Clipping and rugs for a Normandy Cob

[gillybou]

Hello. I'm Coco's owner (must stop saying 'used to be called Zarina').
Any suggestions on the best clip for a Normany cob? I don' think Coco is going to be the most hairy cob ever, although I haven't seen her full Winter coat yet, but is going to need a clip of some sort quite soon as she is getting rather hot with even light exercise. I've got a feeling she will only need a medium rug afterwards but wonder what others do. Maybe Elda's, Saffron's and Chatty's mums can share their experiences but any advice gratefully received. Coco will be out as much as possible over the Winter - our yard tends to bring them in a bit during Winter days, as she will come in to be ridden anyway, and out at night unless the weather is really bad.

Thanks

Gilly

[anakin14]

All horse's vary! I have had a thoroughbred eventer who was fully clipped and in a middleweight all year round, he was a very hot horse, I have also had a cob in the past who needed a heavy weight even when only under a bib clip because he really did feel the cold!

Contrary to popular belief, the worst way to tell if they are warm enough is to put your hand on their shoulder underneath their rug! the best way is to check for warmth behind their ears, i tend to use my lips (sounds horrible i know but it is just like you would when a child has a fever) because my fingers are generally frozen in the winter and therefore measuring with my hands is misleading!!

[huntingcharliehunt]

I agree with the above!
All mine have 3 rugs, lightweight, medium and heavyweight.
They are all cobs, and clipped out, and at the moment are wearing lightweight rugs, but it will change with the weather, and how they feel.

[avril]

We're thinking of clipping now, only thinking about it as I'm the one who does it and have to say it's not my favourite activity but as they are all rugged, their coats aren't growing too quickly. I remeber clipping Zarina, whoops, Coco. I gave her a kind of bib clip. I took the hair of her belly and chest and followed the natural arch of her neck taking about half off. I also half clipped her face. She looked very smart without sweating up unduly whilst being in work five days a week. Cobs can get quite lively when a lot of the coat is removed.

[lisandsaf]

Hi Gilly

Saf sweats up whatever the weather when ridden,,
in the spring she is clipped out totally,, legs face the lot ,then when i ride and she gets hot i towel her off takes seconds to dry her,
in the summer i hose her off,, after riding .
in the winter she has a blanket clip and after ive ridden i towel off the clipped bits and hard brush the sweaty bits and leave her in the stable to air off then rug her,,
as a rule i keep her in lite weight rugs if the weather is around 15c,, if it starts to fall to 10c i change to medium weight rugs and below that i would put either a summer sheet under her middle weight or swap to a heavy weight,, these are night time temps as my gals live out too,, unless its bittlery cold and snow during the day i would keep to medium weight ,,
Also bear in mind a horse keeps its insulation in the winter through its leg hair so its best to keep the legs on ,,
Hope that helps

Lisa and Saf

[ange]

I'd second Avril's advice - I tend to use a deep bib clip (I've also heard it called an Apron clip, but I've never seen a picture to prove it's the correct name).

The only difference is that I tend not to take the belly off - I stop just forward of the girth and arc up over the top of the shoulder and run quite high up the neck so that its fully clipped by the time I reach ears, then clip the underside of the jaw but not the cheecks (other than to tidy the long hairs there to give a smooth line).

The reason I leave the belly on is more habit, but one created for a reason - it took me two years to figure out that it was clipping my old girl Penny's belly that turned her into a mad bucking monster in the winter months (I could clip her fully come mid-March but left her belly on until then once I figured it out!) She was so bad that friends wouldn't ride on grass with me as, no sooner did her front feet touch it her back feet were in the air, where they pretty much stayed (on the plus side I can now sit a good buck without worrying about it ... lots of practice!)

If in doubt you can start small and always take more off later - you might get a clip line for a few weeks but unless you're showing then it doesn't really matter and will disappear in time.

