Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE Newsletter Archives

Horse frightened of clippers

From: Melissa

Jessica,

I first want to tell you how much I enjoy reading Horse-Sense. You have given me so much information and I am very grateful! I own a nine-and-a-half year old QH\Arab named Jet. I have bought Jet in early June. He is the sweetest horse in the world and I love him to death. You would never think after being with him that he has any vices. Well, not too long ago, before a small barn show, I got the clippers out to trim his whiskers and he was totally mortified! We tried calming him and soothing him but nothing would calm him down. I tried to get another more experienced rider in the area of grooming, but he reared about six times. I had no idea what to do and we were shocked, knowing what a good boy he is. The next day, I tried to use the scissors to trim down his wild whiskers a little. He was not as scared as he was of the clippers, but he was pretty nervous. I asked the previous owner how they had clipped his whiskers and she said they had to give him medicine to calm him down. Is there any easier way to clip him or get him used to the clippers without the injection?

Thank you, Melissa

Hi Melissa! I changed your subject line: yours was "horse that hates clippers", and it's very unlikely that your horse HATES clippers. It's much more likely that your horse is afraid of the clippers. Fear is not a vice -- being worried about clippers isn't a moral failing on the horse's part. You've owned this horse for just a few months, and he's almost ten years old -- a lot has happened to him in those nine and a half years, including, no doubt, some unpleasant experiences involving clippers. You can't go back in time and find out what happened and change it, but you CAN teach your horse that clippers won't hurt him. This is going to take a little time, but it will save you a lot of trouble in the long run. I'd guess that he has probably been tied short, held by a twitch, or even held by an ear whilst someone clipped his face, and that he is now very frightened of the whole process. You can't change what's been done to him before, but you can teach him that things are different now. Allow plenty of time for the process -- listen to your horse every step of the way, and let HIM set the schedule. What matters is the process and the progress, and you'll have to keep in mind that Things Take Time. It takes time to introduce a green horse to clippers and let him feel secure in spite of the noise and vibration; it takes much MORE time to re-introduce a fearful horse to clippers. Don't let anyone push you into hurrying.

Your first job will be to accustom the horse to the sight and sound of the clippers, so that he will accept them as harmless when they AREN'T touching him. One of the easiest ways to do this is to hang them outside his stall and turn them on at feeding time; just let them hang there and run quietly, then feed him. You may need to do this for a week or two or three (depending on how bad his past experiences were), but he will eventually accept the sound and learn to associate it with something good (food) instead of with something bad (being held and frightened and/or hurt).

Once he's used to the clipper sounds and doesn't worry about them any more, you can move on to the next phase: holding the clippers, letting him see them, and touching him with them. Make them part of your grooming routine -- but don't plug them in or turn them on. After you've used your dandy brush, go over the horse with the clippers. Only touch his neck and chest and shoulders; stay away from his face and flanks and belly. Use the BACK of the clippers, not the blades: you're not clipping him, you're just rubbing the clippers against him to show that they are harmless. Use a little pressure, just as you would with a brush. If you touch him too lightly and tickle him, he won't like it. If he gets worried, back off, brush him a little more, then start again. Keep your own attitude very casual -- sing along with the radio! If you hold your breath and get tense whenever you pick up the clippers, your horse will quickly figure out that he was right to worry, because obviously clippers ARE scary. After all, you're afraid of them too.

When he's quite relaxed about that, you can plug them in and turn them on, and use them the same way for another week or so, just rubbing the BACK of the clippers over the less sensitive parts of his body. This is good for both of you -- it teaches the horse that the clippers won't hurt him, and it teaches you how much pressure is the right amount to keep your horse comfortable. When he's at ease with the clippers on his neck, you can begin to rub them against his cheeks, his jaw, etc.... again, using the BACK of the clippers.

When he's relaxed about THAT, you can turn the clippers around and start to use them. Again, start small -- clip a few hairs under the jaw, then go back to the brush, or do something else for a moment. If he begins to worry or dance or get anxious, move the clippers and hold the back of them against his neck or shoulder (he doesn't mind that now). The idea isn't to get it all done quickly the first time -- the idea is to do a very little and keep the horse calm and relaxed, so that the next time you can do a little more, and the time after that a little more.

Horses often worry about having clippers vibrating against their faces. It's not always because of previous bad experiences, although that's quite common; it can be a simple matter of unpleasant vibrations and noises. Horses have enormous sinus cavities, and clipper vibrations can set up horrid sounds INSIDE the horse's head, and some horses simply hate this and can eventually learn to tolerate it, but that's all, they'll never be happy about it.

Your horse CAN learn to relax and accept the clippers, but it's going to depend on your patience and your close observation of his reactions. Be quiet, calm, and cheerful, and don't frighten your horse -- take as much time as HE needs. If it takes a week, a month, or three months to get him comfortable with clippers, it doesn't matter. What's important isn't how fast you get the job done, it's how well you do it. Clipping three hairs, praising the horse, and coming back a minute later to clip three more hairs may seem like a lengthy process, but the more time you take and the more careful you are NOW, the better off you and the horse will be.

Good luck!

Jessica

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