Grazing Muzzle Questions

[Laura2184]

Please can you knowledgable people tell me...

1. With a grazing muzzle on, I'm guessing they can't groom other horses, fightback by biting or relieve any itches they may get. Will this effect them in anyway?

2. Does the grass have to be a certain length? The grass in his field is fairly short at the moment but he's still fat..

3. What if he doesn't manage to work out how to eat through it and he doesn't eat all day... obviously this is bad for his gut.. will he just learn?...

I am well aware that muzzling is far far kinder than lami but just curious to the above?...

Am planning to start muzzling him this weekend, all day and off at night as well as plenty of exercise

Thanks

 

[TiggerthePony]

Hiya!

These are my thoughts on your questions!

1. They can’t groom etc. It was one of my concerns, I haven’t seen a horse suffer because they can’t (outwardly obviously to me any way) and if your horse will have it off over night that should give him some time to do what he wants. I used to have Lily’s on in the day and off at night for that reason, I also leave it off when new horses are introduced in to the field for the first 24 hours so she can stand up for herself.

2. I was wondering this myself, the grass where Lily is now is very short and I have only muzzled her once on it, when I got there she was stressed and weaving at the gate, normally she is chilled with the muzzle on and I did wonder if it was because she couldn’t actually eat any of the grass. This would worry me for the reason you state.

3. You keep a close eye on them when you first put it on, hand feed some grass or something through the hole so they get an idea of what they are supposed to do, give them a good time to work it out, some won’t eat through it when you’re watching so also try to sneak a look when he doesn’t know you are there. If he still does not appear to be eating I’d try another muzzle. Lily had a shires initially but she couldn’t eat or drink a thing through it but is fine with the Greenguard – just sulky!

Good luck!!

 

[acw295]

Molly can and does groom other horses, I know she does as her field mate is grey (she is brown) and muzzle is often full of grey hair on the inside, I have also watched her do it. Molly is however exceptonally bright and she still interacts with other horses as normal.

I muzzle 24/7 and Molly copes with short or quite long grass and anything in between - with long grass she flattens it down first. It is harder work for her but she is determined and so burns calories off she can even manage cow parsley and has been found eating hay out of a small holed haynet (that she stole) with her muzzle on before.

I let Molly have hers off when she first meets new horses, just to give her some self defence. She can itch herself to some extent, but sometimes when she has it off she will have a good chew of some bits of her. It doesn't seem to cause her any distress.

Some ponies, like Molly, really take to muzzles and carry on unaffected - others panic and would probably starve themselves to death through not trying to eat. For that reason it is trial and error I think - certainly doesn't suit all of them.

Hiya!

These are my thoughts on your questions!

1. They can’t groom etc. It was one of my concerns, I haven’t seen a horse suffer because they can’t (outwardly obviously to me any way) and if your horse will have it off over night that should give him some time to do what he wants. I used to have Lily’s on in the day and off at night for that reason, I also leave it off when new horses are introduced in to the field for the first 24 hours so she can stand up for herself.

2. I was wondering this myself, the grass where Lily is now is very short and I have only muzzled her once on it, when I got there she was stressed and weaving at the gate, normally she is chilled with the muzzle on and I did wonder if it was because she couldn’t actually eat any of the grass. This would worry me for the reason you state.

3. You keep a close eye on them when you first put it on, hand feed some grass or something through the hole so they get an idea of what they are supposed to do, give them a good time to work it out, some won’t eat through it when you’re watching so also try to sneak a look when he doesn’t know you are there. If he still does not appear to be eating I’d try another muzzle. Lily had a shires initially but she couldn’t eat or drink a thing through it but is fine with the Greenguard – just sulky!

Good luck!!

 

[martini55]

They can't groom properly with their muzzle on but I've seen my horse try... didn't look to be great for the other horse but the two of them didn't seem to bother!

 

[Hannyhorse]

I worry about them not being able to yawn properly either!

I use the Dinky Rugs muzzle and I have to say that I think it is brilliant - it is more flexible than the bucket type ones, so I would be pretty happy that they would be able to groom and itch each other / themselves far more effectively - mine never grooms her sister, so I haven't ever seen her do it, but I have only seen it a couple of times when she wasn't wearing the muzzle, so I am pretty sure if she fancied being nice to her sister it wouldn't stop her! She does scratch very effectively in it.

My field has very short grass and she is managing really well with this one - I don't think she would manage with a bucket one with a hole in as it wouldn't be long enough to go through the hole. I am pretty sure that the Dinky Rugs one doesn't restrict the grass as much as others, but because I have short grass that actually works very well for me.

Hanny also manages to eat hay really well through it, so I always put out piles of hay for her so I know she has food going in. She just eats through what is supposed to be the nostril hole! I think they are less claustrophobic too.

I did try a Shires muzzle first, but she got quite stressed with it and didn't understand - and then just kept managing to break it off - so I tried the Dinky Rugs one and she was so much better and mastered it in about half an hour!

It has made a huge difference to her and I am glad I finally was strong enough to just get on and do it no matter what - she is quite happy - and as you say it is far better that she can roam around with her muzzle on than being confined to her stable most of the time, or worse still confined to her stable and in pain.