Coco might be like Millie - she doesn't get an 'obvious' winter coat - it only looks a little longer than her summer one, but it gets VERY dense and she tends to sweat up and takes ages to dry - I clipped her 3 weeks ago as she was already starting to feel it!

On the subject of rugs - can anyone recommend anything that is good for a very wide square fronted horse. I found that Shires rugs generally fitted OK last year but even the standard neck ones come quite high up Millie's neck due to her shape, and her mane still hasn't recovered fully from last year it got so rubbed! I could do with something that sits a little further back but with space in the chest - I just can't find anything - I've tried an expander and that didn't help as it made the rug sit totally wrong! Any recomemndations??

Cheers, Ange.

[janebaily]

Hi Gilly,

Elda does'nt get much of a winter coat but her coat is quite dense, so i assume Coco will probably be the same. She arrived from Avrils with a bib clip and that was fine for general hacking, i suppose it depends on how much fast work you are going to do?

Like Ange, i dont take the belly off and stop just forward of the girth.

As with rugs - i have always fed ad-lib hay in the winter (just personal choice, as i like to keep the gut going continually with fibre) but i have found over the years this works differently for each horse! Sorry i am not very good at explaining things lol!! Basically i am putting fuel into the horse which, in turn, is keeping the horse continually warm, if i put too thick a rug on, the horse keeps warm with the rug, so therefore the fuel is creating extra energy and i have found with some horses turn this into spookin, getting "full of themselves" etc, so i would rather put a lightweight rug on to keep out the elements and keep feeding hay to keep the acid down in their tums. Of course there are some horses you can rug "up to their eyeballs" and they are still like donkeys.

I agree with Ange, take a bit off and see how it goes.

Happy riding jane and elda xx

BTW Ange, my friend has just purchased a rug on line from Townfields, Coventry (good company) their horse sounds similar to your Millie, and it fit really well if thats any help, it was their own make. xx

[lisandsaf]

Hi Ange,,

Falpro make extra deep rugs for bis gals,, just bought Saf one in cost £94 with an additional neck cover that zips on instead of velcro,, lovely and roomy round her neck and nice and deep on her girth.. its a light to middle weight .

Lisa and Saf

[Erika George]

I have to say that in winter George turns into an absolute bear with a coat so thick that I think he could thrive in -30c. However this doesn't make for good riding. I currently have him in a lightweight clip, neck, part shoulders and tummy and he is stilll sweating like fury on even sedate rides.
When I bought George in Dec. he had a full eveything off clip and I turned him out in a heavy weight rug and he was very happy.
I am planning to give him a full clip, except for his saddle area, over the half term. I have to take it slowly as I only have battery operated trimmers, takes a bit of time! Thankfully he just falls asleep and lets me get on with it.
My friends rug their horses up at the first sign of cold weather to stop them growing such thick coats. I just know when I am on to a lost cause!
On the positive point, I have used George's hair clippings to insulate his water trough to stop it freezing up in the winter!
Erika & George

[ju]

I've also been wondering what to do re-rugging and when to start but had my mind made up for me as we had our first frost last night so Benji (who also seems to respond to Boo) now has a light-weight rug on for the first time since he arrived. No surprise that he wasn't in the slightest bit phased by it (In Normandy coblet speak: "oh oui ! Ma couverture, très gentille maintenant où sont le reste des carottes? In me speak: oh yes! My rug, very nice now where are the rest of the carrots? Gotta love Babel fish...sometimes) having been Avriled! Don't know how the rest of you are faring weather-wise but I'm going to have to scoot down pretty early and take the rug off as the sun still has some warmth in it even if the nights are chilling up (any excuse to go down!!).

PS Coco's old name has been used by the YO as she was struggling for a name for a for a name for her foal an (who I don't think will EVER need a rug her coat is so thick) arab x haflinger. I suggested Zarina as she really is the most beautiful mare and the foal is a real cutie. Have you gone Coco as in Chanel (French etc)?

