Horse Clippers: A Complete Guide to Choosing the Right Set for Your Horse

Cordless vs Corded, Blades, Battery Life — and What Actually Matters

If you’ve ever stood in a tack room staring at a tangle of cables, wondered why your horse is dripping with sweat after twenty minutes of light schooling, or watched a pair of cheap clippers chew through a thick winter coat at glacial pace, you’ll already know that the right pair of horse clippers makes a huge difference — to you, to your horse, and to the finished job.

This guide walks through everything you need to know about horse clippers: when to clip, the different types of clip, the difference between corded and cordless horse clippers, what to look for when buying, and how to keep your set running for years rather than seasons.

Why Clip a Horse in the First Place?

A horse’s winter coat is brilliant for keeping a field-kept horse warm, but it’s a real problem for any horse that’s being worked through autumn and winter. A heavy coat traps heat and sweat, which means:

Your horse takes much longer to cool down and dry off after exercise
Wet coats lead to chills, mud fever and skin problems
Performance drops as the horse overheats
Grooming becomes a battle and the coat looks dull and unhealthy

Clipping removes some or all of that excess hair so your horse can work comfortably and dry off quickly. Rugging up afterwards replaces the warmth they’ve lost, and you end up with a healthier, fresher, much happier horse.

See the Easy Trek Cordless Horse Clippers →

When Should You Start Clipping?

Most UK owners start their first clip in late September or early October, once the summer coat has finished shedding and the winter coat has properly come through. From there, you’ll usually need to re-clip every 4–6 weeks until around late January. Clipping any later than that risks affecting the summer coat coming through.

If your horse has Cushing’s (PPID) and grows a long, curly coat year-round, you may need to clip them more often regardless of season — and you’ll want a heavy-duty pair of horse clippers that can cope with that kind of dense, sometimes greasy coat without bogging down.

The Different Types of Horse Clip

The clip you choose depends on how hard your horse is working, how they’re kept, and how much rugging you’re prepared to do. The most common clips are:

Full clip — the entire coat is removed, including legs and head. Best for hard-working competition horses that are stabled and rugged.
Hunter clip — body is clipped but the legs and a saddle patch are left on. The classic working clip; gives protection to legs and back.
Blanket clip — head, neck, shoulders and belly are clipped but a “blanket” of hair is left over the back and quarters. A good middle ground.
Chaser clip — similar to a blanket clip but with a diagonal line; leaves more hair on for warmth.
Trace clip — only the underside of the neck, chest, belly and top of the legs are clipped. Ideal for ponies and lightly worked horses.
Bib clip — just the front of the chest and underside of the neck. The lightest clip; perfect for hairy natives doing light work.

Whichever clip you go for, a good pair of horse clippers will do all of them — what changes is the blade and the lines you mark out, not the machine.

Corded vs Cordless Horse Clippers

This is the first big decision when buying. Both have their place, but for most owners cordless horse clippers have become the obvious choice in recent years.

Corded clippers

Corded clippers used to win on raw power, but the gap has closed dramatically. They’re still a solid option if:

You always have a power socket within five metres of where you clip
Your horse is bombproof around cables
You clip multiple horses back-to-back and don’t want to swap batteries

The downsides are real, though. The cable is a genuine hazard around horses’ legs, you’re tethered to one spot, and clipping at a friend’s yard or out at shows can be impossible if there’s no plug socket.

Cordless horse clippers

Modern lithium-ion batteries have changed cordless horse clippers completely. A decent set will now give you up to two hours of runtime per battery, charge in about the same time, and put out the same power as a mid-to-heavy-duty mains clipper. The advantages are obvious:

No cable to wrap round legs or get stepped on
You can clip anywhere — yard, field shelter, lorry, friend’s barn
Easier to manoeuvre into awkward spots like behind elbows and between hind legs
Generally quieter, which is huge for nervous horses

If you have two batteries (and ideally you should), there’s no realistic clipping job a good set of cordless horse clippers can’t handle. Even a full clip on a hairy 16hh cob is well within reach on a single battery for most owners.

What to Look For in a Good Set of Horse Clippers

Not all horse clippers are equal. Here’s what actually matters when you’re comparing models:

Motor power

Power is measured in watts. For a multi-purpose horse clipper that needs to cope with thick coats, look for around 150–200W. Anything much under that will struggle with a proper winter coat or a greasy cob, and you’ll find yourself fighting the clippers rather than gliding through the hair.

Noise level

A quiet clipper is a kinder clipper. Loud, high-vibration models terrify nervous horses and turn what should be a relaxing job into a wrestling match. Look for clippers described as low-noise or low-vibration — your horse will tell you very quickly whether you’ve got it right.

