To clip/blanket or leave natural???

[Shadow14]

This post was born from the post of turnout 24/7. One question that keeps cropping up in my mind when and horse is left out without a blanket is how do you ride that horse??
If a horse has a good winter coat how can you serious ride him and expect him not to sweat?? Then how do you deal with a wet horse when you get home?? Can’t just turn him out if it is cold?? What do you do??
If you don’t actually use the horse that is one thing but why bother with a horse if you don’t want to ride it??
I bought and maintain a horse for my riding pleasure and run about 40 or 50 miles a week. My favorite gate is the lope and Strider had perfected it and can travel effortlessly for hours.
This is him getting back for a 2 ½ hour trip covered at a steady lope. Yes he is warm but not heated all the way through and once I pull the saddle and give him a light graining he is ready for his warm winter rug and back out to the field with his buddies
http://i44.tinypic.com/2mzfkoh.jpg

So again those of you who leave your horses out 24/7 and don’t even blanket how do you use that horse over the winter???

This is not a troll but a legitimate question???
Help to understand?

[rainechyldes]

I kinda of answered you on the other, - I'll post here to:)

None of mine are clipped or blanketed, and you know from the endurance forum I ride all winter.
I tend to walk them in the last mile, I have a 1/4 sheet cooler that is clipped to the back of my saddle which I let down as I'm walking home.
I usually towel them dry, put on a heavier cooler and walk them out once I'm home until they are dry and happy, then turn them back out.

Of interest, my neighbor rides endurance also, she also rides all winter and doesn't clip, my best friends both ride endurance, ride all winter here and never clip either.
In fact I don't know offhand many of our club horses that are clipped all winter.

A more common approach here for many is to ride unclipped all winter, and then clip right before the early rides if you are going (April)

[Sithly]

Yep, my horse sweats. I rub him down with a towel and throw a cooler over him until he's dry. Then he goes back out.

I could clip him, but it would be a huge pita to have to deal with blankets and monitoring the weather all the time. I just leave him in his natural coat; he is fine in all weather and I don't worry about him.

I ride more than one horse in a day, so I rotate which ones I ride first -- those get worked harder. They have time to dry while I'm working the others. The last horse gets a lighter workout and by the time I'm done, all are ready to go. I give them a quick curry to remove any dried sweat and fluff up their coats, and they go back outside.

Simple, easy, and works great for me.

[deltawave]

why bother with a horse if you don’t want to ride it??

I have no good answer for THAT one :rolleyes: but there are plenty of clips out there, allowing the horse to keep much, most, some, or part of its winter coat (as the climate and workload dictates) and still work hard, get sweaty, and cool out quickly.

Something as simple as clipping the underside of the neck where the great vessels lie can do an enormous amount to expedite cooling. On the other extreme is a full body clip. And everything that lies between allows custom clipping to suit the situation at hand.

My event horse gets a modified "steeplechase" clip (there are pictures far and wide of this and other types) as soon as her fall break is over and she's ready to go back to work for the winter. It basically removes the hair from the lower 1/3 of her neck, her chest, and her shoulders to the middle of her belly in a more or less diagonal line from her jaw to just in front of her flanks. Working harder? I can take off more hair. Working less? I plan on clipping less. Winter off? No clip. Very hard work, trip to Florida? Fuller clip, but I then have the obligation to blanket with much more vigilance.

Still she and the rest of my herd are outside, and not only survive but thrive. :)

[Shadow14]

I love winter riding. NO bugs, cool temperatures and groomed snowmobile trails that run for 1000's of miles. All farmers fields are open and with the traffic from the snowmobiles and the groomers the trail quickly turns to hard pack or ice and I can glide along over it.
I pick up a nice easy laid back lope and head out the snowmobile trails and travel about 22-25 miles on a saturday and while it is cold the sun is bright and everything just sparkles. Strider could maintain this lope for the whole trip and arrive home looking good. Shadow my next guy was handling about 1/2 and 1/2 on the runs before his untimely death.
I don't spend time walking. I lope right up to the end of the laneway, get off, loosen the girth and walk him in. unsaddle, grain , blanket and send out.
Yes he has sweat of his neck and chest but his back and sides are almost totally dry by the time the saddle is taken off and he cools out real fast.
Could you honestly lope say 10 miles on your horse with a winter coat??? Once wet it is not easy to cool/dry out a full winter coat.

