Grazing Muzzles?

MrsMozart

MrsMozart

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I'm looking for suggestions.

We move the neds to the summer grazing on Sunday.

It's a huge field with lots of nice grass :D. Great for the mares, but yikes for the laminitic pony and the very good doer pony.

Have been working out what to do for the best.

Good doer pony will be fine with his muzzle on. Laminitic pony didn't do so well in the same muzzle (not at the same time lol), just stood and looked pathetic. We managed him by having him in for a day and a night and out for a day and a night. This has worked well in the past, but there is so much grass and the weather has been so whappy, that even one full day may be too much for the wee lad.

Sooooo, the point of this rather woffly post is, what muzzles do people recommend? :D
 
My sister had a very laminitic pony, and the vet said that the only surefire way to prevent her eating to much (the pony, not my sister!) was to put her on restricted grazing, i.e. the brown, bare patch near the house! The vet was consulted about muzzles, but said that they don't really offer enough restriction.

However, this was a few years ago and they might have improved since then... I appreciate that not everyone has the opportunity to do restricted grazing what with availability of water, etc, but could you leccy fence off a little bit in a corner for the pair who need it? Then you know exactly how much they're getting all the time.
 
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I must admit I favour fencing off a strip in a field corner. My 10hh has to live like this all summer. I actually feed hay to him all summer too, so his gut is moving all the time. I have just bought a nylon padded grazing muzzle and they really are quite horrid. I tried it on him - he looked horrified. I am sure he would get used to it, but I am not convinced not happy with it; I am sure it will chafe and annoy him and I am sure he will rub and rub and rub to try and get it off. I have yet to decide whether to try it in earnest.
 
My cushings pony first got put into a shires bucket style but despised it and just couldnt work it out...he is now in a greenguard just through the day and he has mastered it. he struggles with respiratory allergies so i prefer his nostrils to be free from the bucket muzzles as they can get hot and stuffy when it warms up. as long as its plaited onto his head he cant get it off!
 
Thank you folks :D :D

I would pen him, but he just jumps out :rolleyes:. Got quite a pop on him when he feels so inclined! :eek:

At one stage we tried having him with fencing five feet high, criss-crossed, electric tape fencing. He had a tree, he had some hay, he had a lovely tree for shelter. He got out. Not a mark on him. No-one saw him do it, never could work out how he managed it, but manage it he did time after time. That's when we went to the day and night in and same out.

The muzzle was our first try, but he dropped a silly amount of weight in a couple of days. Just couldn't figure it out and spent all his time trying to get it off or standing still and looking pathetic :rolleyes:

The Greenguard sounds like it might work. The Shires one is a tad big, as is between sizes, but that one works fine on Little Cob. He's got the hang of eating, but it's good at controlling his weight :D. We monitor and give him time without it :)
 
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