Grazing Muzzles - How, Why (or Why Not!) You Use Them

[Marty]

I would hate to go look in my pasture and see a horse of mine wearing a muzzle.To me,and my humble opinion that's just unnecessary if you manage your pastures. Ain't happening here. Instead I keep the grass mowed way down to the nubs and also use a dry lot. Its a pain in the rear to put them out, go chase them down to bring them in to dry lot etc. and so time consuming but if that's what it takes to avoid wearning a muzzle, I'll do it.. I wouldn't trust those break aways for nothing. I've already had break away halters on big horses in the past that never did break away.

 

[SampleMM]

To me, a grazing muzzle is an accident waiting to happen. I would never leave a halter on in a stall or pasture and that's how a grazing muzzle works. It's attached to a halter! I have huge pastures with lots of lush grass so I made a smaller "Jenny Craig" pasture for the minis and that works really well. I know how hard it is to keep these minis from being obese and often times summer feels like more work than winter due to this. So, I really do understand where you are coming from and I hope you can find a safe way to keep them from being overweight.

 

[FurstPlaceMiniatures]

That'd the thing. The pasture is at a nub. It IS managed extremely well. He is still fat. I'd prefer my horse to be outside than stuck in a stall. I board, so simply building a true dirt lot is not an option. He's wormed regularly, no grain, and is exercised 3x or more a week.about an hour of trot and center on a lung,e line. Only option is "less food."

 

[Marty]

I'm really getting nosey now. Have you got a picture of this little guy you can post?

Furst Place. I'm with you. I don't believe horses need to be over stalled unless of course in bad weather. So if your pastures are way down, he's getting fat from somewhere .How about the hay? If its coarse, that alone can blow them up like you can't imagine and if he's got ulcers that will give him a belly.. Are you sure its just not his conformation, like he's just built thick with larger bones? Perhaps he's the older style quarter horsey type? I've got one of those and although she appears fat, and well, yes she's fat and short, it looks much worse on her than it would on any of the other "later models".

 

[FurstPlaceMiniatures]

I will post a pic when not on my phone. He's fat. Had a horse with ulcers before, no other symptoms on him.Can't feel ribs. Its not a blaoty belly. Has never coliced since I've had him. Pretty sure he isn't in his last home either. To be blunt, they were such horrible horsemen if he ha he probably would be dead. Has a bit of a crest and a bit of a belly.he is capable of losing weight. Looked awesome last year (drought). I purchased him about a year ago severely obese. 8 yr old would give him sweet feed til he stopped eating at his previous home. Has been a steady path to weight loss until this summer. No hay right now. The hay they have is super fine first cut. No, he's not the spindly legged Arab type, but I still can tell he's fat. The grass might be short, but its high quality. Green as the lawn!

 

[TMR]

I use grazing muzzles on two of mine anytime they are out in pasture. They have plastic hooks that do break easily. If you have a horse that is pre-cushing than a grazing muzzle is a necessity, otherwise they won't be able to be out on pasture. My ponies had no problems with the muzzles, after the first couple hours, when they realized I wasn't taking them off. They are turned out 4-5 hours spring and then 8-12 hours in the summer and fall. The one thing I did find was make sure the muzzle isn't too tight around the face. I found most mini muzzles are actually too tight. My mini actually is in a pony muzzle as it fit looser around, you shouldn't see marks on the bridge of his nose when he is wearing it. I also feed with feed bags so there is no problem putting the muzzle on as they are never sure if I am putting the feed bag on or muzzle on. My mini actually comes to me for his muzzle, as he knows he is going out to the grass.

 

[FurstPlaceMiniatures]

Hokay.

Day One



THIS was Cloudy a month or so after I purchased him.



Last summer



This Winter. WOW WAS I HAPPY WITH HIM!

And Now...... Note the crest. Slowly sneaking back to the size it was....

 

[Marty]

For whatever my humble opinion is worth. In the winter picture, the one you like, I feel he's border line too thin there for me. He's too sucked up in the hindquarters. You can tell from that picture, he's just got the conformation to be a bit heavier in the front end so you need to balance him out a little bit. . I don't mind the extra pounds too much in the winter at all. Helps keep them warm. .

In the last picture, yup, he's fat but I don't see the crest you are worried about. He's just chubby all over and when they do that, the crest is included. I wouldn't say you have a cresty horse per say.

I'd like to see him somewhere in the middle of the winter picture and present day. Like I said, just my humble 2 cents.

Love his head by the way. Awesome!

 

[FurstPlaceMiniatures]

He was most definitely not too thin this winter. His hindquarters loom sucked in because the triangle at the top of his til was literally an inch thick. This was the first rough clip. Honestly could barely feel ribs. Had to search pretty hard still though. On his flank, he was standing wonky. We taught him to beg by setting up and parking out. Hubby had cookies. Was snapping a pic for a friend who has helped me with his weight loss. Sorry, but nodbody who's seen him "in real life," ha ever called him thin, and I'm surrounded by opinionated knowledgable horse men.

