Grazing muzzle, tucked up

Lottie86

Lottie86

Active Member
Aug 6, 2012
452
85
28
North Aberdeenshire
Sorry, me again!

Magic has had his grazing muzzle on for a week. The first day or two he was wandering round his field like 'what do I do with this' as he's not used to wearing one but since then when I've gone to the field he's been acting fine just a little bit more desperate than usual to come in for his dinner and soaked hay which I have put down to him eating much less grass due to the muzzle.

Since his muzzle went on I have been giving him a very small amount of sugar beet with extra water and a handful of dampened chaff in the morning so he's got something in his tummy before his muzzle goes on and then he has the same in the evening when he comes in and then he has a haycube full of soaked hay in his stable for overnight. He has the same number/quantity of poos in his stable in the morning as he did before the muzzle went on.

When he came in this evening he looked a bit tucked up. Does this indicate he's not actually eating with his muzzle on? He hasn't looked tucked up before today that I have seen and other than looking a bit tucked up he was his usual chirpy self, eating fine and trying to raid my pocket for Luciemints lol and he looked a bit less tucked up about 15 mins or so after he came in.

Any advice would be much appreciated xx
 
Have you found any grass in the bottom of the muzzle ? The same amount of poos tells me he is eating something at least.
He may have just been feeling a bit off, certainly would keep an eye on him for next few days when he comes in.
 
I haven't seen any in the bottom but I assumed it was just because he had eaten it (I'm brand new to muzzles as the horse I used to loan didn't wear one)

I will keep a close eye on him. Just wish there was some way I could restrict his grazing without a muzzle but until we get our own land there isn't as we're not allowed to use electric tape to strip graze or section off a bit of field and we don't have a fatty paddock. All of the fields at the yard are huge which is fantastic for them having a lot of space to exercise but not so helpful when it's full of lush spring grass and it is just Magic and one other horse in his field.
 
Sorry to ask what may be a stupid question, but are you sure he is drinking properly? I knew a newly-muzzled horse who took a week to work out how to drink....
 
I think I'm going to order him a Dinky muzzle as I've read some bits online that seem to be saying a lot of horses find them easier to eat through than the likes of the type he's got, worth a try I guess!

Should I feed him a bigger breakfast before he goes out?
 
I have never actually seen him drink in the field with or without a muzzle so I will give him a bucket tomorrow of his disgusting looking hi fi soup (loads of water with a little bit of hi fi in) and see if he will drink it.
 
It wouldn't be the heat making him tucked up would it? It's been bright sunshine all day yesterday and today and v warm compared to usual and they have absolutely no shelter/shade in their field as there is no natural shelter and they don't have a field shelter
 
joosie said:
Sorry to ask what may be a stupid question, but are you sure he is drinking properly? I knew a newly-muzzled horse who took a week to work out how to drink....
Click to expand...

That's a good point. It was one of the things on Storm's muzzle instructions, it said make sure they know how to drink through it. Worth thinking about.
 
You could make the hole in the bottom a bit bigger if it's just for weight control, the hole most bucket muzzles come with as standard will make most horses starve and certainly shouldn't be left on 24/7.
 
Yann said:
You could make the hole in the bottom a bit bigger if it's just for weight control, the hole most bucket muzzles come with as standard will make most horses starve and certainly shouldn't be left on 24/7.
Click to expand...

Our vet was adamant that it SHOULD stay on 24/7 as they compensate eat when its removed. This has now been the subject of a few studies, showing that if removed for short periods they eat much more than usual in that short time, so negating the whole point. Rosie still put on weight even with it on 24/7 which is a huge testament to just how much of a pig she is!!!!!
 
Depends what they're compensating with - if it's safe forage off pasture then that's less of an issue. None of the muzzled horses at our yard are left out 24/7, they all come in to top up on hay for at least part of the day.
 
Our pony has his on 23hrs a day at the moment, he drinks through it and manages to get the long blades of grass through the hole in the bottom, i always see him with his head down. When he comes in he has a small fibre based feed for his supps and hay. As he is lami prone and is overweight it's essential in his case.
 
As advised by the vet:
Muzzle on 24/7, no supplementary or additional feeding (vet advised that they saw no reason for supplementary feeding for a lightly worked horse), loads of exercise, out 24/7, no rugs etc etc
Vets are much toughter on the grounds of health than owners!!!!!
 
I certainly would not leave a grazing muzzle on for 24 hours day in day out.

Why don't you turn him out for a few hours with no muzzle and then bring him in - I would think you would have your answer pretty quickly as to whether he is unable to eat, or is not particularly well.
 
Have you seen her actually eat through it? Why not take her for a grass walk and see for yourself if she can eat. Or, stay in the field with her and watch her until she eats. The same with drinking. I stayed in the field with Ben until I watched him have a drink (luckily I didn't have to wait too long!). It's important that you teach a horse to wear a muzzle.

I wouldn't increase the size of the hole. My horse can easily eat enough through the pretty small hole in his muzzle, but I did spend lots of time making sure that he was happy with the muzzle before I turned him out.

My vet advised that Ben wears it for ALL his field time, but that he needed a break from it for a few hours a day and that is why he comes in for 6 hours. On the occasions where he has removed the muzzle, he has gorged on grass to the extent that he didn't even look at his hay when he came in and he looked visibly stuffed!

I would say that if your horse isn't eating or drinking at all with the muzzle, this could make her look tucked up. The only way you will know for certain is to watch her.
 
Magic is not in his muzzle 24/7, he is in his stable for 12hrs overnight with ad lib soaked hay. He definitely can drink through it as when I brought him in this evening he managed to drink a little bit of his hi fi soup (he loves a little bit of hi fi mixed with lots and lots of water,yuck!) before he stopped and went really huffy and acted like he couldn't possibly do anything with his muzzle on. I have seen him from a distance with his head down looking like he's eating but I've not seen any grass inside the muzzle. Until last week he had never worn a muzzle before.
 
Lottie86 said:
Should I feed him a bigger breakfast before he goes out?
Click to expand...

Err, wouldn't feeding him more kind of defeat the purpose of wearing a muzzle? :wink: I know it is hard, but if you have a horse who needs their weight restricted then you have to be strict to be kind, it is in their best interests after all.
 
I wasn't meaning like a high cal breakfast I just wondered about bulking his little bit out with oat straw or something to fill him up a bit more before he went out. I'm just really worried about how lush the grass is at the yard (fertilised farmland) and I'm paranoid he'll get laminitis or end up overweight if he isn't muzzled as we can't restrict grazing any other way.
His weight is pretty much perfect atm but I want to keep it that way over the summer rather than wait for him to get overweight and then have to try and slim him down as he didn't come into spring slightly thin as his previous owner had him heavily rugged all winter so he's come into spring at a perfect weight (I've only had him since March)
Can you tell I'm a neurotic first time horse owner lol.
 
I think a feed before turning out is sensible, a bucketful of hay replacer type chaff is going to be much less calorific than any spring grass.

Unless your grass is literally like rocket fuel I've found that enlarging the hole a bit doesn't make them put weight on, but does keep them more content with the muzzle on.
 
Yep, I'd be taking that attitude too. It's a bit like telling a human dieter they can have unlimited fruit and veg knowing the good stuff is good for body and mind because the dieter won't feel hungry and less prone to bingeing on the less desirable stuff.

That's why I feed Joy as soon as i bring her in before we ride out. She's on such restricted grazing she'll try to strip all vegetation within reach otherwise!
 
newrider.com
Top Bottom
Back