My own made up clip that works for me. Strider looks worried and is afraid the guys will laugh at him. The big "N" on the butt is also for cooling but at the same time leaving hair to keep the muscles warm.
http://i41.tinypic.com/vzkk6s.jpg

[onthebit]

My two horses are not clipped for the winter. However their workload is fairly moderate, 30-45 minutes of arena work several times per week.

[Sithly]

Oh, I see what this is all about. :rolleyes: Let me save you some time and trouble.

Yes, we are all so impressed by how far you ride. Wow! Amazing! I hadn't realized this before, but clearly the distance you ride is directly correlated to your skill as a horseman, your knowledge of horse care practices, and your worth as a human being.

There. Do you feel superior enough now, or would you like to continue bragging -- I mean, asking questions?

:lol:

[deltawave]

My horse has never loped a step in her life. :) If I were foxhunting, yes, we'd canter or gallop easily 10 miles or more, no sweat. ;) For that she'd need probably a bit more of a clip than she currently gets. But I no longer hunt, at least I don't right now, so not an issue here.

[rainechyldes]

I don't spend time walking. I lope right up to the end of the laneway, get off, loosen the girth and walk him in. unsaddle, grain , blanket and send out.

Okay I get that and it works for you. Which is awesome:)
But I do walk in, I always walk in, I ride endurance that's pretty much ALL I do other then mucking about at the little local shows for fun.

So I walk in, monitoring my horse(HR & hydration) because thats how I train/ and compete, so it's habit, and it works for me in all weather:) And it develops the habit in the horse.

I don't lope much.. or well canter.
Endurance = extended trot for my guys, thats the gait I train in mainly, because thats the gait they compete in. I will canter or gallop on occasion of course, to stretch em out and give em a lung opener - but trotting is where it's at.

I have one horse who does a 14 mph trot, can I do 10 miles on him in the winter - yes of course. And to be honest, his canter is actually slower then his trot.. His canter is super comfortable, but if I want to actually 'get' somewhere it's either trot cuz he loves to move out in a trot bigtime, or a gallop. Cantering never thrills him much. I do a 12 mile loop, which is my main loop, and walk in the last mile or half mile depending. Pretty normal fare, and being unclipped I've never had an issue.

I think it all depends on riding style, what you and your horse are used to and what they do. Different things work for different people is all.

[Ajierene]

Here is a link to a number of different clips and how they relate to cooling a horse/keeping him protected in weather:

http://www.newrider.com/Library/Horse_Care/clipping_how_much.html

Unfortunately not everyone has thousands of miles of trails readily at their disposal, so the ability to run for hours is greatly limited. If I were to spend hours cantering (without trailering somewhere), it would be thousands of laps around the arena and quite boring to myself.

A lot of people that do heavy work with their horse will do so directly before they put the horse in the stall for the evening (or after dinner and going back to the stall). They will also use a cooling sheet (some examples: http://www.doversaddlery.com/coolers-and-exercise-rugs/c/70/c2c/sc/) and walk the horse out.

Some people hold testament that loping your horse up to the barn and feeding them right away is bad for your horse. Some people insist on walking a horse until it is dry, even in the heat of summer when a horse is more likely to sweat and does not risk the same problems of being chilled if a little wet when put back. Mind you, this is not hosing a horse off, but walking (for sometimes an hour or more) until the horse has dried from sweat of working out.

[Patty Stiller]

Someone talked me into doing this to one of my "off the track" racehorses. It brought me so much ridicule from my friends that I full clipped him within a week.And believe me it took a LONG time to get these lines cut neatly! Ill never do it again. :lol:

But seriously, I used to trace clip my race horses (a regular trace, not this) them in the winter so they could cool out faster after workouts but their backs were still nicely covered.
http://s247.photobucket.com/albums/gg155/pstiller/

[deltawave]

That looks WICKED. :yes:

[kellyb]

That looks WICKED. :yes:

I agree. Very cool!!!

