Trouble with muzzle...??

Roxy's Mum

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Jul 21, 2009
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Put a muzzle on Roxy for first time today - hopefully she can stay out now 24/7 with a muzzle on by day & 'free' by night. I checked on her a few times today & while it has stayed on I don't think she's managing to actually eat anything through it. Has anybody else experienced this?

I loitered around for a bit & she sniffles around in the grass but doesn't appear to be tearing any grass off like the others with muzzles are. I think it fits her well from what I can tell. Any suggestions????
 
sometimes they take a while to catch on, also if the grass is too short, it won't go through the hole. Rosie is expert at eating reeds with it on, as they are nice and strong and poke through the hole perfectly, plus they are nice and succulent, you see her up to her knees in bog eating the reed beds.
 
I think they all struggle at first - they'll figure it out eventually - think of it as some mental stimulation too as they work on the puzzle! I am fairly sure your horse isn't about to starve although they may try and tell you that's what's hAppening!!!
 
I was hoping rascal would copy Silver as his owner said he doesnt eat with it on. He spent ten minutes hareing about with it on, then broke the buckle, hung it on fence post and walked off!
 
Well I've given her a few days to get used to it... doesn't appear to have made much difference.

Now when I go down in the mornings to put it on she knows what's coming & gets a bit stroppy but eventually does let me put it on without too much fuss. But she cannot seem to get to grips with the fact she CAN still eat with it on and spends all the time with her head up wandering around, or standing still looking forward to her.

She prods the ground with it but can't seem to get anything through it. When I took it off yesterday she stuffed her face SOOOO fast you'd have thought she hadn't eaten for a week.

My concern now is that she's not getting enough forage to tide her over while she has it one. And now when I go down in the evenings to take it off, if she's not had much/anything to eat for the previous 10-11 hours and I want to exercise her, it all seems a bit mean.....? :confused: :eek:
 
I had to help Puz work it out at first, as has been said before if the grass is too short then it won't come through but from what I remember you said about your field before I don't think thats too much of a prob? Have you tried poking some up through the hole for her?
 
Try spying on her ;) my pony stood looking really sorry for herself and like you I felt bad and was worried she couldn't eat, changed my approach and snuck up from the other direction and lo and behold, pony happily grazing! Watched her for a while but the minute she spotted me, the forlorn 'you're cruel i can't eat with this' on face appeared! :D
 
Grass is no problem at the moment, there's plenty of it - long & short. I have poked some through the bottom which she seemed eternally grateful for! Doesn't appear to have helped...

I would like to try & watch from a distance but she always spies me coming! She recognises my car as well :p

Her weight is pretty good at the moment so am reluctant to cave in & just leave it off - I'm surprised she hasn't worked it out by now (unless she has & is being a martyr!)
 
the only alternative is strip grazing then really, or try a different muzzle to see if she can work with it better.

Rosie took a while to cotton on to it but she is now quite clever, she goes for the reeds as they are firm and push through the hole very easily so it is easier for her to eat.
 
My horse was exactly the same when i recently tried the grazing muzzle on her. I put it on her for short periods to get her used to it over a period of about 5 days and she never even tried getting the grass, just stood with head up the whole time waiting for me to take it off.
When i did take it off she too used to wolf the grass down so quick i worried she would do herself some damage so ive given up on the idea.
The only use it can have now is if i want her to actually stop eating altogether:rolleyes:
 
my horse took at least a week to get to grips with it and after lots of me poking grass up the hole, it seemed to sink in. He is a crafty boy though as when Im there he will stand looking at me with his big eyes as if to say he's starving but when Im gone people tell me he eats fine... :rolleyes:

He also runs around trying to rub it on all his pals in the field to try and get it off, sometimes it works and sometimes the others get a bit tired of him rubbing his head against them :D

Havent started with the muzzle again yet as there isnt much grass in our field yet.
 
^^^ Hahaha, crafty bugger!

I've noticed she did a bit of rubbing but perhaps admitted it's not going to come off so just resorts to a day of feeling sorry for herself.

I will sneak up to the field tonight and see if I can see her grazing or maybe ask some others who are there during the day to see what they think.
 
^^ Hahaha, yep image:

"sorry Mr Manager, am not coming into work today because I waiting for my horse to see how many poos she does"!!!

I got to the field last night - was thinking I'll sneakily walk round to see if she really is grazing. Unfortunately she was lying down having a snooze. In fact she was completely zonked out, stretched out like a dog.

As I got closer she looked up and guess what..... NO MUZZLE! :eek: Little minx!

Mind you, I was quite proud of her (secretly) for only only working out how to take it off but for also hanging it so neatly on the fence post :p

So because the lil chubber had been stuffing her face all day I made her work extra hard in the school - lots of trotting (much to her dismay). AND I managed to get it back on her this morning (also much to her dismay and protest) although I'm not hopeful it'll stay on :)
 
For putting it on, I always put a small piece of carrot in the bottom - Silver has no issues in having it on when there is a piece of carrot as a "thanks" in the bottom.

She too does the "Feel sorry for me" face, although now doesnt bother as I outsat her and she had to give in and eat, she just couldnt resist :p
 
I put some grass up through the bottom of it this morning she was is fully aware that it is possible to eat - and bless her, she does try as I've seen her attempt it several times, but it seems that no matter how much she rummages around in the grass she can't actually get any through the hole...

I'm sure she'll have taken it off by now - if she does I won't start making it emotional, she'll just have to go in at night.
 
what we did initially was have a second muzzle and cut the hole slightly bigger. this allowed ours to figure out the technique and then after a week or so we changed over to the normal muzzle. it worked for ours anyway! good luck

also Moet HATES muzzles, i mean she really panics when i try to put it on her, she rears. I managed to firgure out a routine last summer though, i put her feed in the muzzle and quickly stuck it on her nose and then she munched the feed whilst i velcro'ed it up! this year i am going totally down the restricted paddock approach as unfortunately moet has mastered the art of getting the muzzle off within minutes of being in the field and then i couldnt catch her for days on end! but it did stay on longer when wrapped through or just put on under a head collar.
 
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