body clipping need suggestions..

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Samm S

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okay heres the situation, im body clipping my boy tommorow and umm hes a studdy gelding.. and hes very agrassive and hes only been clipped once be4 and was by me.. the last time.. he was fairly good except his legs.. i could not pssibly get anything clipped on his legs... this bugged me so i kept trying then he reared up and i dropped the clippers and he llanded on them
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well to stop this from happening again i was wondering if anyone knew anytricks that i just havent thought of yet.. lol

thankyou for looking!
 
yes i have tried holding the leg im clipping and the leg im not clipping but he just rears up and knocks me over... he is a big boy... hes 37"1/4 and 290 pounds rearing up and landing on me isnt to pleasant.. lol

i dont have a very good twitch either..
 
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Some can be real butt's about their legs...........seems the clippers can at times actually pull the hairs so it hurts, and others are ticklish etc..................If at all possible get some help an extra person can pinch a nose if needed and you are less likely to be squished into a wall......also make sure your clippers are cool and blades are sharp............my pet gelding can be a total wanker when clipping from the knee down...........I tend to clip everything to the knees one day and then the next day we tackle knee's to hoof :bgrin
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: I make a point of setting his foot down mid clip if he is behaving and taking a break, he has gotten better knowing that he will get a break if he is good................if you absolutely must get the horse clipped (for a show etc...) and cannot get the horse to cooperate I do reccomend the vet and a sedative as it is a whole lot less stress for all involved
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: this is how I full body clipped a mustang for someone........we sedated her and then I started clipping by the time I was almost done she came out of sedation and was actually amazingly behaved and was loving all the attention.....before sedation she would darn near flip over backwards if you even turned clippers on in her vicinity
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yes i think i might have a few people helping me if i get stressed.. i want to start on the legs but if he gets stressed than were screwed... and i only have this on day to do this cause im going camping and wont be back until the day of the show.. but thanks for the tips i really apreaciate it
 
Does your horse just act bad when you try to clip his legs. Or when you try touching him also?

One of ours have been very bad since birth. And we even handled him a lot when he was a baby.

He is 2 and today was the first time I didnot end up all black and blue from clipping him. He did not want his legs or tummy even touched. He either tried laying on me, rearing or kicking.

I think some of his problem is, he is still a stallion and his 2yr old stallion play mate are always biting on each others legs when they are playing.

For the past 2 month I have been rubbing on him every time I enter the stall and before he is aloud to go out. Our boy is also one of the one that twitching does not work on. It just makes him even madder. My husband held on to his halter over the stall wall and I worked on him. I had most of him done yesterday and just his lower legs head and tummy to do today.

I usually clip mine in their stall without a halter on them. That way if they want to move around they can. It takes a lot more time with some. And some just stand there real good for me. I also give them some hay to much on to keep their mind off of me.

My advice is to take it slow and don't get mad. Just keep at it a little at a time.

Some people use that calm and cool stuff but I tried it on my big horse once and it did not do anything to him.

Good luck.

Deb
 
My advice is to set aside a whole day when the horse doesn't HAVE to be clipped and go at it with the intent to get him adjusted to the clippers rather than with the goal of actually clipping him. Starting at the shoulder with the clippers off work your way down his leg till you get to the part where he starts to get tense and then move back up a smidge and gently rub the clippers on him in that area till he relaxes again. Work away rubbing the clippers and moving up and down till you can actually touch him all over his leg with the clippers. This could take minutes or hours. Once he is completely comfortable with this turn the clippers on and begin again not actually clipping but moving the clippers gently around until he is comfortable. Again this could take minutes or hours. Be very patient and gentle. Once you actually do start to clip the leg be sure that you are holding the back of the blade flat against his leg and not digging the blade into him. A lot of horses don't like their legs being clipped because the person doing the clipping is too rough (not saying that is what you are doing). I had a horse that would simply not accept his ears being clipped although I could touch him by hand all around his ears. What I did was buy a cheap set of battery operated clippers and I taped them to the top of his halter so that when they heated up they were not touching him but they were right beside his ears and I turned him out in my round pen with the clippers running. He went ballistic but eventually tired, gave it up and relaxed. At that point I went in with my good cool clippers and clipped around his ears very gently. I can now clip inside his ears without sedation or him flipping out.
 
yes i think i might have a few people helping me if i get stressed.. i want to start on the legs but if he gets stressed than were screwed... and i only have this on day to do this cause im going camping and wont be back until the day of the show.. but thanks for the tips i really apreaciate it
When we're in a hurry my husband stands at the head and holds my newbies down. Sometimes it actually requires him to use muscle but other times it's more the distraction he provides so they don't think so hard about what I'm doing (clipping their legs). I'd advise you to start where you have the most trouble; if that's the legs then there, as you'll have more patience and so will they. Sharp blades and clean hair will make everything go better and faster.
 
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don't worie sam! im sure that alot of us will help u with alfy!!hes so darn cute!!!
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: anyways i wil be down tot he barn sometime today so i will se u then!!! ask janice she seems to be our clipping expert!!!lol

bye

-cara
 
You can get a decent twitch at like fleet farm or menards or other stores like that. I think they are clamps for holding things together but they work well. They have plastic on the ends so they cant hurt the horse.
 
Try a deep bucket where their eye and head are right in, with special treat, not too give this treat any other time, he gets involved with eating and does not see the clippers coming, also helps muffle the sound.

Someone has to hold the bucket of feed, while you clip. Hope this helps.
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: Patience is the key, and do not get angry.

Found this info interesting :aktion033:

Among the animals of equal or greater strength, the horse is the most useful to man because of its superior nervous development, by which it has almost perfect control of its muscles and bones and gives instant response to any outside stimulus. For example, if you strike a horse with a whip you get immediate action of some kind.

