wet clipping thread?

[bewarethechestnutmare]

Can anyone direct me to the thread from some time ago on clipping wet horses? I do wish the search engine would pay attention to three letter words! Thanks!

[trail blazer]

I'm not familiar with the thread, but I can tell you that we have clipped wet horses for years. This is how we do it: Wash well, spray ALL over with show sheen and start clipping. If you keep the horse pretty damp, you will avoid getting the hair all over you and we don't see the lines from the clippers. Finish up with a bath using a good human body wash (these have a little oil and make help with any dryness). Works like a charm. I wouldn't go back to the old ways for anything! We keep a wet sponge handy in case they dry out too quickly. :)

[Foxtrot's]

It is under a title called Clipping bellies.

[Grataan]

You mean...all this time...the hair...my bra...

/boggle

[scribbles]

I clip wet, but for me it depends on the color of the horse! I have a hard time doing horses that stay basically the same color clipped as they do unclipped and wet. Sometimes I have to touch it up.

[buschkn]

I heard about this a few years ago on COTH and LOVE it! Its the only way I body clip anymore. No more hair flying everywhere, clippers stay cool/cooler, and fewer lines. Just give a good bath, rinse well, and clip while still wet. Make sure they are wet all the way to the skin or your clipper blades will catch.

[judybigredpony]

So how do you avoid ruining the blades?? Do the clipper manufacters endorse this idea?
I have heard and read about it but know absolutely no one who want to ruin their blades. Let alone clip a wet cold shivering horse in a wash stall in the winter. Do you only clip shorter coated horses before they get their winter woolies.
I sometimes have to clip lay-ups after they have developed thick deep winter coats, you would do them wet? I wash n soak w/ show sheen they put on coolers n anti sweat string sheets wait until they dry completely before running a clipper over.

[jn4jenny]

I do wish the search engine would pay attention to three letter words! Thanks!

It will. Just put an asterisk on the end of the word. I searched for "wet* clip*" in Titles only, and lo and behold:
http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=170106

[CrzyCorgi]

A friend of mine who clips her miniature horses for home and shows will only do a wet clip as well. Bathe, spray with showsheen and clip away!! When I helped her one day, it was the first I had ever seen it, but WOW! I will never clip dry again!

[flyracing]

I have directed a few clipping threads in the past towards the wet clipping topic. As you can tell from those above, it great for your comfort and the look of the clip job, but to answer yours and others questions:
re:blades
My blades last longer and I oil well throughout and after clipping.
re: cold horse
I don't drug my horses (quiet horses, lucky me) so I can see there reactions and do everything I can to keep them comfortable. I keep any area not being clipped on (both before clipping and after) covered with a cooler or a stable blanket. I've never had an issue with a cold pony and I have one that HATES winter and will shiver in early oct. with out his blanky on!

[ljc]

OK, I tried wet clipping today and it was a disaster. I bathed, I show sheened. I clipped. My horse looks like he was clipped by braille. My clippers may never be the same - I've been cleaning and cleaning them and hair is everywhere deep inside of them. Forget the two blades I went through, as well.

I'm an experienced clipper and have never had such a hard time. The horse I did is a dark bay; when wet, it's nearly impossible to see where he's clipped vs not clipped (apart from the length of hair, which -- when wet -- lies flat against body so making it even harder).

So, tomorrow I will reclip. Dry. I had to go buy new blades tonight!

My only thought is maybe this technique would work with heavier clippers. I've always used Andis 2-speed clippers and they are not heavy-duty. They're totally fine for my purposes (I usually do between 10-12 clippings each year).

I will say there was less hair flying around. Possibly because all that wet hair stayed inside the clippers?

Oh well, always fun to experiment. And I will NEVER EVER complain about clipping again. And if anyone ever wanted to blackmail me, come take a photo of my poor horse and threaten to post it on facebook.

[DMK]

I've had great success with wet clipping, but it's strictly been with clipmasters. I did a few wet clips with my lister stars, but since the listers don't blow hair in your face wet or dry, there wasn't much reason to clip wet.

The one horse I always did wet regardless of clipper type was my old pony in the spring because in his final years he had that no shed cushings thing going on and needed to be clipped before he died of heat exhaustion. So clipping wet or bathing and waiting to dry? He took 4 days to dry and by then he was filthy again, so clip wet seemed the better option. Actually, he wasn't really clean after a bath, just clean...er or cleanish. So his clip jobs never looked good, wet, dry, cipmaster, listers, whatever. But my thoughts were that he stayed wet a lot less if I clipped him wet, be cause then he would dry in this century!

And the two things to always remember :

The difference between a good clip job and a bad clip job? Two weeks.

The difference between a good clip job and a really bad clip job? Four weeks.

I'm a good clipper, but that pony taught me I can keep a blanket on anything for 4 weeks! :lol:

[Green Acres]

And the two things to always remember :

The difference between a good clip job and a bad clip job? Two weeks.

The difference between a good clip job and a really bad clip job? Four weeks.

