You may be looking at the title and thinking “a clipping post in June? That seems a little odd” and you would be right for the current way we think about our horses. Most horse owners only think about clipping when we move into Autumn, we start to look at our horses and weigh up how much exercise they’re doing, how thick their coat is, and wonder when we will make the first clip. In addition to this, many people put off clipping their horse, because their horse is a pain to clip. Why? Maybe they plant, spin, rear, buck, or bite. The solution many have come to is getting the vet out to sedate their horse, or hiring a professional clipper instead of running the gauntlet themselves.
Well what if I told you that your problems can start to be resolved now! It is almost 4 months before many would start to clip their horses, so now is the perfect time to start down the behaviour modification path.
*disclaimer: if your horse has serious aversion to clipping I would strongly recommend finding a behaviour consultant in your area, I myself service Surrey and south east London, but be sure to check the ABTC and IAABC*
Let’s begin by dissecting why horses find clipping so scary.
The noise. Clippers are loud for us, but even louder for horses given their sensitive hearing. Different clippers make different noises ranging from industrial size to dog clippers. And remember that horses have evolved to spook at even the slightest sound behind them.
The vibrations. Even if a horse can get used to the sound going around them, the vibrations that clippers make can tickle, exacerbate pain in an area, or just be uncomfortable. Different areas of the body will be more or less sensitive too, think of their reaction to a light touch on their hind quarters vs their stomach.
They get hot. Clippers quickly heat up and it is not uncommon for horses to get burnt by them. Similarly, clippers can nick the skin and potentially cause bleeding. If a horse has a previous negative experience with clippers, then the sound, smell and sight of clippers will make them anxious even if other experiences have been positive.
The oil. Horses may dislike the smell of the oil or even have sensitive skin that reacts to it, which could create a negative experience and a negative association to clipping.
The environment. Horses are often moved to a designated (or cleared out) clipping box. This is often alone and in an unfamiliar area.
So now we know of some of the reasons that horses might find clipping fear inducing and stressful, we can begin to understand what we can do to prepare them and reduce that fear. Now every horse is different, so these are some general ideas you can test out, but as I said above, if your horse has a dangerous response to clipping please consult a professional and do not try to resolve it alone.
We want to set up the environment for success. Try adding some of their bedding to the designated clipping box to it to make it smell familiar. Add a haynet, you can try soaking it in some flavoured tea or fruit juice to make it interesting. Have a friend nearby, someone they spend a lot of time in the field with.
Now to the behaviour remodelling. Work out where the horse begins to get stressed, look for facial signals:
What we are looking for is the transition point between relaxed and stressed. At the slightest sign of stress we need to stop and take a step back, trying to stay in the comfortable zone without causing stress is how we can reduce learned fear. By noticing small signs of stress we can take a step back and allow our horse to calm down before asking more of them. You can also use positive reinforcement during this process, use a friend if you have to start at a large distance, or remember to put down the clippers before feeding.
Example 1: If the sight of clippers is stressful, then we need to use a gradually decreasing distance. Find the point at which the horse shows minor stress signs or attention to the clippers, this is your starting point. When the clippers are presented just before the horse experiences stress, you can then feed them some chaff or pellets and remove the clippers, repeating this while slowly getting closer to the horse.
Example 2: If the vibrations of clippers are stressful, then using a smaller set of clippers like trimmers, or dog clippers can reduce the stress and allow you to desensitise the horse to them gradually. You can also use the vibration of your phone if the horse finds the combination of the clippers and vibration stressful. You can also introduce food here when the clippers are turned on.
Training is individual to every horse, and it is important to keep them under threshold by focusing on minor stress signs, rather than overt ones. Starting to retrain them now, or even just assess them, allows us to take it slow and not feel pressured or rushed to ‘fix’ their behaviour. Short sessions, no more than 5 minutes, can help keep stress levels low and actually help you progress faster.
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