[Sithly]

Someone talked me into doing this to one of my "off the track" racehorses. It brought me so much ridicule from my friends that I full clipped him within a week.And believe me it took a LONG time to get these lines cut neatly! Ill never do it again. :lol:

But seriously, I used to trace clip my race horses (a regular trace, not this) them in the winter so they could cool out faster after workouts but their backs were still nicely covered.
http://s247.photobucket.com/albums/gg155/pstiller/

Awesome! It's like the Batman clip!

[Shadow14]

Oh, I see what this is all about. :rolleyes: Let me save you some time and trouble.

Yes, we are all so impressed by how far you ride. Wow! Amazing! I hadn't realized this before, but clearly the distance you ride is directly correlated to your skill as a horseman, your knowledge of horse care practices, and your worth as a human being.

There. Do you feel superior enough now, or would you like to continue bragging -- I mean, asking questions?

:lol:

This is about experience. You don't know me from Adam so all you can go on is MY experience. I have run many a 50 mile endurance race and brought the horses home sound and ready to run the next day.
You on the other hand are very young and inexperienced so maybe you should listen to your elders.:):)

[Shadow14]

My horse has never loped a step in her life. :) If I were foxhunting, yes, we'd canter or gallop easily 10 miles or more, no sweat. ;) For that she'd need probably a bit more of a clip than she currently gets. But I no longer hunt, at least I don't right now, so not an issue here.

I lope because it is about the easiest gait my horse has. He can trot but that requires posting on my part while his lope is rocking chair smooth and he doesn't pull or rush it either and he will not stall out going through ditches or across roads, he maintains the easy rocking chair motion.
So I just sit well back, legs forward, reins loose and let him do his job without interferring. He seems to almost go to sleep, he is so laid back and relaxed, no fighting , no constant reminders to take it easy.
He is pure bred arab from Wells Fargo

[Shadow14]

Okay I get that and it works for you. Which is awesome:)
But I do walk in, I always walk in, I ride endurance that's pretty much ALL I do other then mucking about at the little local shows for fun.

So I walk in, monitoring my horse(HR & hydration) because thats how I train/ and compete, so it's habit, and it works for me in all weather:) And it develops the habit in the horse.

I don't lope much.. or well canter.
Endurance = extended trot for my guys, thats the gait I train in mainly, because thats the gait they compete in. I will canter or gallop on occasion of course, to stretch em out and give em a lung opener - but trotting is where it's at.

I have one horse who does a 14 mph trot, can I do 10 miles on him in the winter - yes of course. And to be honest, his canter is actually slower then his trot.. His canter is super comfortable, but if I want to actually 'get' somewhere it's either trot cuz he loves to move out in a trot bigtime, or a gallop. Cantering never thrills him much. I do a 12 mile loop, which is my main loop, and walk in the last mile or half mile depending. Pretty normal fare, and being unclipped I've never had an issue.

I think it all depends on riding style, what you and your horse are used to and what they do. Different things work for different people is all.

I come from a endurance background also. I don't worry about breathing. I only watch his sweat on his neck. If he sweat badly I slow down. As long as he is no more then damp I will maintain pace but if I see any lather, any lather from the reins on his neck I will walk. I will not let him overheat. AGain breathing I could care less. he doesn't breath hard at a easy lope.
His trot is 8 mph with a push he can reach 12 but that is pushing, uncomfortable and he will wear down. His lope is 9 mph, laid back and he seems to thrive on it.

[Shadow14]

Some people hold testament that loping your horse up to the barn and feeding them right away is bad for your horse. Some people insist on walking a horse until it is dry, even in the heat of summer when a horse is more likely to sweat and does not risk the same problems of being chilled if a little wet when put back. Mind you, this is not hosing a horse off, but walking (for sometimes an hour or more) until the horse has dried from sweat of working out.

