Is putting horses in grass muzzles 'cruel'?

[Potato!]

How do you guys keep yours muzzels on. My horse gets his off in seconds by rubbing them over his ears. I can't get him to keep a head collar on in the field either!

 

[unbalanced]

On the equine nutrition course it said try to avoid muzzling as it prevents your horse getting enough fibre. They preferred feeding other forages instead - I suppose the ideal is track with soaked hay if necessary.
I have a cushings/lami pony but muzzling has never been an option for me as she self harms to get it off. She has a large scar on her face from taking it off and when I tried to introduce the greenguard again she got very distressed. It does restrict the yards I can go to.

 

[Tiffany]

My girl is a good doer and greedy so when she's out in summer she wears a muzzle. It slows her eating down but doesn't stop her. I think a muzzle is better than risking laminitis although I do feel a bit guilty

 

[popeyesno1fan]

They are probably not cruel, but I do think of them as bringing a child to a sweet shop and telling them they cant have any. But they do say, you have to be cruel to be kind. It's the lesser of two evils, to the horse. I think he might prefer to be out, even if he cant eat, although, my friend went through 5 muzzels last summer, she bought the expensive one in the end, and it survived. x

 

[Fii]

i dont think muzzles are cruel, i have used them but never really got on with them!
One mare just gets them off, the other gelding, just stands there with his head hanging not even trying to eat . I did resort to using one for the gelding as he gets through the leccy fence all the time! In the summer they came into the yard during the day with hay, then went out at night, seemed to work quite well. We now have two paddocks some way from the yard, so i will have to change the routine a bit this year!

 

[criso]

but I do think of them as bringing a child to a sweet shop and telling them they cant have any.

I see it more like taking a child to the sweetshop and saying you can help yourself to the sweets but you have to take small mouthfuls at a time instead of putting big handfuls in your mouth at once.

The reality is that few of us have the sort of rough low quality grass that is best for horses, we have to make do with livery yards on the rich cattle friendly ryegrass so we have to do what we can in that context. Muzzles help make them work harder for less food.

The other thing to consider is companionship, if you muzzle a horse you can turn it out with its fieldmates, even if you can find a bare paddock, you can't always persuade other people to let their horses share it with you. Alot of people don't see the point in buying and feeding soaked hay when their horse can eat
grass for free.

You do have to take a time to adjust so they don't rub which can be trial and error and give it time. We had one mare at my last yard who used to hang round the gate not eating when her owner was there but whenever I hacked past her field she was always head down, munching away.

 

[Moomin1]

I do think they are necessary in certain circumstances. However, I would be very very reluctant to try one on my mare. I know that it would drive her insane and make her a very unhappy girl. She is quite intolerant to even fly fringes in the field or anything which irritates her face or head whilst she is grazing. She is a very good doer, and does get overweight, but this summer I plan to work her a lot more and control it that way, combined with her usual small and controlled paddocks.

I have seen some muzzles be used on horses which really do not need them, to the point where the muzzle is bleeding and also the horse is losing too much weight and the YO has had to intervene.

Have to say, muzzles used to be very uncommon on horses when I was a kid. People seemed to control weight issues by exercise, paddocking and feeding a heck of a lot less concentrate feed than they do these days. Recently heard of someone who has a 3 year old Sec D who is not yet in work. It is currently in average condition weight wise. They want 'more condition and weight' on it, so it is being fed a mixture of balancer, micronised linseed, fibre beet, alpha a oil and ad lib haylege, in order to build it up to fill out.

 

[Fii]

Personally I don't like them. I also don't actually get how they stop the horse eating so much - it can still eat so why can't it eat just as much as without a muzzle? Can someone explain this to me?

I don't quite understand why there seems to be more instances of laminitis than there ever used to be (that or it's just on this forum)? Over 30 years of horse ownership, having ahd one lami-prone pony, we have never had any problems with laminitis.

I would be really interested to know what sort of turnout these horses who have had laminitis have been on as part of me does wonder whether advances in grass management has actually been detrimental to horse health - ie, having too nice, lush pastures.

We have a field of 12 acres (split in two), it is a mixture of 'rough' grass and some nicer short, cloved parts. A lot of fields I see with horses in look to consist on short green , well fertilised grass and I do wonder if the fields horses are often kept in these days are just too good? Horses should ideally be on quite sparse grass and naturally are supposed to travel some distance for food. Therefore I think the management of keeping horses in small fields of well-tended grass is partly to blame. Sure, it looks nicer but is not good for the horse.

My ponies are on over 100 acres of common land with about twenty other horses, also cattle in the summer. The grazing is poor with lots of species of grass and wildflower etc. I have four ponies only two have ever had laminitis, so they are brought off the land in spring and managed elsewhere until about October , depending on the weather and the grass. They have room a plenty to roam, gallop and play, ( and boy do they!!) they have five or six different places they can drink (streams ) so are moving about naturally almost as natural as you can get for a domesticated pony! .......BUT they still get laminitis and they arent the only ones!
I do wonder though whether my feeding of them when they were very young has something to do with it, they were all fed bucket feeds in winter! But not now we only feed hay IF i think they need it, if it snows, or the weather is very cold and wet, (as this year) Or they have dropped below what i think is a good weight for the time of year!