[picasso]

Not anywhere near a Normandy Cob, but Cassie is scheduled for a clip today, I'm not doing very much so just a trace clip I think.
He has been sweating up with just 20 mins walk and trot, and having to put up with his rug, for my convenience, so he is nice and clean to ride in the evening!
I have entered Cass for a walk & trot dressage test on 29th. I hope clipping him will make him a little more enthusiastic. Avril's done a fantastic juob of calming him down, but we now don't have much acceleration! But I'm not complaining.

Jane

[gillybou]

Hello. Thanks everyone for the advice. I'm clipping tomorrow, with absolutely no experience, and I still can't decide how much to take off! Our YO, who owns all the riding school horses who also live here, completely clips out many of the horses at this time of year - they are already done. They are then reclipped later in the year, either completely or part, depending on the horse. Having seen Coco after hacking our local hills, she thinks I should clip out completely, including legs and then do a smaller clip in a couple of months, but I'm a bit worried about her getting cold as she will live out except in really bad weather (typical one horse owner!) and about her being rather more lively. A little more energy sounds nice but I might change my mind when I have it! I have my lunge lines ready just in case. So far, I am thinking some form of trace or chaser clip or I could follow Liz and go for a blanket. I am taking Avril's advice and half clipping the face as she looked very nice when she arrived in the Spring. I will let you know how I get on.
With regard to rugs, Coco has a Premier Equite Bustino 40g as her lightweight in 5'9" - it is a great fit on her - nice and deep and on the generous side with a detachable neck - seems to stay put even through rolling and doesn't rub. She has a Weatherbeeta Landa Freestyle medium light 220g for the cooler weather - similar fit to the Premier Equine but I haven't used this yet. She has Mark Tood coolers and a stable rug which are lovely but definitely come up smaller than the Premier or Weatherbeeta.
Yes, Ju, Coco is as in Coco Channel - it was a nick name that stuck but I am pleased that the name Zarina lives on in a pretty foal.
Gilly

[ange]

Thanks for the adviice re rugs - I have a Weatherbeets Landa F/S Lite but this isn't really wide enough through her chest and 'wrinkles up' over the top of her neck, so I need something with a bit more room. I've just noticed that Horseware have started doing the Amigo in an XL fit - I'm thinking of trying to track one down - has anyone tried one of these (or the old Rambo XL)?

[liz]

That might be just the thing, Ange. I used Amigo rugs on Duke until he grew out of their largest size! XL was not available then!

[gillybou]

Well I bit the bullet and started my clipping career on Coco. She is pretty amazing to clip - so unphased even on her face - just closed here eyes as she does when I clean them. After much deliberation and discussion on whether Coco might be one of those cobs that Avril mentioned who gets quite lively after a clip, I did end up going for a full clip in the end including legs and half face - just left a 'numnah' - as she really was getting so hot. I was really worried as the temperature then dropped but she hasn't seemed cold at all in her medium turnout and now of course it has warmed up again. She looks sooo smart but then it did take me four hours as I am a bit of a perfectionist and just couldn't stop tweaking. (Would recommend my new clippers too which I am sharing with a friend). Now when Coco and I hack out she comes back warm as toast and dry as a bone - perfect. Can't say for sure whether it made her any livelier but I think it gave her more energy for uphill trots and canters, although these are limited due to the solid ground here - I never thought I would say it but we would love some rain - hope it has not been too bad for those of you who have had some pretty heavy rain already. Wouldn't it be good if they could invent rain that didn't produce mud!

On rugs, I have had to abandon my new Mark Tood rugs which I thought fitted - tried them on again and they are just too tight on the shoulders - and the fleece is far too short even though all three are the same size. Now trying a Weatherbeeta fleece and stable as her turnout fits just fine. She's biggish across the chest and shoulders but not huge I think. Thought about the Amigo XL as recommended but they don't seem to do a stable version.

Is anyone going to Your Horse Live at Stoneleigh Park next month?