On 3/25/07, Karen Thomas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > At what point is it too late to clip a horse in the spring, for fear of > clipping the emerging spring coat?
Karen - I asked this same question last year so you might check the archives to see if there were any insightful answers. As far as I can remember, it seems like it depends on the individual horse and the consensus was that the black horses shed out the last of all - that is certainly my experience. I clipped Doppa last year well into April and didn't see any difference in her summer coat but her summer coat comes in much later then a lot of the other horses. What I did last year that worked well for me, is every other week from March 1 until mid April, I just keep expanding her trace clip until in Mid April she has a whole body clip. I am doing the same this year and is keeping her comfortable during the day with something left for the cool nights. I never clip her belly or her head or tail head - I let those shed out naturally because it just gives her a little extra time with more protection from the flies and no-see-ums. I think she would have been totally miserable this weekend with this heat if she hadn't been mostly clipped. -- Laree
