ridecamp@endurance.net: [endurance] Re:clipping

[endurance] Re:clipping

C.M.Newell (reshan@ultranet.com)
Fri, 8 Mar 1996 11:47:06 -0500 (EST)

If your horse has a lot of hair, by all means clip him. Don't let
undue concern with cosmetics compromise his physical well-being.
FWIW, I have a purebred Arab yak who is *not* Cushingoid, but grows
amazing amounts of hair. I had to clip him in May a couple years ago, so he
didn't look shaggy before his first show. Then I had to clip him in July,
because he was showing dressage at Regionals, and it was going to be *hot*!
My trainer said that she was sure he'd have gotten heat stroke without the
clip, temp was near 90, with high humidity, and no shade to be found.
I clipped him *again* that September, before his last dressage show
of the season; it was unusually warm that fall.
Through all of this, he looked fine, no one felt his coat looked
scalped, and he was certainly more comfortable than he would have been
otherwise.
I am always glad to see horses at rides I vet at least trace
clipped, if they have a lot of hair, a not incommon occurance at early
spring and late fall rides. To me, it says the rider knows what s/he is doing.
--CMNewell, DVM