clipping

Tina Hicks (hickst@puzzler.nichols.com)
Wed, 30 Oct 1996 08:16:52 -0600

I tend to clip (strip or trace - rarely body clip) anything with 4 legs
that I'm riding.

However..... I am very suprised to see that not many people, at least in
this region, seem to clip - at least not yet, anyway. I would think that
this sport, most of all, would necessitate some clipping but I'm not seeing
it - at the Longstreet ride I was one of the few on a clipped horse...Maybe
most folks don't ride much during the winter? Even so the coats on some of
these horses already is pretty heavy and many of us have rides planned thru
the end of November in the SE.

I did notice riders clipping on the other side of the season - early spring
rides where it was too warm for the still hanging-on winter coats but I'm
not seeing many clipping the entire season.

I just think it makes conditioning and cooling out soooo much easier
particularly for horses that are working for hours at a time in a range of
temperatures over one day. As far as limiting turn-out time, it doesn't
have to - ours are out all the time - if it's cold enough to blanket I just
throw the turn-out on and off they go.

Am I committing some unwritten endurance faux paus (sp?) by clipping? :->>
Do any of you clip going into winter?

Tina and the crew with custom striping in AL
hickst@nichols.com