Grazzing Muzzle? Pros and Cons?

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well as my boy came off a dealer she doesnt know wether he is pron too laminites, or has had it before, so i was thinking the grass has started coming in fast, so i thinking of getting him a grazzing muzzle, has anyone ever used one and what are the pros and cons?:confused: he is a decent weight,, help would be much appreiciated:rolleyes:
 
Pros - Keeps weight down, they have to work harder for the grass, makes them easier to catch as they have limited grazing so are keener to come in to where the hay etc. is.

Cons - Has been said they can restrict breathing (not sure how true this is), can rub on their noses/muzzles, can get stuck on things so potentially dangerous, they (somehow) can get them off and lose them, usually in the pouring rain, and foxes will rip them to shreds.
 
people have already responded to your previous post on the subject. you can also look at the 'metabolic' section the the laminitis trust web site. in short, reduce his grass intake and make sure he doesnt get too fat.
 
notpoodle said:
people have already responded to your previous post on the subject. you can also look at the 'metabolic' section the the laminitis trust web site. in short, reduce his grass intake and make sure he doesnt get too fat.
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Ditto notpoodle, loads of useful info on here :)
 
I would only use one as a very last resort. I much prefer to strip graze as a grazing muzzle can have very negative side effects on the horse, psychologically; stress, frustration etc.

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I much prefer to strip graze as a grazing muzzle can have very negative side effects on the horse, psychologically; stress, frustration etc.
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It depends on the muzzle you use. Since using a nose net (for headshaking) as a home made muzzle, Bebe, and other horses at the yard who are wear them also, is completely unfussed about being muzzled. She can still eat hedges, mutual groom (in a fashion) and isn't weighted down by a heavy muzzle, which means she's happy to wear it for long periods of time.

She did get very upset with a normal muzzle if she had to wear it for long periods, even if she only wore it for a couple of hours per day she'd start to get upset and angry when I went to put it on.

It very much hangs on finding the right muzzle for your horse.
 
Are there any cons ?

I can't really strip graze Trigger successfully due to the way our land lies plus he intensely dislikes being separated from the others, gets very depressed and morose, so from Spring until Winter he is muzzled 24/7. He only has it off if he comes in.

It hasn't made a jot of difference to his merry nature and he certainly doesn't hate it (you can catch him in the field and put it on, he doesn't object) and it stops him from suffering the agonising pain of laminitis.

I use a bog standard Shires one.
 
I'm going with BIrish on this one, for me there were no cons to a grazing muzzle. once i found the right make that suited my mare (didn't rub, restrict breathing nor was easy for her to do her houdini act on :rolleyes:) it allowed her to live a normal, happy life. She could be turned out with my other horse, run around, squeal, buck, everything she enjoyed doing but had been prevented from doing when confined to a stable, our only option had muzzles not been availible. And remember, a determined horse will work their way out of strip grazing. We fenced our 13.3hh mare in with 4 ft leccy fencing. she cleared the lot, with inches to spare, from a standing start ;)
 
I used to use one of the green guard ones on Connie. Once, I had gotten it so that it would stay on - the little monkeys take them off with the greatest of ease - it worked find and meant that she could go out and enjoy a day in the field without me worrying.

Only downside I found was that it marked her teeth. Dentist said that this quite often happens with horses who wear muzzles.
 
BIrish said:
Are there any cons ?

I can't really strip graze Trigger successfully due to the way our land lies plus he intensely dislikes being separated from the others, gets very depressed and morose, so from Spring until Winter he is muzzled 24/7. He only has it off if he comes in.

It hasn't made a jot of difference to his merry nature and he certainly doesn't hate it (you can catch him in the field and put it on, he doesn't object) and it stops him from suffering the agonising pain of laminitis.

I use a bog standard Shires one.
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Ditto!
 
I felt awful when i had to muzzle Rosie last year and she sulked for a couple of days then got over it. It did on occasion mean when i took it off to do stuff she was fighting me the snatch at grass but she was (and still is) very overweight and I would rather have a mildly grumpy horse than one in severe pain/dead from lami. The odd treat whilst working solved the grass snatching problem anyway and a handful of treats wasnt going to do any harm.

The minute the grass looks like its growing well we'll be slapping on bog standard shires muzzles (with a bit of extra padding round the noseband as it can rub) and it will stay on 24/7 all summer for both Rosie and the mini.

i also taught her to put her nose into it for a little treat and she looks to have it put on and walks away happy - before it was a bit of a battle and she'd stomp off - its all about how you set it up!
 
A muzzle was a godsend for my fattie-it saved her from lami last summer.
She doesnt like to wear it but she only had it on in the day, off at night & coupled with a good work load she didnt get as fat as the year before :)
 
i wouldnt risk it with mine. some horses will get anything off (angel sure would) and i would not want her to get it off on go on a gorge for half a day or something - they are not foolproof for horses that are very prone.

if its just used as a preventative measure its probably ok but i wouldnt want to rely on that for a very prone horse (eg if mine had just a couple of hours in your average spring grazing she'd be crippled - i wouldnt want to risk that!).

julia
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