summer and she always had a shine when it was off.

Foxhunter, I show horses in the UK, in most societies you cannot show a horse if it has been clipped after april. You can also very easily tell which ones have been clipped.
You can still get a clipped horse to shine but not as well as one with a healthy summer coat.

Personaly I never clip after january and certainly not after they hae started getting thier summer coat through. (Unless it is for health reasons, I have clipped a cushings pony in summer before but he wasnt showing)

Not to clip, IMO, unclipped just looks better in the summer :)
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If you want to clip, do it before the summer coat comes through and the winter coat is coming out.

Apart from that- elbow grease. I don't know of anyone who clips in the summer, if I'm honest, and 70% of people on my yard compete every weekend plus some.

In the winter I can understand, but during summer, just hose the sweat off, the horses love it, and use a sweat scraper to get the excess off.

And derry girl.. I used yardandgroom a year or so back.

I spoke to Peter Weston who isn't too far from me, but I didn't go for the job in the end.

And a rich arab got in touch.. the yard was beautiful.. like dream yard.. and all his competition pictures showed blue eyed, blonde haired grooms.. PASS LOL

I was looking at this job though -In my dreams!!
Job 20413 : Talented Dressage Rider Wanted At Galmbacher Sport Pferde Zucht - Germany in Bayern, Germany

I have never ever heard of body clipping a horse in the summer, unless it has cushings ! I see no need to.

We use Valentintes day as the cut off day for clipping in the winter.

Well we live in the states right now but we'd both love to move to Ireland. Haven't really settled on where yet. I think the job situation would settle that. My hubby is a forensic toxicologist. Definitely need some sort of difficult lab job to keep him happy. I'm a paralegal but any type of office work would be ok by me. Just so long as it's in a beautiful area! Considering where I live is mostly brown, windy and disgusting Ireland is a DREAM!

I would only clip in the summer if the horse has a thicker than normal coat. Also, if you do clip, keep in mind that your horse will need a fly sheet as there will be nothing to protect him from the flies and you may want to think about sun exposure if your horse will go out during the day.

Haha which Ireland are you on about? Lol just joking...Scenery wise yes Ireland ticks all the boxs but job wise.. ... not good at the mo. Like my boyfriend quailfied as a civil engineer there 2years ago and he can't get volunteer work to get his years experience! .... I don't wana sound like a big misery guts but that's the turth.. now yous could land over and get sorted straight away, that's always possible!. Id say your hubbys best bet might be to forward his CV to all the universities... could get work in their labs... When it comes to yourself, you might have a bita luck on them sites I mentioned in the last post, but again if youv the experience, just google law firms in Ireland and send them your CV, you never know what might happen.

Scenery wise, Donegal and down the west coast(sligo,galway) is probably the most beautiful... but cold! A hot hot summer here is like 22-25 degrees lol so bring your jumpers!.... But Derry obiviously is by far the best place haha

Hmm discouraging. We are both older so we have experience in our fields. Though I know nothing of Irish government so I'm behind there. Science transfers pretty well though.
Not good about your job environment though. Have to think about that before we settle on a local. I've been encouraging Ireland the most. Part of it's the countryside and the other is guys with steamy accents. Of course I've kept the steamy accent part of my reasoning from my dear husband. Lol