Grazing Muzzles

[Horsekaren]

As happy as the pink boy is living his best retired life i cant help but feel i now need to intervene with his weight. My plan is to introduce a muzzle over autumn to stop him expanding then over winter he can have a little clip and winter will hopefully do its thing

My plan is to introduce a thinline grazing muzzle, he has test run this for a morning and he can eat through it but i noticed it made him head shake terribly. I tried a bucket type muzzle to see if this also made him head shake which it did. He was a head shaker under saddle so i am concerned he might not accept the muzzle. He has previously worn a GG muzzle a few years ago with no HS but it rubbed him raw.

He lives out 24/7 in a retired herd, splitting him from the herd is not an option, strip grazing ect is also not possible so i am only wanting to focus on muzzles.

My questions!
Has anyone noticed their horse Head shake with a muzzle on? does this phase pass?

Realistically would muzzling him in the day and not at night make any difference or should i be thinking 24/7 with a break from it each day.

 

[Lotsoflemons]

Hi my pony had to have a bucket muzzle on due to his EMS and weight problems he used to headshake and did outgrow the phase breifely once he adjusted to it but still occasionally does it when we put it back on he had it on 24/7 and we realised alot of problems were during the night where he got bored and would rub it against the floor and try and take it off or leaving him with sores. having it on in the day may help instead of 24/7. so try that unfortunately theres not many other options to keep weight down with a horse in a herd and retired so just try your best!

 

[Pinkvboots]

If the headshaking is triggered by facial pressure I personally wouldn't use one it must be highly annoying and uncomfortable to have one on for long periods.

One of my horses is a mild head shaker he won't tolerate certain fly masks and the wrong bridle can make it worse for him so I can imagine a grazing muzzle would probably make it worse.

 

[staffylover]

Try putting sheepskin sleeves on the GreenGuard headcollar where the rubs occur. You can buy them online or from saddlers. They do up with velcro, you can cut them to size, and are designed to prevent headcollar rubs. My cob wears her GreenGuard grazing muzzle happily with no rubs: I just put the sheepskin sleeve on anywhere the hair was beginning to rub away. You can tape up the slits with duck tape too if you need to restrict the grazing further. Good luck.

 

[Horsekaren]

Thanks, he is getting on ok with the thinline one now
Thank you