Clipping, why start now

It’s that time of year again, time to start clipping training for those who find it stressful!

This year's post is going to be slightly different as I have a case study to discuss too.

Let’s begin by talking about why horses find clipping so stressful.

It could be the sound, the vibration, or a previous negative experience that leads them to their fear response. 

-Clippers are loud. Especially the larger industrial clippers that many commercial yards use.

-All clippers vibrate against the skin when on, this differs in intensity depending on size and brand. Horses that are more sensitive to flies may find these vibrations very ticklish, similarly horses with arthritis or other musculoskeletal discomfort might experience pain or discomfort from the vibrations.

-When used clippers get hot and can burn the skin. They can also snag and catch on dirty hair, or if the blades are dull or not oiled well.

Horses can demonstrate this discomfort and fear in different ways, but we want to find the smallest sign so we can start our training in a calm space. Look for the facial signs of stress:

So how do we begin to help reduce our horse’s stress, and therefore improve their behaviour around clipping?

The first step is to establish a boundary line. This is the distance from the horse the sight or sound of the clippers can be before the horse begins to show signs of stress. Start from as far away as you can from your horse, preferably in an environment that has a barrier between you and the horse i.e. their stable or outside a paddock. Present the clippers and assess their behaviour, if they show no sign of stress incrementally move closer until you are within touching distance. If they show no sign of stress from sight alone, move on to sound. Starting from the furthest distance again, turn the clippers on briefly and assess behaviour. Continue to move towards the horse until they show any small sign of stress, then mark where the signs started. (Some horses may only begin to show signs when the clippers touch them, so you may need to do a touch assessment, however if the horse has a history of dangerous behaviours during clipping then avoid this and begin as though they showed signs on approach)

A very effective method that can build trust around clipping is classical counter conditioning. One method is also often called open bar/closed bar [https://www.preventivevet.com/dogs/open-bar-closed-bar-dog-training]. The idea is, when the event that causes stress is occurring, the box is open and the horse can eat the reinforcing material (I’d recommend you start with hay and then move up in intensity to grass or chaff if the horse gets bored). This does not mean, give the horse food and go ahead and clip like normal. The horse still has a negative association with the clipping process. It needs to be broken down into little steps.

The behaviour of the horse needs to be constantly assessed to make sure you don't tip into flooding. Flooding is where the aversive stimulus (the thing they don't like) is constantly present without the opportunity for escape by the animal. This training will take a while, from a few months to a year to re-condition the horse to being clipped with trimmers.

Case study: Bee

Bee is a large sports horse who was previously routinely sedated for clipping, and would still kick out, with many near misses after kicking out with the hind legs.

I began by assessing his behaviour and found he showed few signs of stress when the clippers where presented to him off, but strongly reacted when the clippers were turned on at 15 ft away (video is zoomed in). This assessment took place in December 2024.

Assessment of Bee when clippers off

Assessment of Bee when clippers turned on

To begin training, I started by showing the clippers from this 15 ft distance and then giving Bee some hay. I slowly shortened the distance after 3 repetitions without stress responses. Once I was within touching distance, I retraced my steps and began to turn the clippers on (without blades) for 2-3 seconds before turning them off and giving him hay. This took place over several weeks, with short 5 minute sessions. The reason I took the blades off is because this dampens the sound and acts as an intermediary step between no noise, and typical clipping noise. To help change the emotional connection to the clippers, I incorporated some operant counter conditioning in the form of touching the clippers. These videos show a session 2 weeks in to training around mid February.

Bee touching the clippers while off

Bee being trained with hay, while having free access to the same hay

Once he was showing no stress signs with the clippers on, I began to move the clippers closer to his neck while still in protected contact. This was again, very short distance changes. First it was from ~1m to ~90cm over the course of a 5 minute session. Then another 5-10cm distance the next session, and so on, until the clippers were able to touch against his shoulder. This was a crucial point to sit at for a few sessions, just letting the clippers rest against his shoulder on both sides, before beginning small movements. Then, still in protected contact, I was able to move the clippers around his shoulder, up his neck, and down towards his chest and elbow. The stable he lives in (as all the horses on this yard do) has a weaving grill on it, this means that I had a much more limited reach. Once I had spent 5 sessions moving the clippers while on over the areas of his body I could reach, it was time to move out of protected contact. The video below shows the session before we left protected contact, taken in May 2025.

Bee in protected contact while the clippers (with no blades) are turned on and placed against his shoulder and neck

Moving away from an area of protected contact can be very risky, there is now no barrier between you and the horse. I knew that Bee had previously kicked out at staff members who were clipping him. In an ideal world, I would have changed our protected contact to a different barrier e.g. a fence line, when beginning to move the clippers further around his body. Instead I had to go from behind the stable door, to nothing. So how do we do that safely? I brought him to where the hay is stored, didn’t tie him up so he could move away from me, held him on a loose rope, and started from where we had previously been in the stable. I turned the clippers on away from him, slowly brought them closer until they touched his shoulder, then began to move them. Each step of this was only around 5 seconds with a pause to give him a greater reinforcer (grass pellets). Then I moved the clippers along his back, around the barrel, over his forelegs, and finally down his rump and hind legs. Bee had no reaction to the clippers, and happily kept munching away. This was a major breakthrough as previously once people approached his legs, this was when he would get overwhelmed and strike out. Because of the delicacy of this session, I did not focus on filming.

The next step was to put blades on the clippers so the noise and vibrations were more intense, and go again. Test from a distance of 2m and close the gap if there is no reaction, touch the shoulder and neck and if there’s no reaction begin moving down the body. Here is where I did encounter a reaction. When moving the clippers down his left hind, I got a tail flick. No head changes, no postural changes, just a small tail flick. So I stopped. Gave him 5 minutes to relax, then went much slower over the leg, only touching for around 1 or 2 seconds. After the session, Bee would let the clippers run over his whole body with no reaction. (video to come)

At this time, I cannot tell you how clipping his whole body has gone. It is May as I write this, I started training in January after a very difficult clipping experience for staff left them contemplating if they should ever clip him again. Now I’m running maintenance, once a week the clippers are being run over his entire body to make sure he is still comfortable. 

I will update in autumn/winter when the clippers are used for their true purpose on how Bee responded, and how to continue the training when you begin cutting off the hair as this adds in new sensations.

For now, this has been a very long post, I hope the things discussed in it are useful to your clipping journeys, or just are food for thought. In any case, if you have a clipping issue and would like assistance in your own training, or are concerned about your own safety when training you can contact me via my contact page, by sending a filled out case history form to click-clop@outlook.com or by phone.