Clipped!

The plan is to start riding this weekend. I should be over the fairly mild case of the plague that I have by then.

One of the things that I needed to do before getting the ponies going again was to clip them. Phantom currently looks like a polar bear, and Cisco tends to break out in a sweat with just a little bit of stress. I don't have time to ride two horses and wait for them to dry in the evenings.

So today was clipping day!

Phantom is never a problem to clip - I've been known to ground tie her while clipping. This was Cisco's first time to be clipped. I've done some homework in getting him used to the clippers so I was hoping that it would pay off. Which it totally did. He was a rock star!

It's hard to see on him, but it's a modified Irish clip.

Extra gold stars for him for having to put up with me trying to figure out why my clippers weren't working. I had taken the medium blades for my Lister Star body clippers in for sharpening a couple of months ago, and this was the first time that I have used them since getting them back. They weren't cutting well at all. They kept getting caught in his hair. I kept trying to adjust the tension, and reset the blades a couple of times, and no change. They gave me a couple of good clips, just enough to get my hopes up, but they were pretty useless on Cisco. 

Pony went poof. 

I was wondering if they weren't working well because Cisco seems to have really fine hair. Maybe it was too fine for the clippers? Nope. I had the same problem on Phantom.

I pulled out the fine blades that had come with the clippers but I've never used. They worked perfectly fine on Phantom. So it appears that the medium blades either weren't sharpened properly or are damaged. Grrr. I don't know of another place in town that sharpens blades, so I might have to go back to the same place.

Phantom's modified Irish clip.

They are both done - I'm not saying how well they are done, but it will do the trick.

And should you ever clip your own horse, go to the dollar store and pick up a set of disposable coveralls. ($4 at Dollarama in Canada) You know, the paper haz-mat type suit? Totally worth it - no hair all over my clothing!