It is because of this highly developed nervous organization that the horse has displaced so largely all other beasts of burden among civilized people.

The horse is often given credit for more intelligence than he deserves. Many would even place him on a level of reason with the man. If you have such a notion I want you to get rid of it at once.

THE HORSE CAN NOT REASON. I make this statement, not merely as a theory, but as a fact based upon more than twenty years of close observation and contact with many thousands of horses. In this respect there is a vast gulf between man and horse - a gulf that no horse will ever cross. The horse is superior to man in muscular strength and often in the sense of seeing, hearing and smelling: Man, however, has the great advantage of being able to reason which gives him power over the horse and other animals.

I will show the difference between the instinct of the horse and the reason of man by the following illustration: A man and a horse approach an engine while the steam is hissing from the escape valve. They both through the sense of hearing and seeing, have the knowledge of the engine and the steam conveyed to the brain. The horse, following an instinctive fear that has been handed down to him, tries to get away from the frightful object.

The man sees the same object, and hears the same noise, but is not afraid, because he, by his reasoning power, knows that the escaping steam is an indication of safety by relieving the pressure. In other words, the horse only recognizes objects and actions, while man goes back to the cause and effect.

The fact that a horse does not reason is not only proven by observation, but is also verified by an examination of the horse's brain.It is not only exceedingly small in proportion to the size of the body, as compared to man's brain, but the wrinkles showing the brain development, are almost lacking.

Not only is a horse's brain simple as compared with man's but there is no connection between its several parts. For instance, a horse may fear an object when seen from a certain angle, but be indifferent to the same object when seen from all other angles.

Since the horse cannot talk and does not understand what you say, you will have to make your wants known to him in the first place through the sense of touch. Later this method of communication will be merged into that of voice and motions. As for instance, a touch of the whip will mean at first "Go on"; later a motion of the whip will have the same effect, and at last the word "Get-up" will mean the same thing

When you talk to the horse through the sense of touch, take into consideration the nervous organization. To some horses a sharp stroke of the whip may be very cruel, because of the extreme sensitiveness of their nerves, or being thin skinned as many term it, when to another horse the same stroke would only attract attention.

Since you must talk to your horse through signs, do not become angry if he does not respond, but rather blame, yourself for not having made the signs correctly. Watch the horse's eyes, ears and movements, for they will show you what he intends to do.

The ears forward and not stiff, indicate content. The ears forward and stiff is the horse's method of saying that there is danger ahead. The ears slightly back and not stiff indicate his attention is drawn to the rear; if the ears are back and stiff there is danger to the horse in the rear. The ears turned backward, close to the head, and stiff, indicate a fighting mood.

If the objects are at the side, the ears act separately, each indicating as above. The eyes act in harmony with the ears. The ears stiff and contracted denote fight. If it were possible for you to feel the muscles you would find them hard and tense when the horse is not under control. Whenever the muscles relax and feel soft and pliable it is a sure sign that you have him under control. As you become more expert, the condition of the muscles will convey more to you than anything else.

By these means of expression, the eyes, ears and muscles, the horse will never lie to you; treat him just as frankly and never lie to him. Watch your horse closely that you may know and act accordingly.

You cannot train a horse, and put only half your attention to your work. Be alert and keen, ready to take advantage of any sign of submission or willfulness. Be sure, in beginning a lesson, you thoroughly know just what you want to do, and go directly to that one thing without any wandering from the point. Do just one thing at a time and no more, or you will confuse your horse.

Remember that since the horse cannot reason, you are fixing impressions through his nervous system, which become habits by constant repeating. If impressions are repeated that you do not want, you have a bad habit. If impressions are repeated that you do want, you have a "good" habit. They are neither "good" nor "bad" to the horse, but he does them simply because he has been taught to do so. It is your business to see that the horse knows what you want him to do, and repeat and continue to repeat until the "habit" is fixed.

The greater resistance you get from your horse, the greater the impression made when you gain your point, and the more thoroughly will the good habit be fixed. It is not wise to begin training a colt under eighteen months or two years of age, because his resistance is not great enough and his brain is so pliable that the habits are easily changed thus giving more opportunity for bad habits to be formed.

Moreover do not abuse your horse, for you lose his confidence and madden him. A man ought to be ashamed to abuse an animal, because he does not do what man has learned to do through a long process of reasoning. Remember, the horse acts only from instinct.
 
okay i have news from yesterday when i had to clip him because i only had one day..

the news is bad.. and good.. at the same time, well i got him clipped.. except for his ears and parshal legs.. but i got bucked in the face twice.. the leg once the arm once and the hand once.. the little sneak can buck sideways.. sillyboy well i am black and blue.. and he said it hurt.. umm no lol it didnt hurt.. they are clippers... well we hobbled him so he couldnt buck me and i got on leg kinda done.. oh well it was better than the last time i tried.. when i was by my self...

this is wat i gotta go through for my horse to be pritty lookin... lol
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: :lol:
 
oh boy, sorry you got a few of his legs in the face, it can really hurt, even thou they are small.

maybe next time tranquilize him
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We tend to have the problem ALL the time lol. We just set aside a whole day KNOWING that it's going to take all day. We start out near the legs letting them get used to it. Theres normally 4 or 5 of us so the more people the better probably. We sometimes hold the foot up so they can't rly fight or what not. If worse comes to worse we use our twitch. Just make sure you have a day set aside, because it wont be a quick thing. lol

Oh Gosh I just read ur response!!!! Your lil man sure isn't very generous on the bruises and such is he?!? Sorry to hear that, at least he's shaved tho ! lol
 

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