When you are getting ready to clip your horse, it is important to understand the differences between clippers blades. The type of blade does matter. In this article from Wahl E.L.I.T.E. Educator Liv Gude, Liv breaks down all the different blades and their ideal uses – taking all the guess work out of the process!
First, let’s talk clippers. You want to pick the right clipper blade for the job you are doing so your horse will look his best. There are two things to consider here. First, the type of clippers you are using and second, the amount of hair that you want remaining on your horse.
For large and challenging body clipping jobs (wooly post-winter shave downs or clipping Cushings hair for example), clippers that act as shears and livestock clippers are best here.
These heavy-duty clippers use heavy-duty blades that are wide and powerful. Wahl’s Lister line of clippers uses these blades, which come in two pieces and are screwed into the clippers. The blades have a cutting edge that is about 3 inches wide, which helps the body clipping process be quite fast (you do have a lot of horse to cover, after all).
You will see blades for this style of shearing clipper labeled as Surgical, Fine, Medium, Coarse, or Covercote.
Surgical blades leave about 1 mm of hair on your horse. This is quite a close cut and is rarely used for routine body clipping and trimming. This is a good length of hair to remain if you are trimming up a wound. However, the wide width and power of a shearing style clipper is typically too much for a small wound so it’s best to leave the Surgical blades to the pros.
Fine blades also leave just a little bit of hair at 1.4 mm. This may be good for some horses in extremely warm climates and for large wounds.
Both Coarse and Medium blades leave about 2.5 mm of hair. The Lister Coarse blades, otherwise known as Skip Tooth blades, are designed for cattle. For horses, the best option is the Medium blade. This is roughly equivalent to a #9 blade that you might use with another style of body clippers. This is a great length of hair to leave when body clipping, as your horse will have some coverage, and his coat color will come through nicely.
The Covercote blades for the Lister clippers leave about 5 mm of hair, which is ideal if you just need to remove a bit of coat from your horse. This leaves enough of a coat to help him defend against weather and the elements.
For a typical body clipping job or touch up trimming, a set of body clippers work well.
These body clippers, such as the KM10 and the Power Grip, use a detachable blade system. You can easily switch out different blade sizes with a simple snap. For these styles of blades, you will find numbers which give you a rough idea what they are for. Higher numbers indicate that more hair is removed.
You can select a blade, such as the #5F, also known as a full coarse, that leaves 6 mm of hair. The blade #50 is considered surgical, and only leaves .4 mm of hair.
Most horse owners have blades that range from a #10 to a #30. The #10 blade is commonly used for body clipping, and the #30 is great to use for wounds, bridle paths, and small trimming jobs on your horse. You can also find a #10 blade in a wide version, which increases the coverage of the blade and makes your job much faster.
Here is a list of the common blades sizes you can have for the detachable blades:
#5F: Full Coarse – 6mm
#8.5: Medium – 3mm (1/8”)
#9: Medium – 2mm (5/64”)
#10: Medium – 1.8mm (1/16”)
#10W: Extra Wide – 1.8mm (1/16”)
#15: Medium Fine – 1.5mm (3/64”)
#30: Fine - .8mm (1/32”)
#40: Surgical - .6mm (3/128”)
#50: Ultra Surgical - .4mm (1/64”)
There are two standards of blades that these sizes come in, the Competition Series and the Ultimate Competition Series. The Competition Series of blades are smooth cutting steel, with a chrome finish. They also have rust and corrosion protection.
The Ultimate Competition Series cut faster, and have a midnight chrome finish. Also made from steel, this line of blades is extremely rust-resistant.
But what if you just need a pair of trimmers for touch ups and wound care? You may want to consider checking out the 5-in-1 clipper series.
Full size trimmers come equipped with a 5-in-1 adjustable blade. This multi functional blade is there for all of your trimming needs as it easily adjusts between #9, #10, #15, #30, and #40 blade sizes.
The #9 or #10 is good for clipping legs, the #15 or #30 for bridle paths and ears, and the #40 for wounds. The ease of switching sized within the blade is also great for clipping designs on your horse if you like.
The 5-in-1 blade line also has a Diamond blade option, which features a unique DLC coating on the blade, allowing for faster clipping and longer durability.
If you have an adjustable series Wahl clipper, such as the Pro Ion or the Show Pro Plus, the blade system is a bit of a hybrid! These clippers take a blade that can be converted to a #30, a #15, and a #10 via a taper lever located on the side of the clipper body. They are easy to use, beginner friendly, and come in both cordless and corded options to meet the needs of any barn.
For more great tips and tutorials from Liv, check out her website Pro Equine Grooms.
