From: Marsha
Dear Jessica, I own a small barn on ten acres of land near a large town, and have just started to take in some boarders. Two girls who attend the local college wanted to bring their horses here when they came back for their sophomore year, and I agreed that they could keep the horses at my barn. I have insurance, and both of the girls signed a boarding contract. All that is fine. But when the horses arrived, they looked very strange to me. Do you know the haircut that some young boys used to get a few years ago, that they called "Mohawks", that had both sides of the head all shaved and then a wide strip of hair on the top from front to back? The horses had something I'm not sure how to describe. The girls called it a "pony clip" (these are not ponies, they are full-size horses) and it was something like a Mohawk in reverse. It looked like somebody had shaved all the hair off the horses chests and just between their front legs, and then kept right on shaving up the underside of the neck until they got to the jaw. If you tried to make a cover for the shaved part of the neck, it would have to be about a foot wide, I guess. Since they brought the horses here in September and they were getting their winter coats, I asked if they thought the horses would grow out their coats in time for the cold weather. The girls said yes they would, and that they would do the "pony clip" again if the horses grew too much hair there.
What the heck is a "pony clip" and what is it supposed to do? I understand about clipping horses if you're going to work them all winter and keep them blanketed in a warm barn. I asked if they planned to blanket the horses and they said "No." So with a probably pretty cold winter coming, here I am with two horses that have shaved areas on their necks and chests, and that aren't going to get blankets. These girls are very nice but I don't know what they're talking about half the time, and I have no idea what is going on with these horses, and I'm worried that the horses could get sick while they're boarding at my place!
Have you ever heard of a "pony clip", and what is it supposed to do, exactly? I've seen a lot of different horse blankets, but I've never seen one that would cover that area. I had no idea boarding horses would be this complicated.
Marsha
Obviously a pony that lives out and isn't being ridden at all during the winter can safely be allowed to grow a heavy winter coat - it will be well-protected all winter, and is very unlikely to exercise itself into a sweat. But what if the pony is turned out most of the time, but IS being ridden occasionally? A not-very-fit pony will tend to sweat more, and if a pony with a winter coat sweats heavily, it can take many hours for it to become cool and dry afterward.
A pony that is kept in full work all winter should be completely body-clipped, or at least hunter-clipped, and will need to wear a blanket all the time (to replace the missing hair-coat). That's perfectly practical for a pony in full work. Without its coat, it will sweat less and will cool out quickly.
And so, we reach for a compromise - a way to deal with ponies (or horses) that spend most of their time turned out, but whose owners want to continue to ride through the winter, whenever they have the time, which is to say, on weekends and holidays.
The animals can't be fully clipped, as they would then find it difficult and uncomfortable to live out, even wearing blankets. However, they can't be left completely unclipped, because on those days when they are ridden, they will almost certainly sweat - and a sweat-soaked long coat has to be dry (at least next to the skin) before the pony can go out again. Healthy, well-fed horses generate quite a lot of heat. If they exercise vigorously and sweat heavily, they can become severely chilled before they manage to become dry. A partial clip (low trace clip or "pony" clip) can keep the horse from becoming overheated and sweat-soaked, and thus enable it to dry much more quickly and remain healthier through the winter. Hence the "pony clip", which involves clipping the areas most likely to become sweaty and soaked during a ride: the throat and an area four or five inches wide on either side of the throat, and the chest from the base of the throat to the area just behind the horse's forelegs.
Why clip these areas? For one thing, they are the areas most likely to become sweaty, which makes them good areas to clip for exercise. For another, they are conveniently protected by the horse's own body, which makes them good areas to clip if the horse is NOT going to be blanketed. Horses naturally turn their backs to bad weather - rain, wind, and snow. If you watch horses (wild or domestic) standing out in a storm, you'll see that they turn their backs to the wind and lower their heads, thus effectively covering and protecting the front of the body, the underside of the neck, and the chest... which just happen to be the areas involved in a pony clip. If your boarders' horses were clipped in September, by mid-November they will have a short, dense coat covering those clipped areas (which, in any case, were clipped short - not shaved to the skin). Don't worry about those horses unless you see them shivering - and it's very likely that they will never shiver at all.
Here's a quick guide to clip nomenclature, just in case another boarder arrives with a horse that's been trace-clipped, blanket-clipped, or hunter-clipped:
Pony clip: the hair from just under the jaw to just between the front legs is clipped, as per your description
Low trace clip: in addition, the body hair on the lower sides and underside of the belly is clipped
High trace clip: in addition, the body hair halfway up the horse's sides is removed
Blanket clip: in addition, the horse's head and neck are entirely clipped Hunter clip: all hair is removed EXCEPT for the hair on the legs and a patch where the saddle will go
Full clip or Body-clip: all the hair is removed, including the leg hair and the saddle patch
If you're ever VERY bored in the winter and have a horse you plan to body-clip, a good supply of clipper blades, and some time to spare, you can begin with the pony clip (which removes the smallest amount of hair) and perform each of these clips in turn until you finish with the full clip - or until your horse loses patience with the process - or until your clothing is completely covered with short itchy hairs. ;-)
It sounds as though your new boarders have some experience with riding horses through the winter. You may want to tell them that the pony clip is new to you and that you'll be interested to see how their horses deal with the coming winter. Let them know that you will tell them immediately if their horses become too cold and begin shivering or losing condition, and that you will expect them to bring out warm, waterproof blankets if blankets become necessary.
Most boarding contracts, like most lists of barn rules, are works in progress - barn owners are constantly adding something here and tweaking the wording there. Many barn owners require that boarders provide a suitable blanket for each horse, just in case of need. If you know that you can pop a horse's blanket on as soon as it becomes chilled or ill, you may be able to relax a little more. Don't be surprised if you rarely need to blanket a horse, though! We have severe winters, and I do like to have blankets on hand just in case of a sudden weather change, a wet wind from the wrong direction, or (heaven forbid) an illness. Having said that, though, I should also say that the horses will all die of old age long before their blankets wear out. Although I like having them around just for peace of mind, I would estimate that those blankets are put into use for perhaps two or three days out of every five or six years. ;-)
Jessica
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