Irish Clip

Rose - Trace Clip (November, 2009)

Rose - Irish Clip (January, 2011)

I finally got to try out an Irish clip. I've been wanting to do one of these for about a year now, ever since I stumbled across a photo of one on the internet. Rose has been awfully sweaty after our rides of late, so some of the hair needed to come off. I also tried something new...a longer blade, specifically it is called a full tooth plucking blade. I don't know what the name comes from, but it is just like any other clipping blade just a bit longer. So instead of clipping down to an 1/8th of an inch it clips to 3/8th inch. My reason for doing this was to try to avoid getting the grey skin/coat color (see the 2009 picture) that usually results when you clip a bay or chestnut. It was amazing while clipping her to not see a color change! In addition the longer blade seems to make it impossible to leave track marks. I am very happy with my longer blade and would highly recommend it. If you are curious and would like to try it yourself the actual blade model is: Oster® Full-Tooth Plucking Blade. It is harder to find and more expensive, but I think it is worth it. You only buy the top blade and use it with your regular 83au bottom blade (buy a new one or use a newly sharpen one).

On another note, Rose was fantastic about getting clipped. She was remarkably good about it last year, but I wasn't confident that she'd be good again. Also, I had someone hold her with a stud chain last year as she didn't even know what cross ties were yet. This made me worry that perhaps last year was a fluke. Regardless I was really hoping she'd be good and I could clip her in the cross ties, and I definitely wanted to give it a try. Just in case though my good friend BA came out to help me with her. She also hopped on Rose for a quick ride and I have to say they made a handsome pair. Unfortunately I was having so much fun watching I didn't think to grab my camera and take a picture of them. Bad DS! Anyway, I'm sure just having BA there kept me more relaxed, and that certainly reflected on Rose. She stood nice and quiet in the cross ties the whole time, seemingly enjoying the clipper massage. I was so happy with her. It's great to have moments where you physically stand there and realize your baby horse is really growing up...one clip job at a time. Speaking of which, look how much she's changed since last year!

Happy trails and swooshing tails!