I like to clip the muzzle hairs since the bit can catch the hairs and pull. Now I don't know about anyone else, but that would irritate me if someone kept tugging on a strand or two of my hair all day long...
As far as body clipping, I don't do that, but my horse wears a heavy blanket, and sometimes two, during our mountain winter weather, and has the slick coat to prove it. It does take more work on my part, but when the weather turns hot, he doesn't have all that coat to shed, and I I get to be lazy then. :)
As far as dog clipping goes, we have fox tails and filaree(sp) here that burrow into the coats of the dogs and can cause sores. Shaving them helps is spot problems and makes them a lot more comfortable.
And don't forget the cooling spray! I also have the Oster and the Cordless Wahl. Very handy. I do not body clip I neat up. I don't trim wiskers any more they need them for grazing. I don't like them to be itchy and I don't like their skin exposed to unnecessary harmful UV rays. I also feel, from my research over the last 30 years, that it can mess with their metabolism. Much the way shaving a double coated dog will do. Their bodies are such that they can adjust to the heat and the cold with their undercoats. I would think it would be the same for horses. So, I'd have to wonder if a body clipped horse would require MORE
electrolytes than less. Just a thought!
