A full body clip is the most drastic, clipping the entire winter coat off. This type of clip is most useful for horses that may have been shipped from the north to the south and are constantly uncomfortable. It is sometimes useful in the spring if you don’t want to wait for the winter coat to shed. Be very careful with this type of clip. Your horse will be totally dependent on you for protection from the cold. Use a high quality weatherproof blanket. The “New Zealand Rug” is a very popular brand.
In very cold areas, do not clip the hair on the ears, even when doing a full body clip. Horses have lost their ears to frostbite.
Extra care for your horse’s hooves is needed also. Most experts recommend letting horses go barefoot through the winter, especially those that are being turned out. However, if you are going to ride often on very hard, frozen ground you may want to keep or put shoes on your horse. Laminitis, or founder, can occur from trauma to the foot. You may also want to consider shoes with borrium if your horse will be on very icy ground. Borrium is little metal nubs on the shoes that work like putting chains on you car tires. The biggest concern with shoes is they will compress the snow and form big ice balls on the horse’s feet that could make the horse slip.
Two other things to think about when you are riding this winter: watch out for long winter hair when you cinch up your saddle –Ouch! And PLEASE warm up your horse’s bit before putting it in his mouth. If you can’t stand the thought of putting your bare hands around the bit for a few minutes before putting your bridle on, think about your poor horse putting it between his lips!
Happy Riding!
