CLIPPING YOUR HORSE'S EARS

At some stage of horse ownership, you will come across a horse that doesn't like to be clipped. Whether it's around the head and face or the legs, a lot of horses are frightened of the clippers. To us it seems like something very acceptable. We know the clippers aren't going to hurt the horse, but the horse doesn't. Remember, horses are prey animals; and they perceive anything new as potentially life threatening. Until you prove to them otherwise, they are not going to willingly accept it.

A lot of people can clip their horse without having to fight with him or restrict him in any way. There is an easy way to teach your horse to accept clipping. The key is to break the process into steps and teach the your horse that the noise and the feel of the vibrating clippers are not going to hurt him. The smaller the steps, the easier it is for him to understand. If you try to teach your horse with a direct line of thinking, the horse becomes confused and you become frustrated.

In horse training, you are either sensitizing or desensitizing your horse to pressure. When you are sensitizing your horse, you want him to yield or move away and submit to the pressure. Desensitizing, on the other hand, is teaching him to relax and stand still and pay no attention to what you're doing. This is the behavior I am looking for when I clip my horse. I want him to stand relaxed and not worry about the clippers.

1. Can you rub your hand all over your horse's face and ears? Can you wave them around his eyes? If your horse has any resistance to your bare hand on his face and head, you can hardly expect him to stand still for clippers. You would be amazed at how many people wonder why their horse won't be clipped, when the truth is these same people can't even touch the horse's ears with their hands. Step 1 is to get your horse to accept your hands on his face, muzzle, ears and around his eyes - desensitizing him to anything moving around his head. Once you have accomplished this step COMPLETELY, move on to Step 2. Don't move on if there is ANY resistance from the horse, no matter how long it takes.
2. I want to take the clippers in my hand - turned OFF - and desensitize the horse to having the clippers around. Let him smell the clippers. Then rub them over his face and wave them around his eyes and ears. Remember, if your horse won't stand still for the clippers when they are not even turned on, what makes you think that he will stand there when you do turn them on? Make sure that he will tolerate the feeling of the clippers on all parts of his face, eyes and ears - especially inside the ears. If this takes a few days, spend that time - it will save you time in the long run. Make sure that the horse is showing no resistance to this step before you move on.
3. Remove the blade and turn the clippers on to let the horse get used to the noise. Without touching him, wave the clippers around the end of his nose, his eyes and his ears. Don't touch him with the clippers yet. Desensitize him to the sound and movement first. When clippers are close to his ears, he will probably lift his head and act a little frightened. Leave the clippers up there 7-8 inches from the horse's ear and wait until the horse relaxes his head. Once he relaxes, turn the clippers off and pat him. Use my approach and retreat method. Every time the horse relaxes and lowers his head, turn the clippers off and pat him. You are not trying to touch him right now with the clippers on - all you are doing is getting him to stand still with the clippers on and moving anywhere around his head. Pay particular attention to areas where reaction is high - this is usually around the ears. You might have to spend more time here. Initially, it might take a couple of minutes before he relaxes his head when the clippers are near his ears. However, once he does, turn the clippers off. Repeat this procedure until there is little, if any, reaction from your horse.
4. Once the horse accepts the clippers around his head while they are turned on but not touching him, it is time to rub them all over the horse's face and nose, around his ears and on the poll with the clippers turned on. This will create a new sensation - the clippers are vibrating against his skin. The horse may act frightened again, but this is his normal reaction. Just keep rubbing the clippers around until he begins to relax his head. As soon as he does, turn the clippers off and pat him. Remember, approach and retreat. In the beginning, you might want to work on one area of his head at the time. But, don't begin with the ears - start with the muzzle and work your way up. As he relaxes in each area, you can increase the places you are rubbing until you can do it all over his head.
5. Once your horse is absolutely perfect with all of the previous steps, you are ready to begin clipping the hair on his face and ears. However, if you are still getting resistance from the horse to any of the steps up to this point, you will only make matters worse by proceeding. Again, don't start with the ears. Start at the muzzle and work your way through - under the chin, up his face, around his eyes, in the bridle path and poll area. Then start to work on his ears. It is a good idea to do a little bit of clipping and then go back and rub the clippers over areas that you have already clipped. This will reinforce the desensitizing in these areas and give him more time to get used to the feeling of being clipped. Actually clipping the hair is another new feeling, and the horse may react to the sensation. If he gets suspicious or frightened, you can go back to the rubbing that he should already be used to. If you do a little bit each day, after a week or so you should be able to clip anywhere on his body with no resistance.

SUCCESS TIPS

1. Don't do your clipping training sessions when your horse is fresh. Do the session after a workout. You may have done some groundwork exercises or taken a ride. This activity has the horse in a "thinking" frame of mind, and the time you spend with him now will be more productive. I like to do some desensitizing with the clippers in between my groundwork exercises or at the end of the session. I know that the horse has been worked both mentally and physically, and I have him at a point where is more likely to accept something new more easily than if he was feeling fresh and inattentive.
2. Don't tie your horse when you are conducting a clipping session. This will create a feeling of claustrophobia for your horse; and if he panics and pulls back, you may create another problem. Put your horse in a confined area like a round pen. This way, if he wants to move his feet, he can - but he can't go anywhere. I would avoid doing this in the horse's stall. The stall is too restricting; and if something causes him to panic or feel trapped, there is nowhere for you to go and you could get hurt. Anytime a horse feels trapped and he can't flee, Nature tells him that his only remaining option is to fight.
3. BE CONSISTENT! Don't spend three hours once a week trying to teach him everything in one session. Break the steps down and work on each one a little bit every day. Children go to school five days a week because they learn best with constant repetition of information until it is absorbed. Horse's are just the same. If I spend 5-10 minutes every day for 30 days, by the end of the month my horse is completely accepting the clippers, he is relaxed and there are no problems. If you only do this once or twice a week, not enough consistency is being provided for your horse to understand the lesson; and he won't learn as quickly or as well. If you are not prepared to be consistent, you should not even start.

TROUBLESHOOTING

You are having trouble getting the horse to accept the next step. This could be because you have spent too little time on one or more of the previous steps, and the horse has not been desensitized enough to proceed. Go back through the steps and find the hole in the training. Work on this step until you have it done, and continue from that point. The last thing you want to do is to try to clip the horse before he is properly desensitized to the noise, the movement and the feeling of the clippers. Once this is properly done, the actual clipping experience should not be difficult at all.