Again I come from an endurance background and we feed our horses grain at all holds, vet checks and right after the race. Strider is use to having a graining after a hard workout and his core temperature is not high.
In winter it is straight into the stall, a warm barn/stall and a 1/2 pail of wet grain and then blanket and out.
In the summer, a quick hot bath and a 1/2 pail of grain in a feeder right where he is being bathed.
He is retired now but he ran for 17 years without a single day off for lameness and never saw a vet other then his regular heard plan.
I too like something to eat after a workout

[Sithly]

You on the other hand are very young and inexperienced so maybe you should listen to your elders.:):)

I do on general principle, but I'm still on the fence about you. From your postings (which are all I have to go by), you seem to be about 20% good information, 10% questionable/outdated/backwards information, and 70% bluster. Not sure what you're trying to prove, but at your advanced age, you really shouldn't have to prove anything to anyone. ;)

[grayarabpony]

I've never had to clip my horses. My TBs have never developed all that thick of a coat, and the pony doesn't sweat much unless it's warm and she's had a good workout. Then she rolls like a pig and dries out in the sun -- she's not wet at night. If that ever happened, where she was wet at night, I'd blanket her.

My horses have always done typical work: dressage, eventing, galloping, a little foxhunting.

If my horses were uncomfortable in their winter coats (and really, only the pony has one), I'd clip them. Believe me, they'd let me know if they weren't happy.

[Ajierene]

Again I come from an endurance background and we feed our horses grain at all holds, vet checks and right after the race. Strider is use to having a graining after a hard workout and his core temperature is not high.
In winter it is straight into the stall, a warm barn/stall and a 1/2 pail of wet grain and then blanket and out.
In the summer, a quick hot bath and a 1/2 pail of grain in a feeder right where he is being bathed.
He is retired now but he ran for 17 years without a single day off for lameness and never saw a vet other then his regular heard plan.
I too like something to eat after a workout

Hence the reason I put in all those other horsecare points. You seem to think your way is the only way and I was illustrating a point that your way is not the only way, nor is it deemed correct in all circles. these circles are not necessarily in possession of more information than other circles, just different.

If you are looking for why different people do what they do, that is fine. If you want to people to think your way is better than theirs, it is not going to happen. Maybe it is just in the way you write your posts. Personally, I don't care what you do with your horse, which is all you are posting. You have some answers as to why people clip or not. If you have more questions or would like more clarification, feel free to ask.

[asterix]

Hmm, I'm inclined to agree with Aijerene here.

But, since you asked, like others who have posted here, I do a modest clip of my guys (if you look at the "Baby" pics in my sig you'll get to some of him last winter with the clip pretty clear). Like deltawave said, if you take off the underside of the neck, the belly past the girth, it goes a long way towards helping them cool down...

But I don't canter for 20 miles right up to the barn and grain them. Obviously that has worked well for you and I can see that that might require more of a clip...
however to imply that anyone who does something different can't "use" their horses all winter is somewhat, er, narrow-minded.

I ride 2 mostly unclipped horses 5-6 days a week, at times fairly hard. Last year at this time my one horse was prepping to run Preliminary horse trials so he was doing good interval training.

On rare occasions I break out the hair dryer for the truly damp horse. Like someone else said, with 2 I will often ride the one who is likely to get "wetter" first, then throw him in a stall with hay and sometimes a cooler. By the time I am done with horse #2 he is ready to go.
Works for me and they are happy. I live 50 minutes from the barn and can't possibly go out and change blankies every time the weather morphs --- and do self care -- so they get a breathable rain sheet when we get our extra special mid-atlantic icy rain weather, and naked else.

They are both big and healthy and have no trouble kicking the other horses out of the shelter if they want it :D

[deltawave]

20% good information, 10% questionable/outdated/backwards information, and 70% blusterHee hee!

