Gia - session 238 - more clipping - ears!

 Another crappy winter weather day.  So, more clipping work for Gia.  Since she did so well with her face the other day, I decided to see how she would do about her ears.  I don't think I've attempted to even touch the clippers to her ears at all before, and certainly not without a twitch.  

I put some grain in a pan for her, let her take a mouthful, and then proceeded to touch the clippers to her ears.  I made sure to hold on to the ear firmly, but not so hard that it hurt or scared her, and then, after touching the clippers to my hand first (to lessen the initial shock of the vibration), I held the clippers to a portion of her ears.  I stayed "attached" to her ear until she had a moment of relaxation, and then immediately released everything and let her go.  After each touch and release, I allowed her to have another bite of grain.  

She was, understandably, quite anxious in the beginning, and tried moving away from the clippers.  But once she found that they weren't going anywhere until she relaxed, but that they also weren't going to hurt her, she started to be more still.  We also asked her to lower her head each time before I touched her with the clippers, and, eventually, I was able to clip her ears with no raising of the head and no jerking away, and no twitch at all!  

I think she is the first horse that I have ever been able to clip their ears, for the first time, with no twitch.  I was really surprised with how far I was able to get with it, especially with Gia.  

Now, keeping in mind that we are about to enter some really cold months, I did not completely clip her ears, but rather I just trimmed away the hair that sticks out and a little around the edge.  I don't want her ears to get cold!  I also don't like to completely clip the ears in the summer, because the hair inside the ears protects them from bugs.  Of course, we don't have to worry about that for a while ...

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