Robinsons Blog

At this time of year, your horse’s sleek shiny summer coat can begin to resemble that of a bear, in preparation for the cold winter months. This effect can be lessened by early rugging; however some extra coat is still likely to be grown. This can impact on any working horse’s comfort, whether he is schooled and hunted hard, or just hacked once a week.

Clipping your horse is a good way to minimise sweating, it can help a horse to cool down and dry more quickly after hard work and therefore he is less likely to become chilled. Whether you opt for a small bib clip or a full hunter clip, having the correct clipping equipment is essential to a neat and tidy finish.

Before you start, ensure your clippers are correctly maintained and sharp enough to cut through the coat smoothly and without pulling, making it a comfortable experience for both the horse and you. If you are using mains clippers, always use a circuit breaker plugged into the socket so if your horse stands on the wire, they will cut out without harming anyone. Make sure the blades are oiled according to manufacturer’s instructions so they run smoothly. Clean blades thoroughly after use, removing all hair and dirt, then wash with a good quality blade wash. Oil the blades thoroughly then store in an oiled cloth. 

Before you clip also make sure your horse is clean and dry, a dirty or greasy coat can lead to clogged clippers and blunted blades, and could potentially lead to your clippers breaking prematurely.

Whilst clipping, take regular breaks, about once every ten minutes to brush the blades and air filters ensuring no clogging and over heating of the clippers. This also gives your horse chance to relax. Make sure you have a spare set of blades in case they blunt half way through, follow the manufacturer’s instructions on which type blades are best – medium are usually recommended, but fine blades are available for horses with sensitive skin or fine coats, coarse blades are also available for horses with thick, long or dense coats.

When clipping your horses head or face, wither hair and bridle path, small hand held battery trimmers are ideal. The Wahl Pocket Pro Battery Trimmer is a small sized, quiet yet powerful trimmer which shouldn’t upset most horses when used close to their head, it gives a clean and neat finish and can be concealed in the handler’s hand if the horse is nervous about the clipping process.

For many nervous horses, quiet clippers with little vibration movement are best such as the Liveryman Element Rechargeable Trimmer which is a low noise and low vibration cordless trimmer which has a powerful cutting motion, although only lasts for 60 minutes which may be a problem with nervous horses who take longer to clip. Replacement batteries can be purchased to prolong the clipping time.

A quiet, lightweight mains clipper is the Heiniger Handy Horse Clipper; this has a powerful, 120 watt motor and lasts as long as you need it to due to being mains powered. However many nervous horses don’t like the cord being near them, and if they are moving around a lot could become tangled in it and panic, it is probably safer for horse and handler if a battery clipper is used to avoid any accidents or injuries.

For clipping a small area, such as a bib clip, it may not be necessary to use full sized clippers. Depending on your horse’s coat type, you may be able to use smaller clippers such as Wahl’s Pro Rechargeable Trimmer which has a 13 watt clipper speed. These may do for very fine coated types such as thoroughbreds but if your horse is super hairy, they won’t do for areas on the body.

For hairy types, such as natives and cobs, even if they are rugged early a more heavy duty clipper is likely to be needed, such as Wahl’s Avalon Cordless Clipper, this has an 80 watt motor and therefore cuts through hair faster and is designed to deal with a thicker coat.

For a larger area, such as a trace clip or low blanket clip, it is advisable to start with an 80 watt clipper or more. Again with cobs and natives, it may be advisable to go up slightly on the clipper’s power to 130 watt such as the Liveryman Blue Arena Clippers which are also lightweight so your arm doesn’t get tired!

For clips which take even larger sections of the coat away like a high blanket, hunter and full clips the heaviest duty clippers are recommended such as Heiniger Delta 3 Clippers with a top speed of 180 watts and an option of 3 varying speeds for use on all areas.

An even more powerful clipper ideal for incredibly hairy and thick coated horses or those who have double layered coats is the Liveryman Rodeo Clipper which has a 400 watt speed so can clip many horses quickly and efficiently in one sitting.

If you feel that you need to clip your horse this winter, ensure you take into consideration his workload, coat type and clip type when choosing clippers, and remember that good maintenance of both coat and clippers lead to a good quality and neatly finished clip.

As you may have seen on the news, the country is about to face a period of strikes by postal workers. Naturally, you’ll be concerned that all mail order will therefore become totally unreliable and to be honest, who could blame you? If you’re still reading at this point, please allow me to explain what we’ve done to ensure that Robinsons is unaffected by the strikes as much as we possibly can be. I’ve tried to keep this information as short and to-the-point as I can:

Suspension of all Standard Packets sent via Royal Mail

As soon as the Communication Workers’ Union held a ballot which gave them the opportunity to plan strikes, we knew we had to transfer our business to other carriers. From Monday 19^th October right through until Christmas (and possibly beyond), we will therefore be sending all our standard packets out via The Home Delivery Network, using their 24 hour delivery service. This decision comes at quite a substantial cost to us, which we will not be passing on to you. We felt that as long as we can keep your confidence, the extra cost will be worth avoiding hundreds or maybe thousands of lost orders.

