It's spring, and a lot of horse owners are dealing with leftover winter coat on their ponies during and after those early workouts. Spring can vary wildly in terms of weather, wind, precipitation, and fairly dramatic and rapid temperature fluctuation. All that winter hair isn't just messy when it's stuck all over your tack, it holds in heat and traps sweat produced when your horse exerts himself, and then it takes a long time to cool him out so he doesn't get chilled. So every spring, horse owners have to consider whether or not to clip. And if you do decide to clip, full-body clip, trace clip, or just girth and bridle area clean-up?

For the purposes of this discussion, I'm going to assume you're not an old hand at this business of clipping your horse. If you're showing in the Arizona halter classes every winter, you already know what you need to, in terms of when and what to shave off.

But let's say you're a backyard horse enthusiast, with a trail horse or two; or maybe you've just signed up for lessons with your horse, so you expect you'll both be working more than you have up until now. So you're thinking about clipping. There are a number of things to consider carefully:

• How much high-intensity work are you asking him to do?
• How much is he sweating?
• How are your facilities, in terms of keeping him warm between workouts?

A pretty good rule of thumb is to clip as little as you can get away with. Horses grow winter coats for a reason, and your horse needs his winter hair, unless you're showing in that aforementioned horse show in Arizona, or you've just started into intensive training to go compete in California at Tevis in a few months. If that's the situation you're in, the decision is simple; you'll want a full-body clip, and a really good horse-blanket.

For most of us, though, we can get away with what's called a trace clip (pictured above) or a modified trace clip that's even less excessive. Where is your horse sweating the most, and staying wet the longest? Chest and girth? Then just clip there. There's nothing at all wrong with a basic neck and belly clip. It's clean, conservative, and won't ever embarrass your horse when you turn him out in the field with that mustang he thinks is so cute.

When you're clipping, there are a couple of simple things to remember that will make your job simpler—and make your clip look better, smoother, and more professional.

Clean hair clips better than dirty. But if it's just too chilly out to give him a bath, and you don't have access to warm water or a heated stall to dry him after a bath, then don't try to bath him first. ShowSheen is your friend, and will help you cheat this rule. Spray it on liberally, comb it through thoroughly. It's made with silicone, so it won't gum up your clipper blades like other coat conditioners will.

Don't try to go too fast. You'll get an uneven effect, and you're more likely to gouge out great, ugly bald patches in your horse's coat, then all the other ponies will laugh at him. Don't keep an open beverage anywhere in the area. And plan for a thorough shower when you're done—horsehair will find its way into the darnedest places.

Be brave, one or two dinky little strips of shaved off hair isn't going to help either of you very much. Use the Big Clippers, not the little ones you trim his whiskers with. You'll get used to the odd appearance, but you should heartily resist the temptation to start carving words, pictures, and lightning bolts into your horse's winter coat, unless you happen to be a twelve year old girl and all the other barn kids are doing that.

Finally, go ride! You've gone to all this effort, so make the most of the benefits.