Grazing Muzzle Question

Personally I don't think I would rely on them for a horse, mini or pony type who was prone to founder, unless the BO was around a lot. For weight control, fine, as long as you supervise them fairly frequently sine they can get them off. I sure would hate for mine to get his off and be gorging himself for hours when he is not used to it for sure!

Well I learned something knew about sugar in grass. Sorry if I came off a little snoty. I have to personal trainers in my family so I was going by what happens when a human diets all day but them stuffs themselves at night. The diet does nothing. Lol I know its a different story with horses. =)

My gelding's crest is not that large in the grand scheme of things, but it seems to be growing.

I'm boarding him currently with no option for getting him off the grass. If he continues to get worse, I may need to think about boarding at another facility that can offer a small paddock or dry lot with the option for stalling him part-time.

I think I will go ahead and have the Vet out to pull some blood from him. I would really like to know what his metabolism is doing!

Thank you all again for your help and suggestions. So helpful!

You could ask the vets opinion on Thyro-L while he is there......that may help, but I am always hesitant to just give stuff like that.......

Nope, think that's a valid point too.

Seeing so much laminitis, knowing that it's way better to avoid rather than treat it, seeing IR horses develop incureable 'cushings'(PPID), I would personally advise you to be more proactive. It's great that you've recognised it may be problematic, hopefully before the point of no return. I know it's a hassle & many people ignore it. I know it makes life difficult for you - tho not as difficult as if you end up having to manage a laminitic. But a crest is a crest(with exception of stallions) & it indicates long term weight problems, regardless of how severe it is.

Of course, I don't expect you to take my word for it, great that you're getting the vet & I suggest you learn as much as you can, to be able to make more objective decisions. www.safergrass.org is another site you can learn more.

Hehe thanks Looise. Glad is was valid point =)