Understanding the Difference: Trimmers vs. Clippers for Horses

Clippers are powerful tools designed for effortlessly removing the bulk of the hair for more heavy-duty grooming tasks. They’re perfect for clipping large areas of your horse’s body, such as for partial clips like a trace clip or full body clipping. There are two types of clipper that can be used for horse clipping: medium duty clippers and heavy duty clippers and both have their own distinct advantages.

Equipped with high-torque motors and robust steel blades, heavy duty clippers can handle dense coats and thick hair effortlessly, making these handsets ideal for tackling even the most challenging winter coats.

Key Features of Heavy Duty Clippers:

• Purpose: Designed for efficient body clipping to easily remove the bulk of the hair. Can be used for hogging and clipping the heaviest of feathers. Suitable for all types of coat from fine coated thoroughbreds to those with the thickest coats such as cobs and Shetlands.
• Power: Powerful motors and fast cutting speeds allow for extended use and cope with all different types of horse breeds and coat types. Heavy duty models often feature an air filter to allow air into the motor to keep it running cool. We have a range of powerful mains powered or cordless models to choose from, whether you have just one horse to clip or a yard full!
• Blade Options: Heavy duty clippers use large blades to remove wide paths of hair with each sweep to maximise efficiency. Our heavy duty A2 horse clippers are compatible with a wide range of premium clipper blades to offer you a choice of clips to suit coat type, colour and workload for a flawless finish. Choose from superfine cut blades for horses in high work intensity, through to fine and medium blades to suit most horses, and coarse blades that leave a longer finish for tricky coats and show clips. Our A2 heavy-duty horse clippers can also be used with a livestock blade to shear and dag a small number of sheep,  llamas and alpacas and clip cattle. The Ideal multipurpose clipper for small holders and farmers.
• Features: Heavy duty handsets usually have a manual tensioning system to apply the right pressure to the clipper blades in order for them to cut the hair. However this doesn't mean this is tricky to do! Our A2 clippers are easy to use making blade changes and finding the right tension simple whether you’re a novice or experienced professional groom. Watch our YouTube video guide here. 

Key Features of Medium Duty Clippers:

• Purpose: A5 clippers are ideal for single horse owners that only wish to carry out partial clips on a light to medium density coat. They're also a great choice for cob owners who want to keep on top of clipped feathers and hogged manes. Whether you want a seemless leg blend, a longer clip for showing or smart delicate trimming for coarse hair, there are A5 blade options available for a multitude of grooming tasks.
• Power: With motors in the range of 35-80w these clippers are smaller and quieter than their heavy-duty counterparts, meaning they are more suited to clipping very nervous horses and are easier to manoeuvre around the trickier contours of the horse. They offer the best of both worlds for owners looking for enough power to deal with feathers, whilst providing the least amount of vibration to manage sensitive skin conditions such as feather mites and CPL. For owners of more than one horse, or for full clipping horses with thick coats, heavy duty models are much better suited and will save time during larger clipping jobs.
• Blade Options: A5 clippers are very easy to use, featuring snap on/snap off blades that are pre-tensioned so there is no need to manually adjust the tension to ensure the correct cut. With wide and standard 5cm blades to choose from in a degree of different cutting depths, they offer the greatest range of finishes for body clipping and trimming.
• Features: A5 clippers couldn’t be simpler to use! With no tensioning required, the blades snap onto the handset in seconds and you’re ready to clip. With cordless and mains powered options to choose from, medium duty A5 clippers are a great choice for novice users or if you also have a dog to groom too! These models are used by professional dog groomers and veterinarians to clip a range of breeds with the various A5 clipper blades and comb attachments available. Find out more here.

Key Features of Trimmers:

• Purpose: Perfect for providing the finishing touches to a clip and for detailed work. These handy trimmers are also suitable for grooming pets such as dogs, cats and rabbits. They have narrow blades for precision trimming, suited for small delicate tasks. 
• Design: Compact and ergonomic for ease of handling. Our Showmate cordless trimmers weigh just 260g and offer excellent manoeuvrability. Trimmers are the perfect solution for clipping delicate parts of the horse and for getting into tricky to reach areas such as trimming the armpits and heels.
• Cut Options: Trimmers are very easy to use with come with simple snap on blades that may be reharpened or replaceable. Our Showmate II trimmer features resharpenable steel blades that have an adjustable cutting depth for very detailed trimming and a selection of comb attachments to provide a longer trim.
• Suitability: Ideal for light-duty tasks and sensitive areas such as clipping the face, ears, jawlines, trimming around ergots, heels, tidying up cat hairs, trimming sleek tails and more! However, they are not powerful enough for body clipping, removing heavy feathers or hogging a thick coarse mane.