I've clipped plenty of horses in my time and quietly consider myself quite good at it. I do a lovely neat job and I even clipped out my mental horse. So I thought, I know how to handle a pair of clippers, I'll give it a go. I went out and bought a good set of electric shears for the sheep (didn't want to keep swapping the heads over on my horse set), and made sure I had sharp spare blades, the lot.
But nope. Can't do it. Catching the sheep and getting them on their backs/sides isn't the problem (as a novice definitely an extra pair of hands needed though) for me it's because I find the skin beneath the fleece 'soft and floppy' (sorry, best description I can think of right now), it is incredibly easy to nick the skin. And it doesn't half give you backache.
Maybe if I hadn't the experience of doing horses I wouldn't have the comparison and find it so daunting. So I call in the sheep shearer every year.The guy that shears our flock has the proper kit, a harness to counter-balance his weight and a good back protector.
And I have a cracking pair of expensive shears as an ornament.