Founder prone horse needs to loose weight.

Well my 12 year old gelding has foundered in the passed (only 1-2 degrees). As per the vets recommendations I put him on Nutrenas empower balance and kept him on omega max golden ground flax seed (6 oz per day which is the lowest serving I can give). Now, on the bag as per his weight it says to feed 2-3 pounds of the ration balancer but I only have him on 1 pound a day plus a free choice round bale. (Hay isn't very good quality to begin with)

I do plan on muzzling him once the grass starts to pop up but he really is in need to loose about 75-100# now.

Would it be wrong of me to start muzzling him now? Say from about 8am-4pm everyday? I was trying to trim him down before spring got her because I know he's going to blow up again then too.

Getting rid of the round bale isn't an option as there are other horses out in his field as well.
I called the vet to get her opinion on it but she is out of town for the week.
Opinions?
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If possible I'd prefer to take him off free choice hay and feed hay 4 times per day as opposed to muzzling him for a large portion of the day as horses are meant to be constantly foraging. I'd also scrap the RB and feed strictly a mineral supplement. If you aren't feeding the RDA the horse isn't getting all the vits and mins he needs and it becomes extra calories. As well you can try adding psyllium husks to his feed.

Good luck!
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Cowgirl - I believe you've posted a bunch of feed questions recently, with him being under than over and under and over.
I think it was just less than a month ago you switched him off grain? And onto the RB.
Give him time to get used to the RB and allow his body to find it's balance. My obese mare has been off grain and on RB for 5 months now and she's still balancing out to a healthy weight.
Proper exercise will help too.

Another thing you could do is soak his hay for him and only alot him the amount of hay actually needed (by weight) and no more free choice. Soaking it soaks out the extra sugar.

Free choice hay but in a slow feeder. Soak it before feeding it if at all possible. Even poor quality hay can be high in NSCs. Keep the ration balancer and add Magnesium. Muzzle at ALL times out on grass. Horses with compensatory graze meaning they can eat as much in the time without the muzzle as if they didn't have one on at all.

Like I said I can't do anything about the hay which is why I was considering him being muzzled now. Only two paddocks and about 20 horses can be a pain sometimes.
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Would they allow you to fence off an area for your horse alone? If you do it?

That was was originally supposed to happen but then they didnt wana do that. The round bale is only out until grass hits then they take it away until the paddock is completely grazed down
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This frightens me. New, short spring grass is terribly dangerous for a founder-prone horse.
Can you build the fence yourself? Get some electrical tape and hammer in some posts if you can't build a real fence.
Muzzles won't help with the sugar content, even if he only eats a little bit of grass the new spring grass is SO loaded with sugar. Our founder-prone horses at the rescue need to be on a dry lot paddock with controlled hay, some of them only get soaked hay. We have a muck bucket set aside just for soaking their hay. It isn't hard and actually makes it easier to remember how much they've gotten and not overfeed them.

Before you go about changing his grain/RB diet just give him time to adjust. It's the hay/grass that's the real detrimental part coming spring.

That's what the original plan was. To build a small sectioned off paddock out of electrical tape. It was all okay then the family 'complained' because it would make too much mud.
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Can you put in sand or some alternative to prevent that? I really think it would be valuable.