Just to clarify, the 24 hours described above relates to the time it takes to leave our mailing room to arrival with you. It’s not quite the same as our £9.95 Express Delivery service, which for orders placed before 12 noon (Monday to Thursday), promises a 24 hour delivery from the time you order until arrival with you. I hope I’ve been able to explain the distinction well enough.

Where we may still have to depend on Royal Mail

Sadly, it’s a little more complicated than simply transferring all our delivery business elsewhere. There are some occasions where we may have no option but to continue to use Royal Mail. These instances will be quite specific parts of our business like overseas delivery of small parcels, affecting very few customers. Unfortunately, if you’re one of those customers, this comes as no consolation at all. Even then, we will continue to look for alternatives if the Royal Mail service is unworkable.

Aside from the goods we send out, I’m sure you’ll also know that we send out catalogues from time to time. In early December, we will produce our Winter Sale 2009 catalogue, as we do every year, mailing it to hundreds of thousands of customers. In recent years, we have moved away from using the Royal Mail to collect these catalogues from us once they are printed. Unfortunately, because this is still standard ‘letter post’, the industry still works on the basis that the Royal Mail always handle the mail over the ‘final mile’ of the delivery. It is financially impossible for us to by-pass them, using couriers, on such volumes and we are just not big enough to use our own network of local agents to deliver catalogues like (for example) Next do. Again, we are looking at our alternatives and we also hope that the dispute – or at least the industrial action – may have been resolved by then. All we can say is that we’ll keep you post… er, make that informed.

Robinsons and the Royal Mail: What We’d Like You to Know…

Okay, this bit is more about how the dispute affects us than about how it affects you but as you’re still reading, I have a couple of things to say that might interest you. Since 2007, Robinsons have been members of The Catalogue Exchange, a not-for-profit organisation which represents the interests of companies who trade via catalogues. By a strange quirk of fate (or perhaps it was deliebrarely done so), the decision to strike was announced on the second day of our industry’s biggest trade fair*.

Between us, the members of CatEx (as we all call it) represent hundreds of millions of pounds of revenue to the Royal Mail and our combined voice is being used to pressurise both sides of the dispute. Our very capable President is Nigel Swabey, the Chairman of a number of well-known catalogue companies including, currently, Scott’s & Co and he has done a number of press interviews to put our case. In a recession, every business is expecting to fight harder to even match last year’s performance. Those of us who depend on a reliable postal system face having to do so with a huge extra burden to deal with. For many (like us), the dangers are of wasted opportunities, which is bad enough. For some, it could make the difference between survival and failure.

Please don’t take the impression that we (Robinsons) are fighting for survival – As we expect to illustrate quite soon, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Are we concerned that our business could be severely affected by this action? Of course we are. Any other company who depends on mail order (including all the website operators) would be lying if they said anything else.

Okay, that’s it. Rant over. Even though this is our blog and in theory we could rant about anything on here, I promise you I’d rather not do that, normally. After all, I would like you to want to come back here occasionally and that’s unlikely to happen if we fill the blog with industry moans when all you really want from us is to know that our range is wide, our prices are reasonable and our service is reliable. I hope you appreciate that these are rather unusual circumstances and it is important to me and to us all here at Robinsons that you do not lose confidence in the service we can provide to you. What use is a mail order service, however good it may be, if it lacks the credibility to inspire your confidence? We never take your confidence for granted and we do all we can to retain it. Unfortunately, we realise that this time, the actions of others may affect that and all we can do is promise you the same level of service you expected from us before.

Thanks for reading!

Paul.

We were saddened yesterday to hear about the death of Bengt Höök, President of Hööks Hästsport – the largest equestrian retailer and mail order operator in Scandinavia.

We had known Bengt for many years and were proud to call him a friend. We had worked on many projects together and we both shared the same commitment to finding new, different and well-priced products. He was always generous with his advice and genuine with his praise of Robinsons. We admired him greatly.

Our thoughts go to his family and the whole team at Hööks.

