How to get the woollies off of the worriers!

I cant say clipping is my strongest skill, it is, however, something that I enjoy doing and paired with a bit of training, well who can complain?!

The task I was recently presented with was the clipping of two hunters, both of which can get nervous and be difficult to clip.

The gelding can take a week to fully clip, doing a little at a time over a number of days, and the mare that I had to do has been sedated for the past three years or so after being nervous and kicking someone quite badly.

I have the advantage of knowing both horses well and working with them on a regular basis. 

However I had no access to sedation of any kind, so this was going to have to be achieved using a different method, or methods. 

I started off with the gelding. 

He is a lovely boy but he is big and he knows it, so when he decides enough is enough then the easiest option in his mind is to become a tank. 

Human vs tank... you do the maths.

His attitude used to really irritate me, but when faced with the task of clipping him I knew that getting frustrated wouldn't help either of us. My recent surge in research on training methods had given me a large toolkit, and plenty of tricks up my sleeve.

I have a set of Walh Avalon cordless clippers, I would highly recommend these to anyone, nice and quiet and having them on a battery pack makes life so much easier when working with a fidget bum!

I started by leaving him in his stable and setting the clippers up near to him, turning them on and off a few times, adding some oil and messing around. All the while ignoring his snorting and letting him have a treat from my hand when he came to investigate. 

It was then time to begin, so out he came, just headcollar and lead rope, to stand in the isle of the barn whilst we got used to the idea that clippers could touch us.

We did advance and retreat but I soon realised that being outside of the stable gave him a much easier chance to disappear without me. So I moved us back into the stable.

Once back in the stable he realised that he could fidget but couldn't run away, then the technique worked perfectly, I would rest the clippers on him until he stopped moving and then take them away. In no time he was stood quietly and I managed to get almost all of one side done, we then had to repeat the process on the other side. (different side, new experience as far as the horse is concerned).

Safe to say it also worked on that side and I was able to clip most of him. 

We ended up twitching him for the last bits and to do his face, however next time I am hoping to not need the twitch. 

Here he is modelling his new haircut, still looking slightly peeved that he didn't win his little battle of wills!

Next on the list is to reclaim control of his mane!

The mare I was a little more wary of, but thinking back I decided that it was less the clippers that bothered her and more the amount of space that she had. She is a big girl and can get a little worried about things when she doesn't have the room that she thinks she needs. Every time that she had kicked out and hit someone she had been in a small space such as a stable.

Taking this into account we started in a similar way and her reaction to the Clippers was a lot less until I closed in on her. That was when she started to show signs of worry.

I moved her into the aisle of the barn and did exactly as I did with Oliver, but I put no pressure on her, I turned her head towards me when she wanted to move away so that if she did kick then it would be more difficult to do so in my direction.

It took all of about 5 minutes for her to get the idea, and she also soon realised that she wasn't going to be eaten by the clippers. I kept the end of the lead rope in my hand to begin with, however, it was soon resting on her neck. She was a superstar and I am confident that I will be able to repeat the process with the same amount of success! 

I dont have any photos of her this time around but there will be some soon, as I need to get them both looking prestine before their first big trip out.