# Grazing Muzzles?



## Whispering_Pines (Mar 24, 2013)

I have not had any mini's in the spring time, this year will be a first. One of my little guys, an 8 year old gelding I just bought, apparently got "ouchy" (this is what the owner told me) she claims he was sore on the front and they caught it early and he never foundered. She told me that spring rich grass is bad for him. I am not sure about the others, though every one has told me to limit their early spring grass eating. Do any of you use grazing muzzles? The 8 year old geling apparently has had one in the past. So I will likely put one back on him, but for how long? I know Ginny, I got her in June, she ate the grass in her paddock pretty quick and then we took her out every night while we gardened ect and she ate grass for an hour so so, she never foundered. Would you muzzle her in the spring along with the other ones?

I'll catch on to all of this some day!


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## Marty (Mar 24, 2013)

I totally limit spring grass intake. Grass founder is very real. I go to great lengths timing my horses out on the spring grass. Its a real pain putting them out then an hour later expecting them to want to come back into the dry lot but that's the way this rolls around here every spring. I increase the time on grass very slowly by week for instance week #1 one hour week #2 two hours and so on until we are in summer. Then we keep the fields mowed down and by that time also its too hot so during the heat of the day they come back in under fans.

As far as muzzles go, a lot of people use them. Personally I hate them and have said I wouldn't own horses if I had to resort to that so although its a real pain and time consuming to be bringing them back and forth, I choose to monitor their time spent on grass and use the dry lot with hay instead. I would watch your "ouchy" horse closely. Horses with full blown founder should probably never see a blade of grass again and live in dry lot with hay. Good luck.

Here's a good link that explains grass founder:

www.safergrass.org


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## wingnut (Mar 24, 2013)

I use grazing muzzles on my younger three horses. No one has ever come up "ouchy" to date but it something to be on the watch for and to take seriously. In addition, I limit their time on the pasture, putting them in a dry lot with hay at alternate times. My horses tolerate the muzzles very well. I only use them when I can be home to keep an eye on them. I also have to watch because the one horse has figured out that if she comes up to the water bucket in the dry lot and rubs her head along the edge just right, she can undo the break away strap. I just go back out and put it back on her.


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## eagles ring farm (Mar 24, 2013)

we have 1 mare we use a grazing muzzle on when the grass is rich. Although we keep our pastures mowed

we give her hay in her stall and then let her outside when she is finished it about late morning or around noon time with her muzzle on

that way we can limit her grass and she can still get a little bit thru the hole in the muzzle to keep her happy grazing with the others

and she can also get a drink with the hole. They figure it out

then when she comes in around 6pm we take the muzzle off for the night. and give her hay in her stall with the others


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## rabbitsfizz (Mar 24, 2013)

No, don't use them never will! Do not limit grass either- IMO, if you take a horse off grass and only let it out for a short period of time then it is going to try to stuff a days worth of grass down it's neck in the couple of hours you give it! I use a hotwire to limit the grass (I am not completely mad, I do not just tip them out on the grass and let them get on with it!!) and move it when the strip I am grazing has been annihilated. I leave them out all the time, so they settle quickly into a grazing routine that is not based on desperation; you have to understand that, even though I know your horses are well fed, they do not- their instincts are telling them they are starving and horses do not have that "self limiting" thing that we have that tells us when we are full, horses, in fact almost all animals, do not get "full" this is why dogs eat until they are sick, given a chance.

I have just turned the broodmares out on about two acres of well rested, hay field, spring grass. I divided it in two with the hotwire and all seven of them went straight out on it. The first day they grazed quite heavily, the second day they were back to normal and the third day it snowed and it all disappeared and they are LIVID- it is, of course, all my fault! They are back to free chouce hay, but are not happy campers.

If I had one horse in a herd that needed for her own safety, to be limited I might use a muzzle, but I would much rather do what I actually did do and bring her up to a paddock with another chubby friend and get some weight off her, then let them back out after the initial "binge" eating had subsided and the grass was eaten down a lot.


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## Kim~Crayonboxminiatures (Mar 24, 2013)

I have not used a muzzle in the past with the spring grass, I just limit time and then build up like Marty mentioned. Over the summer I do use grazing muzzles so my fat ones can have more hours out moving around in the pasture, but also have limited intake. When they are pregnant/nursing it's not an issue, but my open mares get chubby fast and I do have an exceptional pasture for putting on weight. I really should have a job of fattening up underweight horses....

I prefer the Best Friend's brand of grazing muzzle. I also have the Tough-1 brand and it's not bad the rubber bottom just has a stronger odor and after 2-3 years part of the rubber broke that connects to the noseband, so I will have to replace it this year.


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## shorthorsemom (Mar 24, 2013)

Ditto on the best friends muzzle mentioned by kim crayonbox. Our shared boy chips loathed the smell of the tough 1 muzzle and let me know it. He likes his time out and comes running and sticks his face in the the best friends muzzle then goes to the gate to be let out. My boy Ike doesn't mind any muzzle you put on him. Even with limited grazing and muzzle time and dry paddock time he tends to stay wide so I am very careful with him. I don't free graze spring grass and I limit time out when we are getting the first freeze thaw days of autumn going into winter. They don't wear muzzles when the grass is dry in winter. I do give limited free grazing, some muzzle time and I change it up depending on how I feel they are carrying weight. Having experienced founder twice in my horse owning life, I tend to be more cautious than most. I have a nice dry paddock with pea gravel too. We go for nice walks too and do hill walking which they really enjoy, nice walking with horses, as nice as walking the dog. Once they get into walking they don't even try to sneak grass along the way.


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## Cupcake (Mar 26, 2013)

I muzzle mine all the time, when I got her she was very underweight and now tends to overeat plus she eats everything in sight, and by everything I mean literally everything she can get her mouth on. I make sure she's out no more than 4-5 hours at a time, then bring her in for an hour or two and back out, but that doesn't mean she goes without food during pasture time, she has managed pretty quick how to nibble on grass through the hole in the bottom of the muzzle, gives her something to do and she gets a bit of grass here and there. She has finally come to an ideal weight after being underweight then having a huge potbelly - now she looks like she should, reduced the belly, not too much and not too little in weight. The only thing I don't like about the muzzle is that the clip opens to the outside, so I twist it so it closes to her cheek because she has managed to clip herself onto the wire fence twice before (the Velcro opened so she ended up muzzle free). Other than that it's held up well, she's been wearing it for at least 9 months every day.


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