Show in full coat clipping questions

[Whitewave]

Just a quick question .. please And thank you...When showing in full body coat ..i know your allowed to clip ears an muzzle but what about the legs? only round the pastern or ar you allowed to clip up to hock/knee? and what about the face ?

Thanks for your input.

jenn

 

[kaykay]

Jenn I have done this quite a few times with ponies. The trick is to get it all to blend.

We do the head and ears and blend it into the neck

For legs we only clip the feathers off. Depending on the color of your horse clipping to the knee is going to show big time and could make your horse look over at the knee etc so I would not do that.

Here is Feature clipped minimally for pictures

 

[disneyhorse]

Above are two stallions at shows where I showed in full coats (the buckskin was shaved at the first of the year, you can see his original winter coat at the tail "V" but the clipped part grew back in so golden in the summer I didn't want to re-clip him). If you do a lot of grooming (mine are brushed daily) and the horse has good coat genetics (some just refuse to get thin, shiny coats... coarser body hair often just won't come around no matter how much fat you feed and brushing you do) sometimes it's MORE nice looking than a body shaved horse.

When clipping up a full coat, I will usually clip around the coronet band, then the entire back of the pastern, and then blend up all of the fetlocks and the backs of the legs all the way up to the knee/hock as there are often little hairs. Often I will go with the hair or hold the blade at a 90 degree angle to the hair with a 10 or 7 blade to help blend.

I clip the bridle path with a 40 blade. I clip the insides of the ears, and then around the edges of the ears.

I clip the underside of the entire jaw and throat with a 10 blade. I do the muzzle with a 10 blade and then just around the lips/chin/edges of the nostrils with a 40 or 50 blade. Above the eyes with a 10 blade.

And then voila!

Andrea

 

[supaspot]

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[CharlesFamily]

My girls are taking their minis to our county fair next week. I am leaving them in full body coat. They were body clipped in May for our first show, but they have nice, sleek coats. They are solid buckskin and chestnut, and I just hate how their color fades with the body clipping, so I am leaving them like they are! We will do as the others have said (and like I used to do the big horses) stray hairs around the coronet band and pasterns, ears, bridle path, muzzle, the really long eyelashes and any long hairs under the jaw, all nicely blended. Good luck!

Barbara

 

[susanne]

When your horse has a glorious, tight, shiny summer coat, it IS spectacular to actually see their true, rich color and natural shine. Not every mini has the coat, but when they do, we should show it off!

I do virtually the same as Andrea. Shadow and light are your friends -- under chin can be clipped close without fear of color variation, as it will always be seen in different light and shadow than the other planes of the face.

With Mingus being a bay, I like to get rid of any mealy toned hair on his muzzle, but that's easy with normal clipping. With bays, you have to be careful clipping the coronet/pasterns lest any grey skin show through. You may need to touch up a bit with a black eye shadow crayon.

I couldn't do the "V" thing if I wanted -- with Mingus it sheds out completely along with the rest of his coat, so no subterfuge.

Be sure to use diet, supplements, lots of brushing, minimal bathing, etc., to keep the coat at it's peak.

Here's a not-very-good photo of Mingus in his natural summer coat, with only minor clean-up.

 

[Sandy B]

Showing halter quarter horses for many years (full sized) we did not body clip. We used a 40 blade on muzzle, around eyes, bridle path and inside of ears the day before we showed. About 5 days before the show we used a 10 to 15 blade and shaved the coronet and pastern (all the way around) and up the back of the cannon bone. At that same time we used a 40 blade and trimmed jaw and any other necessary face work. Sometimes we clipped outside of ears and back of ears with a 10 blade at that time as well, depending on the horse. When I did Morgans, we used a 10 blade and shaved a large traingle shape on the head about 5-7 days before the show, depending on the color of the horse. This pattern started at the underside of the forelock went out around eyes and "v"'d down to nose. It helped accent the face.