Bit of advice re grass muzzles / hard feed etc

[Brambridge04]

Have recently moved my young mare, she is out in a field with ALOT of grass and only one other mare, who is muzzled.

She is probably a little smidge over "ideal" weight and being a native puts on weight easily.....

So she is muzzled when out 24/5 and still gets a couple of handfuls of safe and sound with her fly free, each evening.

Ridden twice a week and lunged twice, i say 24/5 as i de muzzle her for the night before riding her.......as i dont want a bad tempered mare.

Ive never had to muzzle before, is this correct? am i muzzling to much? i feel so mean!

 

[flintfootfilly]

I muzzle my gang when they are out overnight, and then the muzzles come off when I bring them onto the yard during the day.

Pretty much the first thing they do when unmuzzled is to groom each other, which is great for their "social wellbeing" and I love to see them do that. For me, I think that's the main thing they miss out on by being muzzled.

I had to build up the number of hours my gang could wear their muzzles for, to avoid them becoming rubbed too much, especially under their lower jaw, and their chin.

There has been some study recently (but I can't remember the source) that showed that horses who are used to being muzzled tend to binge on grass when they are allowed out unmuzzled, so personally I wouldn't tend to let any of my gang out unmuzzled because I'd be risking them eating more than intended.

Sarah

 

[Daisy2]

Well it sounds like both horses are compatible feed wise if both muzzled so could you get together with the other horse's owner and perhaps strip a section off for them to go in overnight without muzzles?

 

[Sophstar]

My cob used to be muzzled for up to 10 hours during the day as this is when the grass has more sugar, and then I used to unclip it in the evening. However I have to agree that when I did this, he would go straight out and literally gorge himself as though he had a countdown clock in his head ready to be muzzled again. It almost defeated the object of putting it on. I would come up the next morning and he looked like a barge balloon. He now has his muzzle on 24/7 and is not fussed in the slightest about it being on. Obviously you have to gradually keep the muzzle on longer, because as my boy demonstrated, they can have a good sulk and try and convince you that they will simply starve with it on! Every time it gets clipped on, I leave a carrot or treat at the bottom so he associates it as a positive thing.

If it starts to rub or gets hot, I bring him in and let him have soaked hay in the stable as coping with the heat with a muzzle on can be hard work! As the vet said to me, you will be surprised how much grass they can get through a small hole and mine has a muzzle coated in grass when I take it off. I couldn't manage his weight without it...he lives off fresh air!