24/09/2025
‘The clip hasn’t lasted long at all!’
The change in daylight hours is what triggers the winter coat change and growth -
In the UK, horse’s coats tend to start changing from (roughly) early September and can continue to grow in reasonably quickly through to the winter solstice, at which point the coat growth will slow down.
You’ll find that clips between September-December don’t ’last as long’ as clips done in the New Year. This is because the winter coat is continually growing until the solstice.
Natives/cobs/heavies tend to be on the hairier side, so some may need clipped every 4 weeks (give or take) if you want to keep them neat.
Whereas warmblood/TB/finer types may only need clipped 2/3 times over the whole winter (September-February), as they tend to grow a finer coat.
This is a rough guide, not a set in stone rule!
Every horse is different, and there are a lot of factors to consider -
• Age
• Breed
• Coat type (thick/fine/dense/long…)
• Health (Cushing’s Disease, EMS etc)
• Weight
• Workload
• Routine (in/out)
• Or, just like people - they can be hairy/not so hairy, no matter what the breed of horse is!
How often do you clip your horse? Tell me their breed etc and why you chose to do it as often as you do!
