[brightspot]

My easy keeper Appy mare is in a dry lot with two others and is gaining a lot of weight. I try to keep grass hay for them most of the time because the other two need it to maintain their weight. I have 2 questions:
1. Would a grazing muzzle work with hay to help the Appy lose some of her wieght?
2. Should I leave it on her all the time?

 

[JoBlueQuarter]

I think it would help, though getting hay through the holes on the bottom of the muzzle might be hard; you'd have to keep an eye on her to make sure she's getting enough hay. My QH mare has foundered before, so she wears a grazing muzzle for the day, then I take it off for the night. She is on a relatively large pasture, with lots of green grass.

 

[horselovinguy]

My friend has a IR horse and pasture with no sacrifice area....just doesn't work to section off a sacrifice area.
So he bought a grazing muzzle for the horse.
Horse wears it all day long while in the pasture.
He learned how to eat his fill but slower so less amount consumed = happy horse.
Thinner, healthier horse now. He watches carefully for to much weight loss.
The muzzle he has is a nylon one with large nostril openings so the horse does not overheat nor have issue breathing easily in hot & humid weather.
Horse drinks from a water trough and "dunks" his nose no problem.
This is the muzzle he has...
https://www.statelinetack.com/item/tough-1-easy-breathe-v-grazing-muzzle/E016077/
It has extra straps, they add stability and reduce, stop the horse from rubbing it off.
To date the horse never has removed it.
You can lead him with it as it has straps like a halter....
I believe it has a "break-away" ability on it but not positive...
My friends horse has never had a rub or sore from it either...
As a "treat" sometimes he is allowed to graze for a short period with no muzzle on but is watched very closely for gorging...
Good luck.
:runninghorse2:...

 

[walkinthewalk]

That's the Tough-1 Easy Breathe grazing muzzle Horselovinguy referred to.

I really REALLY second that muzzle.

The grazing hole is just a tad bigger than Weaver, Best Friends, and all the others. People have hissy fits over that, needlessly.

The way the grazing hole is shaped does allow the horse to eat hay.

I had tried a Weaver muzzle but my big-head Walking Horse could not breathe in it. He never had problems breathing thru the Tough-1.

The horse may develop sores from the basket (which happens with any brand of muzzle). You can buy felt pieces to wrap around the areas, or by Dr. Scholl's mole skins and cut to fit. I would take the mole skins off every day and put new ones on.

^^^That segways into, you need to keep the inside of the muzzle clean. Snot and dirt gather on the material and pretty soon you have a sour/moldy smell

I used Dawn dish soap, hot tap water,many a stiff bristled kitchen brush.

It's a lot of work but it will be a lot more work and expense if your horse founders

dont leave the horse alone the first few times it is muzzled. You want to make sure the horse will drink water .

It is best for the horse to take the muzzle off at night and give the horse a break. If the horse is out 24/7, evening/night/early morning grazing should be safe without a muzzle

 

[AnitaAnne]

Since they are already in a dry lot and can't graze anyway, why not just put the hay in several slow feed hay nets so they can all eat slowly?

I wouldn't use a grazing muzzle when the horse only gets hay.

 

[brightspot]

Since they are already in a dry lot and can't graze anyway, why not just put the hay in several slow feed hay nets so they can all eat slowly?

I wouldn't use a grazing muzzle when the horse only gets hay.

Good idea with the slow feed hay nets. I have 2 that I used last year with the crabby Paso Fino I have now and my Paint that passed last winter. They came to hate the nets and would glare at me when I hung them.. <sigh> I could try the two nets I have now and get a couple more for the musical feeding stations game that occurs.


I like this idea more than a grazing muzzle. Thanks!

 

[walkinthewalk]

Since they are already in a dry lot and can't graze anyway, why not just put the hay in several slow feed hay nets so they can all eat slowly?

I wouldn't use a grazing muzzle when the horse only gets hay.

<sigh>. I sure wasn't paying attention

Yes,mthe slow feed hay Nets would make more sense in a dry lot.

It will be a PITA but put up one or two more hay nets than you have horses. That way they can play Musical ChIrs without getting in too big of an argument:grin:

 

[tim62988]

i would also say go the slow feed haynet option. my wife's mare is a chunk & we are redoing 1/2 of the pasture this year so during the day the horses are just on hay through nibble nets and at night her mare gets a muzzle mine doesn't (for a change) and they get a section of the 1/2 a pasture they are rotating through this year