Crossword Genius

Small horse nearly getting shiner (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

sequin

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'shiner' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how one could define the other.

'small horse nearly' is the wordplay.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'horse' becomes 'equine' (equine means a horse or related animal).
'nearly' means to remove the last letter.
'equine' with its final letter taken off is 'equin'.
's'+'equin'='SEQUIN'

'getting' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sequin that I've seen before include "bright little thing" , "Sparkling feature of ballroom dancing?" , "Italian gold coin" , "Shiny decorative disc" , "that sparkles" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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