Some folks come here to ask questions in a genuine spirit of learning. Some come here to hold forth, with the holding forth couched in the form of a question. And some of us entertain ourselves by playing along, and some of us (myself included) are guilty of all of the above, when it suits the moment. :p Such is life, such is humanity. Gotta love our species. :lol:

Nothing you're saying is shocking too many people, Shadow. Obviously your horses are thriving on your plan, and there's more than one correct way to keep a horse. Or skin a cat. If you really want to start the trainwreck you are clearly itching for, you need to tell us you have egg bar shoes (with wedges) that are 3 sizes too small on your horse 24/7/365, you feed him nothing but sweet feed and one flake of hay per day, ride him in your treeless saddle with draw reins in a position of Rollkur and only use Parelli techniques to cure him of his trailer phobia, and that you deworm him every 3 weeks. Or that you don't deworm him at all. Oh, and he needs to be a Gypsy Vanner. ;)

[Shadow14]

Hee hee!
If you really want to start the trainwreck you are clearly itching for, you need to tell us you have egg bar shoes (with wedges) that are 3 sizes too small on your horse 24/7/365, you feed him nothing but sweet feed and one flake of hay per day, ride him in your treeless saddle with draw reins in a position of Rollkur and only use Parelli techniques to cure him of his trailer phobia, and that you deworm him every 3 weeks. Or that you don't deworm him at all. Oh, and he needs to be a Gypsy Vanner. ;)



Plain permimeter fit shoes, rocker toes on the front, borium studs in the winter, road borium in the summer, no clips, rim pads for snowballing in the winter. 7 flakes of 2nd cut alphalfa hay per day, grained at night with beet pulp, steam rolled corn and sweet feed and apples cut into quarters and a small handful of salt. Treed endurance saddle and broken snaffle.
Dewormed 3 times a year and inoculated once a year, boosters 3 times a year.
Don't know what a Gypsy Vanner is???

[LoveMyPonies]

I love winter riding. NO bugs, cool temperatures and groomed snowmobile trails that run for 1000's of miles. All farmers fields are open and with the traffic from the snowmobiles and the groomers the trail quickly turns to hard pack or ice and I can glide along over it.
I pick up a nice easy laid back lope and head out the snowmobile trails and travel about 22-25 miles on a saturday and while it is cold the sun is bright and everything just sparkles. Strider could maintain this lope for the whole trip and arrive home looking good. Shadow my next guy was handling about 1/2 and 1/2 on the runs before his untimely death.
I don't spend time walking. I lope right up to the end of the laneway, get off, loosen the girth and walk him in. unsaddle, grain , blanket and send out.
Yes he has sweat of his neck and chest but his back and sides are almost totally dry by the time the saddle is taken off and he cools out real fast.
Could you honestly lope say 10 miles on your horse with a winter coat??? Once wet it is not easy to cool/dry out a full winter coat.


My own made up clip that works for me. Strider looks worried and is afraid the guys will laugh at him. The big "N" on the butt is also for cooling but at the same time leaving hair to keep the muscles warm.
http://i41.tinypic.com/vzkk6s.jpg

You honestly don't cool your horse out before you grain him and throw him out? I guess I would rather ride my winter-wooly guys and cool them out rather than risk colic from graining a hot horse and putting him outside. How would you feel after jogging half that distance? Would you want to sit down to a meal hot and sweaty? You'd probably puke! Sigh. Call me a softy, but I guess I'd want to take every precaution against colic. If that means cooling my horse out for 10- 20 minutes, so be it.

[Shadow14]

You honestly don't cool your horse out before you grain him and throw him out? I guess I would rather ride my winter-wooly guys and cool them out rather than risk colic from graining a hot horse and putting him outside. How would you feel after jogging half that distance? Would you want to sit down to a meal hot and sweaty? You'd probably puke! Sigh. Call me a softy, but I guess I'd want to take every precaution against colic. If that means cooling my horse out for 10- 20 minutes, so be it.

I honestly just get off at the road, loosen the saddle, walk him in, pull the saddle and put him in his stall. I then give him a good feeding of grain.
His core temperature is not that hot. To the feel his skin feels fine. Clipped and running in the cold temperature seems to keep him running cool.
While he eats I groom him then when he is finished put his blankets on and take him out.
I have been riding 50 years and that is my routine. I will not lather a horse up. If I see lather on his neck from the reins I will not continue at that pace. I watch his neck and if it seems to be running just damp that is ok.
I hate talking about this since it is bad bad luck but I have never coliced a horse yet and that is my routine.

