Here in the UK, most of us clip our horses before, during and towards the end of winter. There are many reasons why we may clip our horses, and in this Blog we are going to go through some of the reasons why.
Comfort
Probably one of the biggest reasons we clip our horses in winter is purely for comfort! When we ride our horses, it is likely we will ride in such a way that will make the horse sweat. This may be from “schooling” in an arena, jumping, or riding at high speeds.
If a horse has a full winter coat and sweats from work, it can be very difficult to wash the horse off and remove all of the sweat from the horse's coat. Failure to remove the sweat can lead to skin issues which can leave the horse feeling itchy and can lead to loss of coat.
Weight
Another reason we may clip our horses in winter is weight management. In the UK, the number of obese horses “could be as great as 54%” says Horse & Hound.
The winter months are an ideal time for some horse owners to get their horses’ weight down. They do this by clipping their horses in order for them not to get too warm and continue to gain weight.
Health
The last main reason we will touch on in this blog is health reasons. The one main reason is something called “Cushings Disease”. As far as clipping is concerned, it is when the horse cannot shed all of their winter coat and may grow curly. It is very important to clip the winter coat off at the start of spring/summer to avoid the horse from overheating.
Closing message:
We hope this blog has been very informative to you. But you may be asking, where do I get my own clippers from? Well you are in the right place!
We have Heiniger Clippers, clipper blades, and clipper oil on offer right here at Saddle Up and Ride.
