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  Discussion on Clipping advice
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Member:
Chohler

Posted on Friday, Jun 3, 2005 - 4:29 pm:

I have a 4 yr old mustang gelding who has not fully shed out his winter coat. In the winter he is a funny dun looking color, and in the spring he is a dark rose gray. As you can imagine with the different colors and lengths of hair he looks absolutely ratty with the winter coat not completely shedding out.

His coat actually breaks off in places. I took him to the vet for a check up, and after bloodwork that was ok, they floated his teeth, and said they thought his biggest problem was he had a lot of caps ready to come out but they didn't want to pull them because it would cause other problems. That and the hay supply this last few months has really sucked, we've had double the normal amount of moisture. So I started feeding alfalfa cubes, he is filling out better but the poor thing looks like he had a fight with a paper shredder.

I want to clip his body and face but not his leggs. They only clipping I have done before is face clipping.

What size setting does everyone recomend for clipping his body. I don't want it short, just enough to make the winter coat disappear so it doesn't look like I don't take care of the poor boy.

Thanks
Member:
Mrose

Posted on Friday, Jun 3, 2005 - 8:35 pm:

Is your guy getting any supplements, grain, or other feed along with the cubes? Just from how you discribe him, it sounds like maybe he could use some. I sympathize with the hay situation; a lot of people around here have been running out of hay also. I was down to 6 bales (for 10 horses here at home) when we finally were able to cut & bale.

As to the clipping, do you have high powered, heavy duty clippers like Clipmasters? It's going to be a hard job without them. Also, can you bathe him yet? It's really hard not to have a messy looking job on a dirty coat. I usually bathe, then use Show Sheen or a conditioner so the hair is nice and slippery. Maybe a dry bath and some Show Sheen would work if it's too cold, and his coat is too thick for water.

I start out with a 10 blade when body clipping, then touch up with a finer blade. Good luck!!
Member:
Mrose

Posted on Friday, Jun 3, 2005 - 8:38 pm:

Oh, also if you hold the clippers "backwards" or "upside down" instead of the blade flat and parallel to the hair, you can blend the hair so it doesn't look so "just clipped" esp. if you aren't clipping him all over. By going with little feathery strokes and the blade upside down you can blend the shorted hairs into the long gradually. I'd practice somewhere it won't show much if you aren't used to clipping.
Member:
Kckohles

Posted on Saturday, Jun 4, 2005 - 7:25 pm:

I have two thoughts about this, first I am suprised that they didn't take the caps out. In my experience if they shed unevenly it will be more problem than taking them out. But I didn't look at them so I can't speak about your horse in particular.
Second, if you shave your horse now you will definitely affect his summer coat. It won't be as pretty as it would have been if you just let is shed out on it's own. But then again sounds like he isn't looking too great now any way. I think adding some flaxseed meal or other omega source helps with this. I have found the charcoal looking blocks to be miracle workers with shedding a horse out.
Member:
Chohler

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 8, 2005 - 5:19 pm:

My last post didn't show???

The vet said pulling the caps would cause step mouth? And he won't touch flaxseed no matter what. Corn oil didn't make a difference. I don't know what the charcoal blocks are our stores don't have anything like you describe. This horse gets grass/alfalfa mix, mineral/vit supp., and complete grain, he know also gets alfalfa cubes I just found an awesome reliable source. He was also wormed with quest, ivermectin has be used regularly in the past.

I went ahead and shaved him I used a setting that just took the tops of the unshedded coat and left the spring growth pretty much alone, it looks good. There is just the different in color of course.
Member:
Chohler

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 8, 2005 - 5:22 pm:

Oh and I used a wahl, arco cordless, it works awesome, like cutting through butter, better than any others I have used for cordless dog/horse grooming. They were well worth the price paid.
Member:
Bethyg2

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 8, 2005 - 5:57 pm:

Ladies,
You have not lived until you own an Andis.....IMO.
I clip my horse in under 30 minutes, get him looking pretty good in about twenty minutes. It's the really big one- it has a cord- with the picture of a horse and a cow on the cover. Says it can be used for "fitting steer" whatever that is. I could buzz through an entire herd of sheep with it. Best part is no sheer marks which make the animal look like it was done by an amateur.
My 2 cents on the lousy coat issue is I use a product not normally used for coats- it is used for weight gain and maintenance. It is called HARD KEEPER (forget who makes it). Not only did my skinny, hard keeper gain the right amount of weight, but his coat was noticeably improved after like 30 days. Now he gleams, where he was really dull before, which was an unexpected bonus. Only drawback is it lists animal fat as an ingredient. I wouldn't give it to any animal that was overweight though. I give half the recommended dose every day and his coat is awesome. -Beth G.}
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Jun 9, 2005 - 6:28 am:

Hello Beth,
does the product have a complete list of ingredients, the amount, and the dosage rate?
DrO
Member:
Bethyg2

Posted on Thursday, Jun 9, 2005 - 11:04 am:

Dr. O,
I will post the ingredients this evening when I get home- It does concern me that animal fat is included.-Beth G.
Member:
Chohler

Posted on Thursday, Jun 9, 2005 - 1:07 pm:

Yes the ingredients would be interesting.

off topic - I have hunted for years to put healthy food on my families table and have seen the devastating diseases that wildlife can get from farmed game being fed animal byproducts. So I am very leary of feeding anything of the sort.
Member:
Bethyg2

Posted on Thursday, Jun 9, 2005 - 10:47 pm:

Yes, Cheryl, that's what I was thinking too. Also, that is how Mad Cow Disease spread I think. Of course that was from being fed raw entrails (yuck) But I'm not much of a label reader when it comes to the horses, and didn't notice the second ingredient until I had a great result. Now I'm afraid to give it up,especially since nothing bad has happened.
"Hard Keeper"is by Vita Flex. 2 ounces to be fed daily for skin and coat condition,4 ounces daily for weight gain. (I just give 1 ounce to maintain the great coat) Here we go with the ingredients:
Corn distiller's dried grains with solubles, animal fat, milled flax seed, calcium carbonate, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, dried fermentation products of : Enterococcus faecium,Lactobacillus acidophilus,Aspergillus niger, Trichoderma lonibrachiatum, Bacillus subtilus, Lactobacillus fermentum,Bifidobacterium longum, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacilus plantarum,Pediococcus acidilacticii, natural and artificial flavorings,BHA and BHT (as preservative) citric acid,propyl gallate. 40% crude fat minimum.
What in the world ARE those things?? I can tell you that it's the one single supplement that you can really see have a serious effect. But, are there potential long term bad effects? I assume it is beef fat, but they don't say.
Thanks in advance Dr.O, -Beth G.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Jun 10, 2005 - 9:17 am:

Currently our best thoughts are that Mad Cow Disease is spread when the brain or spinal cord tissue of an infected animal are fed to a uninfected animal, a practice that has been banned in the US for quite some time.

The fact that they use animal fats, per se, is not a problem, after all, all of us non-vegetarians, eat animal fat. The question is where does the animal fat come from, is it from a inspected facility that ensures wholesomeness?

In these amounts there is nothing special about this supplement Beth, other than it contains a lot of energy in the form of fats. Corn distillers grains is what is left over after fermentation of corn based alcohol. It may be high in protein and B vitamins but considering the amount here not significant in an otherwise good diet. All of those long names are yeast and bacteria that are used in various food production technologies and the fact that there are no live cultures makes their use very questionable, for more on this see Care for Horses » Nutrition » Probiotics and Yeast Culture Products. If this is helping your horse Beth it indicates some deficiency in the rest of your diet and better would be correcting the diet to contain good to excellent quality forages and if that is not possible extra protein, energy, and vitamins needed following the suggestions in our article.
DrO
Member:
Bucky

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 15, 2005 - 11:16 am:

Is it better to clip against the hair grain or with it, or does it depend on the spot?
Member:
Mrose

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 15, 2005 - 11:58 am:

How short are you clipping? If clipping for a show clip around the face, I clip against the growth, but if I'm just clipping to get rid of winter hair and make the horse more comfortable and look a little better, I clip with the hair growth. I also spray Show Sheen or similar product on the hair first as it seems to hep the clippers go smoother and not leave tracks.
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