# Winter Clipping for Driving



## Elizabeth Pannill (Oct 26, 2011)

I have 2 driving trials in November . The weather is finally starting to cool off in Texas ( suppose to be in the 40's at night -hey that is cold for us down in Texas !! ). Magic was clipped the first of September but is already getting furry and I am debating about clipping for these pleasure driving trials. Not sure I want to do a complete clip but do know it could be warm the day of the events. How is a trace clip done ? If anyone has pictures would like to see those.

Thanks

Elizabeth


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## brasstackminis (Oct 26, 2011)

Hey Elizabeth! I have used the trace clip...actually I think it may be considered a variation of the high trace clip. I found this website with diagrams I thought might be helpful.

http://www.peasridge.co.uk/clipper-advice/clippers-clipping-advice-horses-types-of-horse-clips.shtml

I just googled trace clip patterns under google images.

I hope this helps. I like to clip the whole head, the bottom of the neck and then draw an imaginary line down their side and clip up where the hair goes in all of those crazy directions and then back to my straight line...I then go up under the tail between the cheeks. Basically any place that gets really sweaty I clip. I am looking to see if I have a pic of Jezzi clipped, but it might be hard to see as her coat is grey (looks white).

Karen Merrill


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## Sue_C. (Oct 27, 2011)

I generally do either #8 or #9 in the photos. If it is really cold, I stick to #8. I cannot think a horses face sweats enough that it deserves to be fully clipped in the coldest weather. When I do clip the face, for turnout until it has re-fuzzed, I use a polar fleece hood.

Up here in Nova Scotia, Canada, once REAL winter hits, as I don't use an indoor facility till later in the spring, the most I would consider is the lowest of trace clips...just down the front of the neck, and perhaps a stripe along the under-belly and up the flanks a bit.


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## Al B (Oct 27, 2011)

Elizabeth,

I know one of those is an ADT. You won't be driving enough for him to get very warm there. Don't clip him for that unless you just want to. What's the second event?


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## Elizabeth Pannill (Oct 27, 2011)

The first event is the pleasure driving trial at Tom O'Carroll's. Magic looks so good when he is clipped but I don't want to clip just for vanity




May just clip his head /neck . In Texas we consider 40 "cold " . I am sure you northerners find that quite funny !!!

Elizabeth


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## jegray21 (Oct 27, 2011)

We are having trouble with hot during the day and cold at night. Hot enough that with the full coat they can hardly work with out over heating...I clipped everything except for the legs...Does anyone know if you can show with a quarter sheet? We are in Ga weather has been all over the place..though mine at 40 tend to be too cold to drive clipped all the way...


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## hobbyhorse23 (Oct 27, 2011)

That's a great link! I did something close to the neck and belly clip in figure 1 before our last event in September as the boys had too much fuzz for the unusually warm day but it was going to be freezing again by that evening. I took a long blade (a #8 I think, maybe a 7F) and didn't press down very hard, just ran the blade lightly through the worst of the fuzz. Worked pretty well! In spring I usually do the Irish clip with the addition of clipping the lower half of the head and that lets them cool out pretty well without risk to the large muscles of the hindquarters in our cold temps. I've never had a problem from not doing their flanks as long as I clip up between their hind legs and a small strip up the inside of their butt cheeks by the tail.



jegray21 said:


> Does anyone know if you can show with a quarter sheet?


Depends where you're showing. It's against the rules in AMHR for sure, AMHA probably (I don't know their rule book as well), and wouldn't be allowed in dressage at a CDE. I've seen them used in cones though, and just about anything goes on marathon.

Leia


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## RhineStone (Oct 28, 2011)

Elizabeth Pannill said:


> In Texas we consider 40 "cold " . I am sure you northerners find that quite funny !!!


Actually, with their winter coat coming in, to drive at 60 degrees is too warm for them! They get too sweaty!






Forty would be just about right.

Twenty degrees used to be my minimum cut off for driving, but now it is 25. My hands just can't take it colder than that.

Myrna in Wisconsin, who hasn't really driven for weeks now, because I have been riding my pony!



I can tell she thinks it is a little strange, and that she is unbalanced with someone on her back compared to pulling a vehicle.


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## LazyRanch (Oct 29, 2011)

Our season began "down south" in Feb. and I decided we'd go give it a shot. The wee beastie was about 3 1/2" deep in coat - enough to hide his harness nearly completely. He was hot, out of shape and completely lackluster.

