Re: clipping

[Amanda Perez <amandaperez@ureach.com>]

  Since noone else is answering this, I'll jump in.
First let me note that A.  I have never done and endurance irde 
and B.  I don't clip my horse.  But here's my opinion for what 
it's worth.

  If you are not showing your horse there is no NEED to clip 
him just because he looks shaggy.  If looks are the only 
concern, you can just clip off the excess fetlock hair and tidy 
up the face and ears.  

Excess hair can, however, make a horse slow to cool down and 
dry off, which can be a concern.  One approach is just to clip 
those areas that tend to get the wettest and are slowest to 
dry. A trace-clip often hits just these areas (trace-clip means 
clip everything up to about half-way up the horses sides and 
underneath the neck, where the traces would be if he were in 
harness).  This gets the chest and underside of the neck which 
are often the sweatiest areas.

Since your horse is not stableds, I would clip as little as 
possible, just enough to tidy him up a little and make cooling 
out easier.  Remember if you go overbaord clipping you will 
need to blanket whenever it gets cool, which can be a real 
hassle.

________________________________________________
Get your own "800" number
Voicemail, fax, email, and a lot more
http://www.ureach.com/reg/tag