Weight and balance

You’ll be holding these for an hour or more at a time, often with your arm extended. Anything over about 1.4kg starts to feel like hard work. A well-balanced 1–1.2kg handset is the sweet spot for most people.

Battery (for cordless)

Look for lithium-ion batteries, ideally with at least 90 minutes of runtime per charge. Two batteries supplied as standard is a big plus — you can be charging one while using the other and never run out mid-clip.

Blades

Most horse clippers in the UK use the A2 blade fitting, which is brilliant news because blades are interchangeable between brands. The two you’ll use most are:

Fine blades (around 1mm cut) — for full body clipping with a sharp, neat finish
Medium blades (around 3mm cut) — leave more hair, useful for thicker-coated natives or when you don’t want to clip too close

Coarser blades are also available for very thick or matted coats.

Spares and servicing

This is the bit people forget about until something goes wrong. Cheap horse clippers from unknown brands are often impossible to repair because spare parts simply don’t exist. Always check that replacement blades, batteries and brushes are available before you buy. A clipper you can service is one that lasts a decade.

Looking After Your Horse Clippers

Treat your clippers properly and they’ll outlast several horses. Treat them badly and you’ll be back online shopping next winter.

Oil the blades every 5–10 minutes during clipping. This is the single most important thing. Hot, dry blades drag, pull hair, overheat and burn out motors. Clipper oil is cheap; new clippers aren’t.
Brush hair out of the blades and air vents during and after every clip. Hair clogs up the motor and causes overheating.
Let the blades cool if they get hot to touch. A burning blade hurts the horse and ruins the steel.
Get blades professionally sharpened rather than throwing them away. A good sharpening service brings them back to factory-fresh for a fraction of the cost of new blades.
Store somewhere dry — ideally in the case they came in, away from damp tack rooms.

How Much Should You Spend?

You can pay anywhere from £40 to £600 on a pair of horse clippers, and the differences are real.

Under £80 — usually badged livestock or pet trimmers. Fine for the odd tidy-up but they will not cope with a proper winter coat.
£150–£250 — the sweet spot for most owners. Proper heavy-duty horse clippers, decent batteries, real spare-parts support.
£300+ — professional kit. Worth it if you’re clipping six horses a week or running a business. Overkill for most one- or two-horse owners.

The honest truth is that a £200 set of cordless horse clippers from a brand that supports its kit will outperform a £400 set from a brand that doesn’t, and will cost less to keep running over its lifetime.

Easy Trek Cordless Horse Clippers

Right, with the impartial bit out of the way — these are the clippers we sell, and there’s a good reason we sell them.

The Easy Trek Cordless Horse Clippers are a heavy-duty 180W cordless set built to cope with anything from a fine-coated thoroughbred to a feathered, greasy cob to a Cushing’s horse with a coat like a hearthrug. They come with:

180W brushless motor — power for thick coats without overheating
Two lithium-ion batteries — around 2 hours of clipping per charge, fast charging
Two blade sets included (fine for body clipping, medium for thicker work)
Low-noise, low-vibration design — kind on nervous horses
Heavy-duty carry case
Full 12-month warranty
All spares available — blades, batteries, brushes, every part, kept in stock for proper servicing

We’ve priced them at £199 (down from £299), which puts them firmly in the sweet-spot bracket above — proper professional performance without the professional price tag. The reviews from owners clipping everything from matted Shetlands to 16hh TBs on a single charge speak for themselves.

If you’ve been making do with a struggling old pair, or you’re buying your first set, they’re well worth a look.

See the Easy Trek Cordless Horse Clippers →

Frequently Asked Questions

Are cordless horse clippers as powerful as corded? Modern cordless horse clippers with brushless motors and lithium-ion batteries are now genuinely on a par with mid-to-heavy-duty corded models. For most owners, the gap is no longer meaningful.

How long do clipper batteries last? A good lithium-ion battery should give you around 90–120 minutes of clipping per charge and last several seasons before needing replacement. Buying clippers that come with two batteries is a big advantage.

How often do clipper blades need sharpening? A fine blade in clean conditions will last several full clips before needing sharpening. If you’re clipping muddy or greasy coats, expect blades to dull faster. Sharpening is much cheaper than replacement.

Can one set of clippers do the body and the face? Yes — a multi-purpose set with both fine and medium blades will handle body, legs and head. For very fine work around the muzzle and ears, some owners prefer a small dedicated trimmer alongside.

My horse is terrified of clippers. What should I do? Start with quiet, low-vibration cordless horse clippers. Introduce them switched off, then running but not on the horse, then gently against the horse’s shoulder. Patience and short sessions over several days work far better than trying to push through in one go.

Got questions about clipping or about the Easy Trek cordless horse clippers? Drop us a message — happy to help.