Horse Hair Everywhere
I think winter coats on horses belong in one of two categories. One being, the adorable category. Adorable as in the sweetest eyes you have ever seen.
Who do those sweet eyes belong to? That’s Jen’s new Haflinger my new pony. His name is Paddington.
You can give him a fro. Paddington gives 0 f’s about the fro. He’s just going to stare at you all cute like.
You can braid his mane like a My Little Pony. Paddington don’t care. He can be your little pony. Don’t you want to pet his soft nose and give him an alfalfa cube? I bet you do.
Basically, we’re in love. Sorry Jen, I’m going to confiscate your pony. Charge – being too cute. Paddington has the fuzzy winter coat that I adore and want to hug and cuddle.
Simon however, does not. He has a layer of brown peach fuzz that takes forever to dry and gets really sweaty with the slightest amount of work.
So last night I removed all that fuzz.
See how much fun he’s having? My face was pretty similar.
Holy shit… there’s another side?! You don’t realize how big your horse is until you have to remove all his hair. Trust me on this one, it’s not super fun.
You can’t see much from this amazing shot (and y’all thought I was good at photography…) but he’s basically saying, “Why are you taking all my hairs?” As we pushed past hour two and the temperature dropped to the mid 40’s, he started twitching in his chest. I thought he was annoyed by the clippers, but it continued after I stopped clipping.
Oh, that’s not a twitch… that’s him shivering. Basically, I’m an awful horse mom. I finished with his loaner blanket draped over whatever part of his body I wasn’t clipping at the time.
All done and tucked in! Now I see how fun it is to ride my body clipped horse in the cold in the dark after we’ve switched to day time turnout. I also pray to the Dover gods to ship my sheet faster and try to find him a medium turnout stat.
Word of the wise, don’t a) wait to buy your blankets until three days before you decide to body clip and b) body clip your horse on the first really cold night of the year. Good thing he is basically the best horse ever and stood for 3 hours of clipping with no drugs. I gave him a little Ace at the end when doing the hind legs, but that was it.
Simon is a rock star. I’m a bad mom, and I have reasons to believe that I’m still covered in horse hair.
29 thoughts on “Horse Hair Everywhere”
If I’m missing a pony, I definitely know where to look!
Seriously, that is one cute pony! with a cute pony face!!
Yeah. No offense intended to Simon, BUT IMMA STEAL PADDY BEAR!!
What a cute pony!! And clipping seriously is the worst job ever…. mostly because you are usually doing it in the cold, and it takes forever. I’m debating whether or not to clip Wiz. I body clipped him all the way last year, but I kind of fear that’s what helped his immune system sink enough to not fight off the EPM. I’m thinking about just trace clipping under his belly and neck this time- but he is always so sweaty under the saddle! UGH, idk. It’s going to be a col winter here though. 😐
You did a great job clipping though!
Oh, the clipping…part of me would LOVE to see Red with a nice clip job but it’s already getting cold here and we had to blanket yesterday-and I HATE blanketing because it’s a pain with one of the horses at the barn and Red hates blankets-and he doesn’t have a good coat yet…. 🙁 Grrr.
No drugs for clipping?! Simon is a rockstar!
Poor simon. What is your blanketing rule/ guideline? I’m going to make a post on this here soon- or see what I have already said and add to it but I’m curios. Once our horses are clipped they pretty much live in their mediums or more. But it’s rarely above 50 once the clippers come out.
My BO sets the blanketing rules, and I may be a few degrees off but I believe it’s…
65- 50: Sheet
49 – 40: Medium Weight
Under 40: Sheet + Medium Weight
Hardly anyone buys a heavy weight here because it’s rare for it to be below freezing, and the clipped horses are in at night.
Love, love, love clipped horses, but dear god I hate body clipping.
I love Paddington! So cute 🙂 And that’s why they have all that hair, so we can style at will.
I hate body clipping. I made the mistake last year of wearing a fleece jacket and my fleece-lined breeches while clipping Lily…the jacket should have been a “duh!” but I was pulling horse hair out from the INSIDE of those breeches for weeks! (I have no idea how so much hair made it into the inside of those pants…it was horrible, especially since those were my warmest riding pants!) And I swear that fleece jacket still has horse hair in it. So note c) to add to yours above: wear something that really and truly repels hair while body clipping! Or that you hate/rarely wear. And bring a change of clothes for after so you’re not itching in the car all the way home…
I like doing creative trace clips, though…and then having the whole barn think I’m crazy. Lol
Simon is such a sweetie! I snorted with laughter at the photo of his face of “enjoyment”.
And Paddington is ADORABLE!!! 🙂
Poor Simon. I hope your blankets come in soon. I can’t imagine clipping in the winter without having a blanket 🙁 It’s nice you can borrow one in the mean time.
Also, I am chuckling at the blanketing guidelines saying a horse has to have a sheet on in 65 degree weather. Must be the New Englander in me.
Yeah, poor planning on my part. I may be slightly off about the blanketing guidelines, just remembering. You have to remember for a clipped TX horse 65 with a bit of wind is actually a little chilly!
Paddington is a cutie! If you steal him I might steal him from you, lol. 😀 Simon is awesome to just patiently stand while you body clip him.
Yay clipped ponies!! You did a great job 🙂
I use that same temperature “scale” for sheets and blankets. I haven’t body clipped yet. Mine are all good (no drugs required) but I hate clipping. I’m hoping to string it out until January so I only have to clip once.
Found out that the one thing Miles does not take in stride is body clipping…. ordering extra Ace for next year!!
OMG, I’m flying from NJ to steal Paddy! Those eyes, I’m in love! Must say, I’m a big fan of the ‘fro 🙂
SFTS, you can fly in from NJ all you want, but I can assure you that Paddy won’t fit in the overhead bin. He’s also definitely “oversized” baggage. Nice try though! 😉
Sooo much cute
I am itchy just reading this.
Aww he’s so good! Mine cannot even handle having the clipper near her. I think out of sheer laziness (and midwestern weather) I’m going with the fluffy this year.
I always get hairs on my arms and can feel them on my elbows when I bend… SOOOO annoying. I full body clip about 3-4x year so it’s good I don’t have to drug at all. I do take 2 days to do it, so that probably helps any antsy-ness. I really enjoy not having to take time to cool out my horse 😉
Links to YouTube videos that demonstrate clipping in the UK
Hunter Clip: http://youtu.be/EabelUpTo5M
Blanket Clip: http://youtu.be/DRzAytvY4Tw
Trace Clip: http://youtu.be/jbcMCJbSiEI
After reading all these blog posts on clipping horses I’m beginning to see that spending a hundred+ might be worth it to not do it myself!
It took me 3.5 hours and that doesn’t count the time that I paid a LOVELY barn mate to bathe him for me. If I had to bathe and wait for him to dry, it easily would have been 5+
holy cuteness alert!! That pony is adorable!!! 🙂
Naked ponies! I love the halfie. I thought about if I’d ever want to clip a horse… I think I would just for the experience but we’re not competitive enough yet. Love to see the pictures though! I would definitely have to do a 6-pack of beer to get me through it.