For the 2012 season, we'd like to revisit that venue, so I have decided to keep the horses more conditioned over the winter. The website mentioned is really handy. I clipped my one horse full clip in August, the other not so much. Now we are dealing with 30 to 40 degrees at night and 70 to 80 degree days. Without a barn, and just a loafing shed, it's a worry, but I have come up with some helpers.

Since I don't work hard enough to sweat out the face, I leave that unclipped until hair wants to get caught in the buckles of the bridle. I do clip under the throatlatch, the bridlepath and the hair just behind and between the ears, so there's kind of a path from the browband, up over the poll, to the browband, as I find my guys sweat there.

I have also been clipping at the elbows and stifles.

Pretty shortly, we'll have sort of a #7, medium trace, but extended to the throat and under the jaw, but not the face like on #8. By December or January, likely we will be more like #11, but with less of the neck clipped. That will depend on how much ice I am breaking on the water tanks. Late January we will go to a hunter clip to prepare for going down the hill. We are a mile+ up, so to work them I have found that my dressage saddle pads work nicely as quarter sheets. I use the velcro loop for the billets to go around the saddle, and I added 2 other loops to go around the breeching holdbacks, so nothing else goes under the tail.

My hope is that we can still blanket comfortably up here at the single digits/teens/20 degree, while still being able to condition enough to be a little fit, and then not be so uncomfortably hot in the 80 degree southern climate.


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## paintponylvr (Oct 30, 2011)

Perfect timing onthis subject and I've trace clipped in the past and have already done the 3 that are pulling the "big red wagon" now... This year I made a mistake and didn't mark where to do the clipping. The mares are round and especially on the one, I went above the round (should have known better). It's kinda like a high trace clip now... Much higher than I meant to take it, LOL. I willhave to watch her - I may need to special order a blanket for her. In the past, I've been able to do the live out in just about all weather - but the three done right now have full access to the barn day and nite, so not as worried.

I clip up the throat latch to the bridle path, plus sculpt the jaw, and go from the jaw bone to the mouth corner w/ the clipper blades facing the mouth (not as close a clip). I use a 10 blade and haven't had a problem.

Here's a pic of Koalah (1st day hitched to wagon next to experienced Bell) that shows her trace clip (hers is the high one, LOL). I may have to find a picture of her trace clip fromj two years ago if you can't see it...




and here is one that shows Bell, tho her mane hides how her neck looks.




I feel that I need to go a bit higher from flank to haunch - so that the breeching is sitting in the clipped space...

I will be clipping a 35" mini for a neighbor today. He actually has a LOT more hair than my girls did... We'll see how he looks after - I'll try to get pics (my camera died, so...).

Here's a good shot of one of the fillies I'd done years ago that also pertains to driving (actually she was sold not long after we'd started working her like this and the buyers turned her into a winning hunter pony - ultra small). This pic you can really see the difference in the haircoat - and her head is "cleaned up" but not clipped to the skin. This filly stayed out in pasture w/ only a handful of trees for shelter all winter and did fine. She shivered less overall than the full coated ponies that were wet when it rained and spit sleet here in NC....


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## paintponylvr (Oct 30, 2011)

O - and what I'd done in the past was "tape them off" with duct tape. I thought I had pictures of them w/ the tape on, but can't find them now.

Anyway, I tear off strips of duct tape - to a length that I can handle w/o it catching itself. Then I tear that into narrower strips. I start up by the bridle path and work my way down the neck lining the edges up on the underside of the body where the clippers will be. Then I step back and look - you can make adjustments to the tape several times before it loses it's "stick". I go higher up the flanks than any of the diagrams show - following the whirls right there. and I also go up between the butt cheeks.


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## Margo_C-T (Nov 2, 2011)

I just do what seems about right to me! This means cleaning up under the jaw, clipping with the hair growth down the front of the neck and between the front legs, then under the belly, and going 'up' a bit at the flank and elbows...basically, the areas that will sweat most and stay damp the longest when in full hair coat.

(That said...I was glad I hadn't been driving so hadn't clipped at all last Feb. when the temp went down to -27 here!!)

Margo


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## Epona Stable Belgium (Dec 8, 2011)

Hi Elisabeth,

Here you have a winterclip I did on a big horse, I also have printed the pictures of the link to put them in my 'album'.

I do clip sport and mini horses as 2nd job.

this horse is a driving pony.

Good luck with you're winter clip!


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