Introducing horse/mule to clippers?

Question

What are your best tips for introducing clippers to our equine friends??

I do not have a barn with stalls so playing a tape of the sound while they are stalled won't work for me!

Answer 1

Is this for your mule?  

Because what I am going to say will not work for horses.. so horse ppl read the other way now.

Face tie your mule,  with no slack.  If you need to know what this means, let me know.

Start off with just running the clippers, and stand there.  When the mule relaxes, use treats.  

Put it to his shoulder.. without clipping, just your hand against his shoulder with the clippers on top of your hand.  When he relaxes, give him a treat.

I would end there for the first session.

2nd day.. start over with the above.. then rub up and down his neck and side with your hand holding the clippers but not touching him.  When he relaxes, give him a treat.

Then actually clip at his shoulders.. give him a treat etc.. you see the babysteps.

Do not face tie a horse.. This is only for mules/donks.

I use treats alot with clipping, its a miraculous mule feat to them honestly.. so for those moments they get rewarded.  

I'm sure you will do this after you have done all the prior desensitizing everywhere else...  

Answer 2

I do the same thing as Mulereiner, just without tieing...I've had too many broken things after tieing up a non clipper broke animal--horses and mules.

We have REALLY long clipper cords so we can walk a long way with them, esp if you start right at the outlet with the baby steps. Also you could get cordless ones--they are usually quieter also.

Sometimes it takes a few days...as I'm sure you know!

Answer 3

Here is how I did it: I started out by standing by my horse with the clippers on several times. After he became comfortable with that, I would turn the clippers on, stand there a second, and then tell him "good boy" and lightly touch the clippers to his neck, just so he could feel the vibration, for just a couple of seconds. Once he became comfortable with this I turned them on and then I took one swipe over his freeze brand, let him sniff the clippers and then turned them off. After that I could do just about anything with the clippers (and I have a horse that is spooky and previously abused!)