The Smart Grooming’s Scissor range caters for all the equestrian’s trimming and tidying needs. Scissor tidying is a quick and easy way to keep excess hair under control, leaving a neat and tidy finish.  With eleven types of scissors to...

As Spring arrives and the days start to lengthen, the naturally thick winter coat starts to shed in readiness for the new finer summer coat. There are three stages of the hair/coat growing phase that follows a regular bi-yearly pattern of shedding guided by the change in season and daylight hours.

It’s coming into the hairy season, which means letting coats grow thick and long, giving natural winter protection, or clipping and grooming the coat out to leave less hair.

You don’t want to draw attention to any imperfect conformation points, or even create ones that don’t actually exist. For instance, some competitors will clip a horse’s leg so close, they look as if they have been shaved, and this can give the impression that the horse has less bone than it actually has!

The right clippers and the right techniques make it much easier to keep your horse smart and comfortable. If you are inexperienced and have a similarly inexperienced or difficult horse, you may be better paying a professional clipper to do it for you, at least on the first occasion.

On our yard, horses which are being shown will be fully clipped except for their legs- which will be trimmed- and a small saddle patch. Some people don’t bother with a saddle patch, but I think it helps to protect the weight-bearing area of the back.

Trimming for definition will enhance the overall look of your horse as well as give you the satisfaction of having a beautifully turned out animal, even if it is not plaited or going in the ring.  

It’s that time of year! Spring is around the corner, coats are changing and if you are dealing with an unclipped horse or pony, there will be plenty of hair to groom away.

Clipping the show horse requires skill and timing to ensure that the coat comes through perfectly.  Traditionally, we were always taught that the last clip of the year needed to be by 31st January. 

Keeping legs and heels trimmed can be quick and easy on some types and less so on others, especially the hairy ones.

If you are lucky enough to have qualified and are competing at HOYS this year, and particularly if it’s your first time there, you may be worrying about how to keep your horse’s coat in tip top condition and from growing too long too quickly.

It’s getting to the winter woolly time of year for our horses and ponies.  If they can keep their natural coats for the duration of the winter, then clippers won’t be needed.  However, those that are kept fit and in work during the winter months will almost certainly be clipped several times during the winter season.

Having a hairy moment? It’s that time of year – there is hair everywhere, but luckily we can do something about it!