[deltawave]

If you take him out after feeding and grooming, don't his feet get dirty? :eek:

[Shadow14]

If you take him out after feeding and grooming, don't his feet get dirty? :eek:

We are talking about after a ride. I ride in the morning so he spends the day outside. Of coarse his feet get dirty.
My grooming and cleaning and putting him to bed is just at dark , whatever time that is. That is when his feet are picked, cleaned and I often use a light spray of copper sulfate which I mix up and a small amount bushed in his sole each night.

[Daatje]

When horse is in full coat and being worked in the winter, I keep the workouts short and light. Just enough to warm her up without getting her drenched in sweat. Cool down is relatively short.

When the days get longer and I have time to ride after work before the sun goes down horse gets bodyclipped (all but her head) and is rugged when not in work.

Horse lives outside 24/7.

So basically, I don't work the horse heavily if she's in her full coat. And if I'm going to be working her extensively, I clip and blanket.

[Shadow14]

When horse is in full coat and being worked in the winter, I keep the workouts short and light. Just enough to warm her up without getting her drenched in sweat. Cool down is relatively short.

When the days get longer and I have time to ride after work before the sun goes down horse gets bodyclipped (all but her head) and is rugged when not in work.

Horse lives outside 24/7.

So basically, I don't work the horse heavily if she's in her full coat. And if I'm going to be working her extensively, I clip and blanket.

That's an honest answer and what I would expect from a horse wearing a heavy winter coat.:)
So if you want to really work the horse hard then a clip might be better???

[Ajierene]

That's an honest answer and what I would expect from a horse wearing a heavy winter coat.:)
So if you want to really work the horse hard then a clip might be better???

Most show horses are clipped if they are in some work. This is not always the case, as it depends on the horse, facility, etc. Where I rode in high school, no one clipped their horses for winter work. The boarders did blanket their horses and generally they did not grow as thick a winter coat. The horses would be walked until they were not sweaty, or at least only damp - usually with a cooler on. They would then be put in their stalls if it was the evening. The lesson horses did not have blankets and would be walked until dry due to the fact that they were almost always out 24/7.

The Amish where I live never clip their horses either and their horses often work up a sweat. I do not know their cooling procedures since most of what I see of them is from my car as I am passing a buggy or see a farmer in the field.

In other words, you are not restricted to light work with a winter coat, you just have to manage correctly. A clip allows you to cool your horse off more quickly, but is more of a human convenience than a necessity for a horse.

My mare does not usually sweat much in the winter, but this winter - after having 5 months off - her coat is longer than it usually is and she is sweating more, even with lighter work. Since she lives outside 24/7, I have increased my winter coolout time from one lap in the arena and the 5 minute walk back from arena to her field to four or five laps in the arena, and the long way home, which is about 10 minutes. That cool out time is about to increase as she is about to be put into more work.

[loshad]

That's an honest answer and what I would expect from a horse wearing a heavy winter coat.
So if you want to really work the horse hard then a clip might be better???


That would depend very heavily on the coat of the horse in question. My horse is in normal work all winter and is not clipped. Since he has almost no winter coat, he doesn't need to be.

Horsekeeping is not really a one size fits all kind of deal. Sounds like what you are doing works for you. It would certainly not be my choice, but more power to you.

[Shadow14]

The Amish where I live never clip their horses either and their horses often work up a sweat. I do not know their cooling procedures since most of what I see of them is from my car as I am passing a buggy or see a farmer in the field.

.

I live in Amish country and see them all the time with their unclipped horses. I also see horses totally covered in sweat and steaming like a steam engine.
Go to the local market and you will see dozens of blanketed horses tied to the hitching rails and steam just poring off them.

[Ajierene]

Shadow14...I don't understand what point you are trying to make, if any. Can you elaborate?

[Daatje]

That's an honest answer and what I would expect from a horse wearing a heavy winter coat.:)
So if you want to really work the horse hard then a clip might be better???

