Another flippin' dilemma: grazing muzzle

L

LankyDoodle

Well-Known Member
Joined
2 July 2008
Messages
6,731
Location
Wellington, Somerset
Visit site
I started my boy on a Shires muzzle last Thursday. He was fine in it, but on Sunday he came in with a bit of a sore on his chin. The muzzle is the right size (cob would be too tight so he's in full which is right). I hibbiscrubbed and then put sudocrem on it overnight, while I took his muzzle home and lined the bottom with a sheep skin material. I put it on him today and lo and behold, he's come in with a really really sore chin, despite the extra soft cushioning! The problem is, he doesn't eat through the little hole, he eats through the bottom vent holes so his chin pushes backwards, causing it to get sore, but why would this happen on sheep skin?

OK in hindsight, he has a teeny tiny sore which pretty much healed overnight, and maybe leaving him without it for a few days would have meant he'd not get sore again, but really I wouldn't expect it to get worse. Plus, after losing my mare 9 days ago I have gone into overdrive and he will NOT get laminitis! I am too scared to put him out without a muzzle.

He gets hay overnight which has been soaked for 20+ hours. He then gets lunged or schooled for 20 minutes and then a short hack with trotting as much as possible. When he gets back he gets a small feed so I can give him the formula feet - a small handful of hoofkind or hifi lite with a tiny amount of garlic, a tiny amount of aloe vera and the recommended scoop of formula feet (made by the laminitis clinic for healthy feet and laminae). He then goes out for 4-5 hours in the grazing muzzle (he was out overnight but is now out during the day so I can control the amount of grazing he gets). Then he comes in and goes on a longer hack with more hills and more trotting. Then he comes back to the hay overnight.As far as I can tell he IS losing weight, but I am worried about not using the grazing muzzle.

Advice, please?
 
Have you tried poking grass through the hole to give him the right idea? Worked with my chap. Also found the way to stop any rubbing was to wrap the offending straps with some Fybagee taped on with gaffa tape, worked on even his thin TB skin.

Try not to overdo the trotting on hard ground/tarmac or you'll bring it on with concussion especially if he is overweight, keep to steady walking. Have you got access to an equine pool at all that you could box him to? Swimming is excellent, burns fat, builds muscle and all with no strain on joints or tendons.

I'd also just feed him the recommended dose of FFF as it's pelleted and a complete vitamin supplement. He shouldn't need anything else other than hay.
 
Can you put him in a piggy paddock which is almost bare?? I don't usually like piggy paddocks but it sounds like he's not getting on with his muzzle...

Saying that, I've had ponies who've been rubbed sore by muzles and i've just applied sudocrem and put the muzzle back on. Sometimes washing the muzzle by machine helps soften it too... or try a plastic bucket muzzle and just drill some extra holes in.

soaking hay for 24 hours is no different to soaking hay for 12 hours (or maybe even 8), sometimes you can buy 'pony hay' which is old but clean hay which requires little or no soaking and is fab for laminitics, as it contains very few calories.

With the work, try hacking in the morning then lungeing in the afternoon, sticking to a god active walk. Walking is what gets the weight off...
 
Hi, thanks for the advice custardsmum, will probably cut out the chaff.

Hi Charlie. He's not actually laminitic (touch wood) but I just lost my mare to it (caused by infection but not helped by lusher grass this year). I've gone into hyperdrive with everything, including not allowing him to get too stressed!!!

We don't have any really bare paddocks, apart from the sandschool. He is in a small, eaten down section with the muzzle and I am using sudocrem on the sore bits, plus the sheep skin padding.

He gets lunged or schooled in the morning then straight after a short hack. In the afternoon he gets a further hack. So all in all he's hacked for around 2-2.5 hours a day and schooled for 20-30 minutes. I will stop the trot on the roads. He is losing weight and muscling up, but I am concerned about the muzzle thing.
 
I had exacltly the same problem and in the end i just whacked lots and lots of sudocrem on.. it started to soften the muzzle by default and now it never rubs.

It took a few weeks of constant applying in heavy application but her sores healed and the muzzle went lovely and soft!
 
Thanks for the help for this poster, Ive got similar issues so v helpful, mine had to have muzzle as she limbos through live electric fencing away from piggy paddock. Its mainly rubbing on the side rings tho so have wound yellow dusters onto the rings and thats solved that bit!

One advantage of muzzle being on is that they cant use their teeth to remove whatever bits you put on the muzzle like they would with anything else!

I might try the sudocreme too altho she had a little chin rub but I think she has now got the hang of using it properly hurrah. still walks off from me in the stable tho when i go to put it on....
 
My haffy didn't like hers at first. I cut round the hole in the bottom to make it bigger so Libby could eat as she went a couple of days without. I also bought some fake sheepskin and covered the straps with that which has decreased the rubbing. If she does get sore, which usually occurs on her chin, I cover her with vaseline and put the mask back on. Her new trick is getting her mask off during the night!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top