I'm a good clipper, but that pony taught me I can keep a blanket on anything for 4 weeks! :lol:

Dang.....then I have 3 more weeks before my horse doesn't look so bad. :lol: I bodyclipped for the first time last Sunday and he looks pittiful. I'm embarrassed for anyone to see him and he's going to my trainers tomorrow for a week. :eek:

Okay, back to your normally scheduled thread.....

[jse]

We clip tons of horses and we hate to clip them when they are still wet, it botches the job. May be something you have to perfect? I'd much rather them be dry and fluffy with a coat of show sheen and deal with the hair than deal with my clippers going berzerk!

[rugbygirl]

Paper Coveralls.

Sometimes called painter's coveralls. Long sleeved with a hood.

Sure, you look like a germ-a-phobic freak, but if you wear rubber gloves and tuck the sleeves into them, pull the ankle elastics over your boots, zip the zipper all the way up and wear a hood and add a pair of safety glasses ($2-$3)...no hair in unmentionable places. The covies are cheap and I toss them when done.

[jse]

Paper Coveralls.

Sometimes called painter's coveralls. Long sleeved with a hood.

Sure, you look like a germ-a-phobic freak, but if you wear rubber gloves and tuck the sleeves into them, pull the ankle elastics over your boots, zip the zipper all the way up and wear a hood and add a pair of safety glasses ($2-$3)...no hair in unmentionable places. The covies are cheap and I toss them when done.

Someone needs to patent this! Or something similar! Would make a lot of people's lives easier! I find that if you wear some swishy pants and swishy jackets along with boots, it helps some!

[rugbygirl]

No! No equine patents, they'll jack up the price ;)

You can pick up the paper covies at most hardware stores, along with safety glasses and paper dust masks (keeps the fluff out of your nose...yes, I am terrible at clipping and get fluff EVERYWHERE)

Latex/rubber gloves can be found in most grocery stores or pharmacies.

I can't underline enough how strangely your stablemates will look at you once you appear in the paper get-up! Totally works though. I keep the supplies in my clipper kit, which Oster makes unreasonably large (what do you put IN there?)

[Lazy Palomino Hunter]

I've clipped several horses wet. I have to say that I MUCH prefer it to clipping dry.

I have to say, the first time I did it I was VERY worried about electrocuting the horse. Sort of like I was worried about blowing the barn up the first time I dipped clippers in kerosene to clean the blades.

Both turned out fine. Thank goodness.

[mbm]

hmmm.... maybe what folks are thinking is great is the fact that they bathe and show sheen? because i cant imagine clipping a wet horse... it will destroy the blades post haste. but i always bathe and show sheen the day before and it makes clipping 1000 times easier.

i would love a way to keep hair from flying but wet clipping just doesn't sound like good idea..... ?

[mbm]

ps - would love to see some pics of freshly wet clipped horses.... like the day after... just to get an idea of the results...

[lauriep]

hmmm.... maybe what folks are thinking is great is the fact that they bathe and show sheen? because i cant imagine clipping a wet horse... it will destroy the blades post haste. but i always bathe and show sheen the day before and it makes clipping 1000 times easier.

i would love a way to keep hair from flying but wet clipping just doesn't sound like good idea..... ?

It won't hurt the blades AT ALL. Just keep them oiled and they will be fine.

I would never attempt this with Andis 2 speeds. This is only for heavy duty body clippers. And it does work beautifully, the wetter the better. Damp doesn't do it. Just slightly less than dripping.

[mbm]

do you have pics?

I clip my own and then do others for a fee... would hate to mess up someone else's horse that i got paid to clip! :)

(i have the big honking osters....)

[ljc]

I would never attempt this with Andis 2 speeds. This is only for heavy duty body clippers. .

Somehow that factoid never got mentioned in any of the posts I've read about this! Well, as I said in my post describing my wet clipping disaster yesterday, always fun to experiment.
I redid the clipping today and he looks beautiful.

[emerick]

A friend told me about clipping a wet horse. I was really skeptical. But I decided to try it on my ole hair-growing hunter. I clipped him oct 1 and he regrew his coat in less than 2 months. His hair is long and very fluffy so lots of hair blowing when clipping. I bought a pair of the "cable" clippers so I wasn't as concerned with electric shock. The horse was absolutely filthy so I washed rinsed wash rinsed three times. Then used a shedding blade side of scraper to get excess water off. He is really good for the clippers and seemed to be enjoy it! The hair was so long that I had to go slow with the clippers but it worked beautifully and NO hair up my nose, ears, eyes.. I had decided to use an old set of blades that still had a bit of life. The blades never got hot and I clipped solid (I did a full body clip) for an hour and a half. They never even warmed up until I went over parts that had dried. The long hair did stand up after it dried so left some "pig hairs" standing up and there were some clipper marks but actually less than I usually get when clipping him. I think my old Osters are a bit more powerful and I will try clipping with them on a wet horse to see if they are faster and have as good results. I didn't use the show sheen and that may make it faster/easier. My experience made a believer out of me!