At 08:34:55 on 12.11.09, Angelalain wrote:
Update on the unclippable hunter. His ex-owner came in Sue's shop, and she told him. He was astounded, said the horse was taking the p*** and he would come and clip him for us if we wanted, So yesterday morning Alex put his bridle on and took the twitch with her. He started to rear and back up, and she told him off and smacked him (once) with the twitch (old fashioned bit of broomstick with cord) He took the hint, and although he didin't like his head being done and he cow kicked once, he actually stood like an angel!!! As soon as she actaully started to clip, he relaxed. I suppose he's not settled yet, and didn't trust her, after all, he's been here a week after 5 years at his last home. With Spotty, you (probably)don't know what happened to him before, we once had a horse who had clip marks on his quarters (he was grey and the teeth marks were black) where he had been done with a set of broken blades. He was very anti his quarters being done, Hence he had a Chaser, hardly surprising really. By the time I got to the yard yesterday Sue had already given Chester a blanket clip and half done a bib on the 4yr old, who'd never seen clippers before yesterday, all before 9am!

At 08:37:04 on 12.11.09, Angelalain wrote:
Alex once resorted to Immac to get a bit off our unclippable 12.3 so he didn't get so hot hunting!! It took an awful lot of cream!!!!

At 08:51:02 on 12.11.09, Flicka wrote:
Oh dear LOL!!!! Or what about an epilady-ouch!!!!

At 08:59:55 on 12.11.09, spotty boy wrote:
Thanks guys, now you are getting silly. Ha ha. My friend has had her 4 year old for approx 2 months now and he stood like an angel. Is Smokey really taking the p***? You're right though we will never know what has happened in the past and yes it will take one heck of lot of Immac.

At 21:35:12 on 12.11.09, Angelalain wrote:
He may not be taking the p***. The 12.3 wasn't. Even when he was sedated and nearly asleep, as soon as the clippers appeared he fought it and fought us, hence we gave up. He would actually try to bite the clippers. He's never liked anyone going into his stable with something in their hand. If its someone he doesnt know he won't even tolerate them with a brush, he just runs away! About the only thing he doesnt run away from is a bucket, LOL , but he'll even back off from a titbit from a male he doesnt know. It would probably be worth a try with sedolin or something. If you can do it once, and then redo it with less and less sedation you may succeed.

At 11:14:47 on 27.12.09, Holistic Horse Help wrote:
This isn't an uncommon problem, and there are lots of things to try. Probably the simplest is to begin your clip 'with the hair' rather than 'against the hair'. Doing this means that some of the hair comes off, but without giving quite the same unusual feel. Then, very gradually, and probably over 3 or 4 sessions over 3 or 4 days, you can take very small amounts of hair 'against the hair', until he becomes comfortable and relaxed with it. I worked with a very extreme clipping horse a couple of weeks ago, that was rearing, striking out, and kicking - they decided to get her doped but the vet couldn't get near her either and they were going to have to sell her as they couldn't do what they wanted without clipping her! The first session I succeeded in getting small amounts of hair 'with the hair' (strangely, she was most comfortable when I worked around her belly area!), and by the third session 2 days later we had clipped most of her, leaving her owner to work with her over the next few days and finish off around the sensitive areas like head and between the front legs. Intelligent Horsemanship Recommended Associates are specialists in helping with all kinds of problems - you can find a link to them on the page below. Good luck with the clipping - I know how much of a difference it makes when your horse is relaxed about it! Sue
http://www.holistichorsehelp.com/page9/page9.html

At 19:47:32 on 24.02.10, Natasha wrote:
Twitch's actually work, you wrap the cord around the fronot of the nose (it doesnt hurt the horse at all) and then it realeases a hormone to make him calm . My piny was scared of clippers at first aswell. Twitches make the horse calm and that way they dont jump around or be naughty (it really doesnt Hurt!)

At 07:45:17 on 25.02.10, spotty boy wrote:
Hi Natasha, already tried this one. I've had good success with the twitch on other horses but it made Smokey worse. He actually reared right up which he wasn't doing previously. We tried on 2 seperate occassions with the same result. Have had to stop trying cause my clippers blew up and I couldn't justify spending the money on a new set for a horse that I can't clip. Too late now anyway, will probably try again next winter and hope he has grown up a bit and will be more accepting. Fortunately he hasn't grown too much coat, not that we've done much riding anyway with the weather.

At 10:48:36 on 25.02.10, Flicka wrote:
Ha ha, maybe he knew better than us then and wanted to keep his coat on this year. Interesting his reaction to the twitch-he's obviously had a nasty experience. Why not try letting him keep it anyway-I've kept Millie's on this year and had no problems and no faffing around with rugs-bliss!

At 15:52:20 on 25.02.10, sophieandcallum wrote:
I had to clip my boy for the first time in his life this winter...also my first time clipping a horse (done lots of dogs but that is with the hair! much easier!) to my complete delight he behaved perfectly and was just very curious why all his hair was on his stable floor:o haha didn't like it up near his head much but he put up with it. I introduced him to the noise by playing a tape(of the clippers noise) for a few hours a night. To be honest spotty I think someone is trying to tell you comething! haha clippers blowing up? Maybe try a slow approach next winter maybe start october time when the coat is starting to come in but is still thin? Just a suggestion, must be so frustrating! Good luck though