Hi Bea, do you mean how to desensitise to the clippers or how to do different clipping styles?

Hi. Clipping off the rough hairs under the jaw is ok but many people 'tidy' the face entirely & remove the feeler whiskers from the muzzle. NOT GOOD! These are how a horse stops banging its nose, which it can't see. They are similar to a cats whiskers. There are more of these around the horses eyes, for obvious reasons. They serve a crucial purpose & whilst we may view them as long & untidy, we should not cut them off. Sure, the horse will survive but try this experiment - close one eye & pick up the glass of water on the table in front of you. Chances are, you'll knock it over. Your ability to judge depth has gone. Is someone's opinion worth putting your horse into an unnecessary disadvantage? If you understand & love your horse I think not. Cheers, Jo.

I absolutely agree with you Jo.
I've told Rocky's story before on here regarding him going blind; He used his whiskers to keep contact with my arm when i led him out for walks & used them to find his way around the field shelter so he could survive through the winter, otherwise, I'd have had to put him to sleep - enough said!!!

Bea, I'm wondering what you have in mind re clipping Arabs?
They are such naturally beautiful horses, what & why would you want or need to clip?
Having said that, there are such ridiculous extremes in the show ring nowadays, i can't understand why people think these things add to beauty.
It still seems to be that the show horse is totally obese, I've seen native ponies with their tails raked to about 1 foot in length when they are meant to be shown in a "Natural" stale, I've seen extreme pictures of Arabs made to stand out with their back legs a mile out behind them & the owner shoving their head up by the jaw as high as the can push it - why??? It looks awful & is detrimental to the horse & makes it look ugly!
None of those things help you to see the conformation of the animal which surely is the point, but that seems to have been long lost.

It is such a terrible shame what is happening in the horse world-it seems with all breeds. Above all the horse is an athlete and that is being taken away by greedy, show-off people-arabs shown as mentioned by Beryl, QH with their noses dragging on the ground-created by very cruel means, Saddlebreds being sored-etc. Judges have the power to change these things, by looking for the sensible,good minded,good conformation, athletic animals who are willing to do their job and enjoy their job. This just does not seem to happen. Here in eastern Canada there sure is a trend to have more fun,less competitive events,friends helping friends, and just pure fun with our equine and human friends.
After spending 2 weeks at Flag Is Up, the biggest lesson was that the more you learn, you know that knowledge is something that comes our way every day and we should grasp it and open our hearts and minds.After 30 years with horses, words cannot express my joy at helping friends with issues with horses that I have quickly corrected with the dually and the lessons at the farm and with the Uni.
Thanks and congrats to all who are using and spreading Monty,s methods.

I agree. In any area of event with all animals there is cruelty. I feel we as owners have the responsibility towards them in each and every event we want to compete, to be fair, and have fun, and more importantly let our horses have fun. We have the ability to teach the rest of the world that our horses can have fun, while competing without fear or pain. If we want to wait for judges, we shouldn't hold our breath...we can start the change ourselves. Why not start to teach the rest of the horse-world how horses can enjoy showing and competing, instead of withdrawing from competing entirely. For this reason, I will be my own horse's trainer, I do not trust any other 'show trainer' with my equine partner. And for this reason I am training, and will be training myself for the rest of my life to be the best companion and partner my horse/horses can have. No animal will ever suffer any form of cruelty whilst in my care, that is my credo, and I have been that way since I've been born. I want to spread what I have learned from Giants like Monty Roberts throughout the world, in all areas possible, where people cross paths with horses. To my opinion, unfortunately cruelty to horses in not limited to the show arena, just as many suffer extreme cruelty just being domestically owned.

I we can teach the horse-world that we can accomplish this, just maybe, we have not only changed the world for our own horses, but maybe, just maybe it can mean that we can change the world in the show arena for other horses as well...