That being said, the winter pic , that's my ideal. Nope, no skinnier. Mind you this was the end of a rough winter too. -14 many many times.

He has ROLLS on the top of his neck. In my book, that's not a healthy weight. You can kinda see it better in the top pic.starting to roll.

 

[wingnut]

Understand that I am no expert and there are folks on this board with FAR more experience than me, so take what I'm about to say with that in mind.

Your guy remind me a lot of my 5 yr old mare that was recently diagnosed with EMS (equine metabolic syndrome).

This is her as a yearling:

This is her from this spring after I had body clipped her. I'm leaving it a larger size so you can get an idea of just how thick her neck is, especially her crest. That crest was rock hard. She came up lame about a month after these pics were taken. The combination of the lameness and her body condition led me to have her tested for EMS:

And this is from 2 weeks ago:

We have a long way to go with her but she absolutely cannot have any grass right now. She was accidentally allowed on the pasture (college daughter didn't know about the restriction) a week or so ago and she was sore again (not as bad as before) after just an hour. In the month since we pulled her off the pasture, that crest is diminished and super soft.

My recommendation would be to exercise him as much as you can, limit grass, no extra calories but lots of good nutrition through hay and supplements (we use a ration balancer by McCauley's - M30). And I've become a huge proponent of getting blood work done and taking the guess work out of the whole process. Between my hard keeper mare (condition that causes inflammation of her digest track lining that limits how much nutrients/calories she absorbs from what she eats) and now this girl, I no longer try to guess my way through anything with them. If I have a concern that has merit, i go straight to bloodwork now. Better to test and confirm you were wrong then to ignore and waste time and money on lots of things that may or may not help the situation.

Good luck!!! And keep us posted.

 

[MyMiniGal]

As a boarder...having a grazing muzzle put on Halo, gave me a peace of mind, since I wasn't the one in control of pasture time. She has time she is without it...I found out, it is around 2 hours now, and then an hour with it. I'm going to be moving her, so she won't have to wear one at all, which, she will be happy and I will too. I knew she didn't care for it, but it was for her own good. We move her tomorrow morning. Of course, it is suppose to get super hot, on day we are moving. Figures. LOL

 

[Marty]

Here is a very good link to an article for EMS if anyone is interested

http://www.ed.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.18061!fileManager/dvepfactsheet-cushingsdiseaseandequinemetabolicsyndrome.pdf

 

[wingnut]

That's a great article Marty...thanks!!!

 

[lucky seven]

Thanks for that article, and for all the advice on grazing muzzles. I haven't fixed my grazing pasture yet because of the weather but I have been planning on using a muzzle for his time on grass.

 

[FurstPlaceMiniatures]

Here is a very good link to an article for EMS if anyone is interested

http://www.ed.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.18061!fileManager/dvepfactsheet-cushingsdiseaseandequinemetabolicsyndrome.pdf

AWESOME article!

Even more info now -

When I purchased him he was laminitic, not lame, but ow-y. However, was he laminitic because he was pre--cushings, or was he laminitic because he hadnt had his feet trimmed in 2 yrs, and was fed his weight in sweet feed, plus a bit of crappy hay daily? We chose the second option.

Now, I work as a hoof trimmer. Not to sound like a cocky jerk, but I am a very good hoof trimmer. I am responsible for the foot health of 1000 head of holstein dairy cattle (90% of the herd has WHITE feet, gahhhhh), all of whom are housed 100% of the time on concrete. Only 5 or so go lame a month, 2 or 3 of which are usually warts, quittors, etc. Not hoof structure or trimming. Last summer we had a bout of laminitis, (picky girlies only ate the corn out of their ration............ They paid dearly for it!). I saved all but one cow.

I had an amishman out to trim his feet the very first time, (when an amish man says he's not the worst, but definitely top 5 he's ever seen, you KNOW its bad...). He has never had laminitis since. No subclinical signs either. Is that because Im incredibly anal about his feet? Maybe. I trim every 3 weeks. A year later, you could never tell how bad his feet really were. Could it just be luck too? Good chance.

Now, when we purchased him, he had a THICK coat. Dont know if he would've shed out. Clipped him the first chance i got because he was pastured with 3 sheep, one was a ram, and he smelled so bad i couldnt stand it.

This spring, I clipped him early again. Coat wasn't quite as thick, but being used to TB's, thought it a little excessive. We had a very long warm spell. He did shed - around april/may. It drove him NUTS. I think it might have been the first time he'd ever shed right. It was woarse than a foal! It was a cold winter though, I'll give him that.

I've thougth about a cushings test, same with an insulin resistance. I'll ask my herd vet about it tomorrow.