Adapting grazing muzzles?

[rforsyth1984]

My horse wears a grazing muzzle in the summer because he had laminitis a few years back and cant have his turnout limited.

I always buy them off ebay as he's pretty good at wrecking them and I dont see the point in paying extra for a new one. Last year he had the 'best friend' one, but the person I bought it off had made the hole a bit bigger.

The one I have now has not been adapted.

How much grass can they get throught the normal sized hole? Im a bit worried, because he isnt a little fat pony - 15.2hh arab, slightly underweight and in light/medium work.

He is turned out for 12 - 16 hours a day in summer, with the muzzle on. Do you think I should make the hole a bit bigger?

He gets 2 feeds a day (ultimate balancer, alfa beet, corn oil, garlic) and ad-lib haylage at night.

I suppose I could start off with it as it is and maybe make it bigger if he drops weight?

 

[kizzywiz]

In my experience the hole gets bigger on its own, my pony seems to wear hers away so I have never made them bigger. TBH I have stopped buying the Best Friend ones, the quality is no where near as good as when they came out, I think the research shows that through the hole size it is made with, this means the amount of grass is cut in half, so 1 hour is actually half an hour. Hope that helps.