The light, warm summer weather encourages most of us to swap the confines of the sand paddock for long hacks and beach rides. When your leisure time starts to be restricted by lack of light or suitable weather conditions, these fun rides can be more difficult to fit in to your schedule. Having the motivation to ride in the arena again can be difficult, therefore think of the schooling as a way to keep both you and your horse fit, supple and healthy. It may help to plan a schedule that works towards a long term goal for you and your horse, and then you feel you are getting something worthwhile from your training sessions. Most horses will benefit from a structured programme that helps to re-establish the basic principles of obedience and submission.

There is no substitute for good schooling but sometimes a little extra help is needed to encourage your horse to use his himself correctly. Training aids can assist you with achieving a round outline and self carriage, but it is important to know how to use each one correctly as they can cause more problems if used by inexperienced riders or possibly injure the horse.

 Draw Reins are a simple and commonly used training aid which attach to the horse’s girth then pass through the bit (from the outside to the inside) to the rider’s hands. These are a strong gadget which should only ever be used by experienced riders and are unsuitable and unsafe for jumping in. They can be an extremely severe training aid if used wrongly and can force the horse into an incorrect and short outline, where rather than flexing at the poll and relaxing onto the bit, he ends up flexing at the 4^th vertebra and curling himself back from the bit. If used gently and at a length where they only come into action if the horse raises his head, they can be beneficial to the horses head carriage. It is advised that only experienced riders and riders under instructors’ supervision use them, and they are not used for long periods of time.

A similar training aid to Draw Reins is the Market Harborough which attaches via a breastplate and has 2 lines coming from the centre, passing through the bit on either side (from the outside to the inside) and attaching to specialised reins with 3 D rings on either side, spaced at regular intervals from the bit. The lines then clip to these D rings, with the rings closest to the bit being the mildest setting and the ones furthest away the strongest. Ideally the reins should be set so the head is carried slightly above the vertical so a correct head carriage encouraged. They should only come into action if the head comes above the desired position, and are good for use on strong horses as they come into action when a horse pulls or throws his head. This training aid is unsuitable for jumping in, and like Draw Reins it is advisable to use them in the presence of an instructor.

The Chambon is an aid for use when lunging and has 2 reins which clip to the girth or roller between the front legs, come up and through rings on a special headpiece and then run down and clip to the bit on either side. This should be fitted loosely at first and the horse allowed to work on a large circle in a natural trot so he can get used to the poll pressure and raising of the bit when he lifts his head above a certain point. Once he has accepted and understood that the pressure is released when he relaxes down, the aid can be tightened gradually until you have the desired level of neck and head carriage. Again, this aid is unsuitable for jumping in.

An advancement on the Chambon is the De Gogue which is quite a gentle training aid and can be lunged or ridden in. It consists of 2 reins which attach to a girth or roller between the horses front legs, go up to the padded headpiece and through the ring attachments, down alongside the cheek pieces, through the bit and then either attach to the end of the reins if riding or back down between the front legs if lunging. At first until you and your horse are used to this aid, it is advisable to ride with double reins, one set fixed to the bit and the other to the De Gogue rein. This rein encourages the head and neck to be down and relaxed, putting mild pressure on the poll and bit if the head is lifted above the desired position and releasing this pressure when the horse relaxes and works correctly. This is another aid that is unsuitable for jumping in and should also be used by experienced riders and in the presence of an instructor.

One of the most advanced and highly recommended training aids is the Pessoa. This works on both the back and front end of the horse with a ‘pulley’ type system; a soft strap passes behind the back legs, this attaches to a rope which is fixed up to the roller, with another rope passing from the back strap through a clip attached to the bit. This then can be attached on 3 settings, either through the front legs achieving a long and low setting, suitable for use on all horses but especially those just starting out with a Pessoa.

The second setting fastens to the side ring of a roller to bring the head slightly higher and encourage more back lift, and the final option attaches up to the top ring of the roller to bring the advanced and well muscled horse into more of a dressage outline. For most horses, the last setting puts too much strain on them and could end up causing muscle and skeletal injuries and stress, so it is advisable to work the horse up gently from the lowest setting to the middle setting. This aid should not be ridden or jumped in and should only be lunged in for very short periods of time, about 5 minutes on each rein as it can be very strenuous for the horse.

Overall none of these aids will work properly and safely without good basic schooling being practised alongside them, and should only be used after reading their instructions. Remember, these shouldn’t be seen as a quick fix to tuck your horses head in, outlines start from the back and work their way forwards!

Used correctly though, they can be a positive addition to a schooling session and help your horse understand better how to use his hind quarters to work correctly and comfortably over his back and neck. A horse in pain or discomfort won’t want to work properly, is likely to ‘giraffe’ along and is often naughty so always remember to check your horses saddle fit, teeth and back before looking to training aids for help. With the help of these and good schooling, a happy comfortable horse should quickly learn how to use himself properly and you’ll look like a dressage queen/king in no time!