How do you spend the two days your horse is on stall rest?
Turning him from this:
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| Go to take a great conformation shot, horse closes his eyes. Of course. |
Into this:
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| Giving me the "why mom?" expression. |
Obviously. Because there's nothing I'd rather do on a weekend where I'm battling a nasty case of bronchitis (seriously, I think I'm dying over here) than shave a ticklish thoroughbred, hyperactive as hell from being on stall rest.
Unfortunately, after reviewing the USEF rules on decorations, logos, and monograms, I decided to play it safe and remove the Guinness harp from Pig's flank. It's always a good idea to stay on the safe side of USEF rules. No one likes stupid eliminations. That meant my clip job had to be done last weekend, to let the inevitable clip lines (more on those below) even out a bit.
Normally, I clip Pig after drugging him, to avoid
being kicked across the barn. This time, I was the one huffing the drugs (mostly steroid inhalers and Mucinex) and Pig was dancing around avoiding the clippers. With lots of patience, breathing breaks for me, and several people helping me distract the ticklish kid, I got it done.
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| Clipping the ticklish parts first means he looks pretty moth eaten... |
The worst part? It was an average of 35* this weekend, which made bathing impossible. This horse is filthy. I went through 3 sharp clipper blades to get this clip done. I'm kind of impressed with how even the damn thing turned out. By the end, I was literally hacking through the hair. It took 4-7 passes with the clippers to get through a single pass.
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| Those clip lines, doh... |
I've said it before, but seriously. I will NEVER CLIP A DIRTY HORSE AGAIN. It was so painful.
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| "Hey Mom. You know what's painful? Being on stall rest when it's blustery and cold and you have boiling hot thoroughbred blood in your veins. Then some idiot decides to shave off your winter coat. Yeah. That's pain." |
I do think he looks ultra fancy all clipped. I wish I could've managed his head, but that was really pushing my luck. Plus, I always leave his legs to help protect his accident prone self on full turnout. (Not that it works!) Still, studly chestnut horse is ready for showtime!
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| Have you met my stallion? |
I was just thinking the other day that I would love to clip my boy, but I have no patience or time, lol!
ReplyDeleteYeah, sadly clipping takes both time AND patience! I was out of both of those (and breath!) by the end of this sucker!
DeleteI hadn't thought about how the logo rule applied to dressage competition. That's interesting. Now I want to check with a rules guru and see if that's a thing. I know event horses sometimes do quarter marks in the dressage, but that's not USDF per se...
ReplyDeleteAnywho. Kudos to you for making it through the clip and G looks great!
I think quarter marks are allowed, and the rules are different re: logos for pros. Also, the FEI has slightly different rules than the USEF. It may be that quarter marks are allowed at FEI but not USEF? Or maybe that's a difference between pattern and symbol? But what if your logo was a checkerboard? ;)
DeleteWhoa, I've never considered how the rules apply to clipping! I also never clip interesting things on my horses because I can barely manage a trace clip.
ReplyDeletePig looks totally awesome!
Yeah, I didn't think about it when I did it. I've seen some upper level riders showing FEI level with hearts and such on haunches, but really didn't want to risk it!
DeleteGuinness looks so dashing! I really want to clip Chloe because I am getting really tired of pulling horse hair out of my bra/mouth/pants (yes, PANTS! No idea how that happened....) but alas...we will wait it out.
ReplyDeleteOmg. Pants?! I'm not going to lie, everything was itchy and hairy after this particular clip. Such a mess! NEVER CLIP A DIRTY HORSE. :)
DeleteI love fresh clips! I never thought about the logos- I wanted to get a saddle pad with one of the RRTP logos- the horse head with a crown- to bring some OTTB support to the dressage ring. I'm sure it'd be fine since people show with breed logos on their pads, but still, it's best to not be eliminated for something like that.
ReplyDeleteAmateurs can show with breed or farm logos, as long as they are the right size or smaller! Never fear! :) USDF did a podcast recently with all the logo rules explained (except the clipping rules...)
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ReplyDeleteAck! I seem to be the double posting bandit.
DeleteThis makes me wish I had body clipped Simon! His trace clip is taking FOREVER to grow out and that's a bad look for the hunters. Guinness looks great.
ReplyDeleteAw thanks! Yeah, the HJ world is so much tougher on turnout. Honestly, even though a trace clip is okay for dressage, Pig wasn't cooling off enough with it. Waiting around for hours while his wooly coat dried was making me CRAZY.
DeleteSo handsome!! I just love the look of a clipped horse ,not to mention the low maintenance part of it. I leave Tucker's legs all winter and then take everything off in March. He is a furball so I usually clip him about 3-4 times. Thankfully he is very good about it!
ReplyDeleteI hate doing legs, so having an excuse not to makes me very happy! Oddly, Pig is really good about doing legs. It's just the stifles and the ears he is all "no touchy!" about. :)
DeleteQuite the hunkster without all his hair :)
ReplyDeleteI just wanna pet him!
DeleteHe does look very studly in that last pic! Too bad about having to get rid of that awesome harp. booooo.
ReplyDeleteI have never lived somewhere cold enough that it would be necessary to clip again in Spring -- for reals, Murray is almost done shedding out all his clipped hair. I'm guessing 2-3 more weeks and we'll be in summer coat. Not to rub it in -- sorry.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Pig looks incredibly dashing and you clearly kicked butt during that clip to make it through. :)
Shedding is always late for us. It's just a fact of life. :) Thanks! I think he's dashing, too!
DeleteI couldn't find anything about monograms but now I'm paranoid about my helmet monogram
ReplyDeleteOoooh. I know personal monograms are not allowed on saddle pads. You'd have to ask about hemet ones!
Deletey'all look READY!!! (even if it wasn't the most funnest experience ever getting there haha)
ReplyDeleteHaha! I have DEFINITELY had more fun!
DeleteHe looks so handsome with that new clip! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteSuch a handsome dashing studlet
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