When body clipping goes wrong...

So. I have a mini. She hasn't quite shed out, all the way (really, she hasn't really shed AT ALL) and it's been between 70* and 80* lately, so, I made the decision to body clip her - among other reasons. She had a mixture of poo and pee caked to her belly because previous owners didn't really care enough (they were also scared of her) to clean out her area. Which wasn't very big, at all, anyway. But no matter.

This is the face I got.


I'm 99.9% sure that's a WHAT THE HECK, LADY?! To be fair, it IS my first time body clipping. She doesn't look like a complete chop job, but she has tracks where I need to refine. I got her like 3/4 of the way done before I quit, last night, because my clippers got warm. This poor mini. LOL Has to put up with all kinds of shenanigans, but bless her little heart, she does it with a smile on her face.

Body clipping is tough the first few times! I've been working on sharpening up my clip jobs lately ( I love, love, love clipping ) and, yikes. I'm lucky because I've had instruction in clipping, but I just did my first full clip job w/o help on a very, very fancy chestnut show horse and nearly had a heart attack. I've body clipped a few others before with guidance, other than my horse who is so violent about clipping I don't really care what he looks like as long as the hair is gone, but this was my first solo trip.

It turned out very nice and pretty professional, but it was nerve wracking and the horse reacted to the heat of the clippers and looked liked he had lines /all/ over until the next day when they had all, blessedly, disappeared.

Best thing about hair? It grows back. Through let me tell you, that theory does not apply in a show barn. Hah.


She looks adorable, by the way.

That was her when I was finished. I used the wrong blade on my clippers (DUH!), but next time (if there is a next time), I will use my other actual body clipper blades. She stood blessedly still. Didn't put up a fuss until they got warm. I stopped, after that, then finished her the day after. I'm learning. I just need to learned to balance the clippers a little better (obviously...lol). Poor little Boo. At least it grows out, though! She'll be good as new, soon.

Might want to have those blades sharpened before the next use. Dirty thick hair dulls them fassst and then they pull rather than cut. (Source: Fmr owner of a thick cottony coated cocker spaniel who dulled blades horribly.. RIP Dillon)

LOL I won't be clipping her, again, after this, but thank goodness I have a good person to sharpen my blades. I actually used them to roach a mane the day after and they did fine, but I will definitely have them looked at! :)

P.S. I'm sorry about your puppy.

TIP from a former cosmetologist in training : You can rub track marks like that out. It's worked across all species thus far for me. Humans. Dogs. Cats....havnt tried it on horses, but I see no reason why it wouldn't work :)

How, exactly? LOL She did get rained on the other day (of course they won't use the barn... lol because, you know, it's not open or anything) and she looked a little better than she did the day I took this pictures.