Clipping Foals

[lemonrockranch]

Hello All,

I think this question was asked a while back, but I can't find it - anyway. . . My foal Lemon Rocks Blackfoot Bandit was born 4/22/06. He has a very heavy foal coat and is rubbing like crazy. He has worn the coat all the way down in a few places. Of course, it is now HOT in Illinois. It's much too early to be this hot and humid, but it is Illinois and if you don't like the weather now, stick around a few minutes, it'll change! :lol:

I hate to clip him now, but he'll be bald if he keeps rubbing. Also, I don't want him to get a skin infection by rubbing himself raw. I also hate the idea of a bucking bronco and all that hair flying around - it seems to collect in my face and all over my glasses :risa_suelos: We've already had the farrier out to check and make sure his little hoovies were in good shape and legs were nice and straight - which they are! So, when he sees me coming he's already waiting for a wrestling match. If you'll remember, he was quite the little stocky guy when he was born.

So, with all that said, do you think it is too early to clip him, maybe with a 5 or 7? I don't think we are going to have to worry about it getting cold here at night any more this season. I need to get him on the sale board, but the way he looks now, he's kind of raggity looking. Kinda looks like he's been in a fight - I'd hate to see the other guy!! :bgrin

Thanks!

 

[mountain_waif]

....

 

[royalview]

I was wondering the same thing, except does this ever cause any future "clipper phobias"?? I wonder as my filly is so shy, I would love to clip her but worry that she will be tramatised!! when she was a week old she would breath so fast that she would almost pass out if we tried to hold her for handleing. :new_shocked:

 

[normajeanbaker]

Kind of off subject but Kathy your filly sounds just like mine was :new_shocked: With my filly, she was scared of EVERYTHING. She used to breathe so hard I am shocked she never did pass out(and yes, she was imprinted at birth, but it was just her!) It was quite the sight trying to clip her

: But, the more I clipped her, the better she got. She is now EASY to clip and I am able to get her done all by myself with no fight and stress. The earlier you start with munchkins like this, the better it is. Just like with a bath....she used to flip herself over backwards during bath time...I kept at it and now at a year old she now ties to the fence and stands better then any aged horse to get a bath...infact, if she see's me getting the Hott Washer out, she runs to the gate and tries to push through it so she can have a bath. I was afraid of scaring her half to death by clipping her early and attempting to do all this stuff with her, but because I started early and stuck with it, she's actually turned out to be as easy to work around and with as any of our older Mini's. Because she's found out that everything is not a "munchkin eater", she has been VERY VERY easy to work with this spring. Of course she'll probably prove me wrong at the show Sunday, but oh well

: I was ready to leave her on someone's doorstep with a note saying "please take me" because she was a tough egg to crack, but all the work payed off and she's "the princess" of the barn now

:

I think Mini foals enjoy getting their first hair cut...I know our colt almost fell down a few times the first time we clipped him because he was leaning into the clippers.

Jen

 

[HJF]

I would also clip him. Last year, I clipped my colt when he was about a month old because it was around 90 degrees outside not including the humidity. I spent a while letting him get used to those "monsters" that were so loud and ate all his hair off.

: After that, he was fine! This year when I clipped him, he was so good! Now I have another yearling who wasn't clipped when he was a foal..and he's a different story to clip.

 

[royalview]

: Jen I know you are just trying to get me to clip her so you can pick on me at hte show!!!LOL It will look like a fight with the lawn mower if I try!!

 

[normajeanbaker]

Jen I know you are just trying to get me to clip her so you can pick on me at hte show!!!LOL It will look like a fight with the lawn mower if I try!!

:risa_suelos: If your first clip job goes anything like mine, she won't look like she got run over by a lawn mower, but she sure will look like a finely clipped Poodle

:

Jen

 

[Marty]

Yes we had terrible itchys too. I really think they are just plain dirty too and need a good bath.

This is what I did with Timmy last year and this year again with Knight:

I wanted to ease them into their new coat so nobody would get sick on me.

First off I clipped up the legs, under belly and face and neck with a #10.

Then for the body, I used a #5. This left a thicker coat on so that he wouldn't burn in the sunshine or get a chill at night.

Now you have a coat short enough to bath where the shampoo can really get down to their skin.

 

[Danielle_E.]

Well, my little filly was born April 24/06 and I clipped her the other day. I did a bit one day and more the next day and she seemed to enjoy it at first BUT then :new_shocked: . She didn't mind her body being done or her heck, the face she didn't like and the very bottom of her legs. I am glad I did clip her because it's very humid here today and she would have been miserable with the heavy coat she was born with. I think it's the perfect time to do it because once they get bigger and heavier it might prove to me much more difficult for the foal and for YOU! At least at this stage of the game you have more control in the weight department. When I finished clipping Allie she looked at me with a real evil look, ears pinned back (doesn't make her very pretty when she does that, :bgrin) and came up to me turned her behind to me and kicked me :lol: . Guess she told me what she thought of the whole ordeal!