Horses in training often need their body hair clipped at the onset of winter. The winter coat begins to grow sometime during September (in the Northern Hemisphere) and sufficient time should be allowed for the new hair growth to be come established. Your horse can usually be clipped for the first time each year during October. The winter coat continues to grow, but usually not as quickly as the original unclipped coat. One to two additional clips may be necessary during the winter, but the coat should not be clipped early to mid-January. Any body clipping done later than this can interfere with your horse’s spring coat. To reduce the need for body clipping, consider exposing your horse to artificial light for 16 hours a day, beginning in October or November.

To enable a horse to be ridden and trained without increased fatigue and stress from excessive seating. To allow the horse to cool out and dry quickly after work.

As a training and /or competition strategy. A winter coat tends to make a horse quieter and may decrease the performance of warm-blooded horses. Clipping the coat invigorate a horse. Therefore, for competitions where steadiness is required, clip 2-3 weeks before the event. For competitions where brightness is required, you may clip up to the day before the event. A winter coat can also be used as a conditioning tool, leaving ion while conditioning and clipping it off before the competition.

For added comfort of old horse or horses with pituitary adenoma. These horses may need to be clipped several times a year. Consider clipping against the “grain” of the hair coat during warmer months to remove more hair and clipping with grain of the coat during cooler months.