Yes, with my horse's heavy winter coat, if I'm going to work her extensively, a clip is best.

Sometimes I'll do an Irish clip before the full body clip, and other times (if it's close enough to spring) I'll just body clip. Until blanketing is no longer necessary, I leave her head and legs as I cannot cover those with a blanket. :)

Mind you, this horse grows a Yak of a winter coat. (she's a Friesian) Even her summer coat is too coarse for work in the warm weather.....I clip her once a month in the summer time to avoid over-heating.

It's a Friesian thing. They are considerably high maintenance horses. :D

[rainechyldes]

I come from a endurance background also. I don't worry about breathing. I only watch his sweat on his neck. If he sweat badly I slow down. As long as he is no more then damp I will maintain pace but if I see any lather, any lather from the reins on his neck I will walk. I will not let him overheat. AGain breathing I could care less. he doesn't breath hard at a easy lope.
His trot is 8 mph with a push he can reach 12 but that is pushing, uncomfortable and he will wear down. His lope is 9 mph, laid back and he seems to thrive on it.

Not breathing, sorry I meant HR (heartrate) I usually also use the walk in time to practice leg yields etc, if I haven't had that horse in the arena lately. Yes I'm a weenie I tend to ride with a heart monitor- not all the time, but at least once a week I'll make sure to put it on whomever I'm riding - so I can download the info to my pc for my training logs.

I don't usually go by lather as a rule. Sometimes I do. It's all relative I suppose to whats going on. I tend to depend on heart rate and hydration levels for an overview of my horses when we are working.

I have a mare who starts sweating while she's being tacked up, winter or summer(very very HOT nervous horse) so she can be in a lather in 15 minutes some days if it's hot. One day I put the heart rate monitor on her I was convinced her heartrate would be way up..because of the sweat issue - nope! Such an odd mare. Even the vet checked her out, it's just plain old nerves.

I'm not saying clipping is bad, - have I had clipped horses yes. Do I find them much nicer to work with in cold weather - yes. Do clipped horses work for me in this climate and with my schedule and barn layout - no:/ So I do what works for me and them:)

[Shadow14]

I use the EQB heart rate monitor and like him to cruise along at about 135 bpm. If it gets to be around 150 I back him off. It is either pace,footing or terrain that causes it to rise to this fatiguing level.
I also use a GPS to keep track of speed, average, maximum and distance travelled so I can record it in his log book.
My guy even in the heat of summer takes about 45 minutes at a lope to break a sweat on his neck and that is the indicator I use. In winter it takes more then an hour . He is not hypper in the least and seems to settle right out of the barn.

[LookinSouth]

So again those of you who leave your horses out 24/7 and don’t even blanket how do you use that horse over the winter? Most riders I know that leave their horses out unblanketed all winter don't ride in winter. Or...if they do it's seldom when we get a warm day (light trail ride etc..). Myself and most of my friends don't clip in the winter but we do start blanketing appropriately in the fall to reduce coat growth. My horse has a thick enough coat to stay warm with blankets living out 24/7 BUT he doesn't usually sweat when he's worked since his coat isn't too thick. I would clip him if I rode inside all winter but we do ride out when there is snow and I think he would be way too cold if clipped. Occasionally he will get a little damp if it's a warmer day, in that case I put on a cooler sheet and let him dry. If he needs some time to dry I put the cooler under his blanket and turn him out. I then remove the cooler in a few hours and put on a dry blanket. This system has worked well for me.

There isn't really any one system that will work for all horses. Do what is best for your horse and your riding schedule.

[ponygrl25]

Since both of my riding horses are ponies over the age of 20, I clip. Also, Pony (yes thats her name) gets bumps that become infectedand it doesn't matter what I do. She gets a full clip including legs and head. I also clip professsionlly, so I look at it as tuning up for the paying customers. The other pony just gets her neck, under the jaw,to the girth area. With spring coming on I may give her a full clip also if she doesn't shed out quickly. Since they are paints they are blanketed anyway to keep them clean.