First time clipping - any tips?

[Springiscoming20]

Just that really. We want to clip our ponies ourselves this yr so looking for all hints and tips. We’ve watched plenty of times and have read up but looking for tack room wisdom please. Thank you

Make sure they’re REALLY clean, especially on the rump, otherwise the scurf will blunt your blades really quickly. Make sure any lines are the same level either side. I always start at the shoulder, then do the head as usually they’re fed up and and start faffing about if you leave that ‘til last. So do the tricky bits first. Stretch the front legs forward to do the armpits and in between the front legs. Make sure blades are oiled every 5 mins and make sure they don’t get too hot as you’ll get tramlines. And when finished, hot cloth them with hand hot water and some apple cider vinegar! Hope that helps!

Really helpful thank you. Wouldn’t think to do tricky bits first but makes complete sense!

Make sure you have more than one set of sharp blades to hand, then you won't be left with a half clipped horse if they go blunt mid clip.
Do yourself a MASSIVE favour and buy a disposable boiler suit from b&q and a face mask, and wear it with the good up round your face tight - the hair gets EVERYWHERE.
As PP says make sure horse is clean - proper shampoo and scrub the day before.
Make sure you know what to do around tops of legs with your lines.

Oh yeah - forgot to mention the clothing! You’ll be blowing out horse hair from your nose for days. It gets EVERYWHERE! 😂

If you're going for a trace or blanket clip, either use some chalk before you start to get a straight line, or use a piece of baler twine to measure down from the spine on either side so you get the right "points", e.g. shoulder, point of bum etc and can then just join up the points in (hopefully) a straight line. Hunter clips are easier!