More equine body art – clipping and quarter marks.

While most of us are still struggling with keeping the lines straight, there are some real body clipping artists out there.

I’ve found a few more examples to inspire. The good news is, if you make a mistake you can just take it all off. The person who did this said they were done free hand, without a pattern. Wow!

I'm impressed. I'd have to practice for years before I'd even attempt this.
I might try this . . . as long as I can shave off the mistakes afterward.

Quarter marks as equine body art

This Superman Quarter Mark is part of a stencil set.

Not brave enough to go free hand? No problem! There are a number of stencils available to help make your pattern (almost) fool proof.  In fact, if you don’t want to clip a pattern into a horse’s coat, you can also brush one in.

Quarter marks are the patterns that are brushed or clipped into your horse’s hind quarters. Generally seen at dressage competions or events, traditional patterns include diamonds and checkerboards but you can also get stencils to help you make more complicated shapes.

The technique for making quarter marks is simple. Perfecting them takes time and practice.

  • Start with a clean horse.
  • Spray the hindquarters before you start combing. Some people use water; but the pattern will hold better if you mix in some hair spray, fly spray or something similar.
  • Brush the hair on the hind quarters toward the tail with a stiff body brush.
  • Take a fine toothed comb, cut to the size of the pattern you want to make downward through the damp hair to make the marks.
  • To make a Sharks teeth pattern, brush the hair downward with a body brush then do sweeping movements toward the tail to create the effect.
  • If you use a stencil, place it on your horse. Then take a clean, stiff brush and brush the hair straight up.
  • Without moving the stencil, brush the hair backward against the way it naturally lies.
  • Remove the stencil and spritz with spray gel again to “set” the mark.
  • Finish up by brushing down all the hairs away from the stencil so it doesn’t look framed.

Video demonstration:

4 thoughts on “More equine body art – clipping and quarter marks.

  1. Wow! I can’t even draw that well on paper with an eraser, let alone on a moving target with clippers! Holy cow! Very cool, I liked this post!

  2. I do some clipper art on my horse every year. It’s become a sort of tradition for us! It’s much easier than it looks!

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