 

[Aarrghimpossiblepony]

I can see them being used as a last resort, but a very last resort after every other alternative has been tried.

I don't understand giving hay whilst they are in if muzzling while out?

 

[Jaimo]

When there's 'too much in the grass' I turn out a good doer in a muzzle, combined with soaking the hell out of hay (up to 12 hours) for when the horse comes in so they can still have plenty of fibre. I also soak hay for ages for highly strung horses on box rest so they can have ad-lib hay to relieve boredom without getting extra hyped up from calories.

That does mean there aren't a lot of nutrients going in, so that needs balancing.

They seem to quickly learn how to graze with a muzzle on - the muzzle just stops them from being able to gorge themselves. At first I was worried one horse wasn't grazing at all, so I cut the hole at the bottom a bit wider. He soon got the idea and now I wish I'd left the hole as it was!

 

[Jaimo]

Muzzles = much kinder than pain of laminitis.

Do the people saying it's cruel realise that most horses can graze with it on (just in smaller quantities)? As long as the grass can poke through the holes, they'll still be munching!

When there's 'too much in the grass' I turn out a good doer in a muzzle, combined with soaking the hell out of hay (up to 12 hours) for when the horse comes in so they can still have plenty of fibre. I also soak hay for ages for highly strung horses on box rest so they can have ad-lib hay to relieve boredom without getting extra hyped up from calories.

That does mean there aren't a lot of nutrients going in though, so that needs balancing.

At first I thought that one horse wasn't grazing at all in the muzzle, so I cut the hole in the bottom a bit wider. He soon got the idea and now I wish I'd left the hole as it was!

 

[Cheiro1]

My horse can still get fat on a bare paddock - very adept at eating the shoots! However muzzled in a slightly more grassy paddock she can safely spend the summer, she is happy as larry, we fleece line the top of hers and it never ever rubs, and it is just part of her routine that she comes out her stable, has her muzzle on, and goes out.

That isn't cruel, cruel would be turning her out without and watching her get lami!

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

I can see them being used as a last resort, but a very last resort after every other alternative has been tried.

I don't understand giving hay whilst they are in if muzzling while out?

Horses have to trickle feed for most of the day and night and if they don't they can die of colic or suffer with stomach ulcers. So they have to eat something when stabled. Soaked hay is the best option for laminitis prone horses, they can be double or triple netted to slow intake too.

Not feeding anything indoors would be detrimental to the horses health.

 

[sarahann1]

I don't think so, both of mine got muzzled over the summer, neither fussed when they got them on, it just became routine, nor did they become uncatchable. When they very 1st had them on they sulked for a bit, soon got over that!

Rather have them out moving about than stuck in.

 

[AshTay]

the bit I dont understand and I suppose it comes down to livery owners is the saving of grass and grazing all winter then having to muzzle because there is too much grass.

This - I was at a friend's yard the other day and they'd been off the grazing for much of the winter and now it's like a golf course! Couldn't put a laminitic on there even for a couple of hours without a muzzle!

I'll be trying out a muzzle on my mare when the grass starts coming through as she had laminitis on new years day. She's currently in at night on a carefully measured amount of soaked and triple-small-hole-netted hay and out in the day on a very tired field. I don't think it will be a very popular option but I won't know unless I try and I'd prefer her to have more room to move around and be with other horses than have to strip graze her on her own in a little paddock (or keep her in).

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

NO.

I would rather folk called me cruel to have my horse out in summer muzzled than stuck in a stable for 9 hrs a day whilst im at work with hardly any hay!!

Would also rather folk called me cruel than my horse came down with laminitus. Folk calling me names doesnt really bother me anymore, I know whats good for my horses and those that dont like it can fook off and bitch elsewhere for as much as I care

 

[tallyho!]

Oh yes this old chestnut. I have been the butt of many a "cruel" joke whilst muzzling my boy...

Let me ask you... which is more cruel?? Letting your horse get lami or putting a muzzle on it that lets it graze naturally, out with it's friends.

I have never seen a starving horse with a muzzle on.

 

[Slightlyconfused]

Appy pony will hurt himself trying to get it off....he had done in the past with a fly mask.


I'm bit bothered by them, to each their own and if it helps to stop/ limit the risk of lami then go for it.

 

[Triskar]

Absolutely right, TallyHo, a muzzled horse is clearly a much loved horse. I find that the GreenGuard muzzle doesn't rub my mare at all (all the others do, and what's more she learned that the hole in the Shires one, if rubbed vigorously against a stone wall could be made larger....), and my VERY good doer mare still manages to eat enough through the muzzle to put on weight throughout the summer - I bring mine in during the day to keep them out of the heat and flies, and they have hay in a small holed net to nibble at.

With this regime she is out with her mates - she still mutually grooms (or rather bashes the groomee with the muzzle....), she is happy, active and SOUND.

 

[LaurenBay]

Ruby figured hers out quickly. I was more concerned she learned to drink with it on! which she did straight away. It did rub so I put sheepskin nosebands on it. She still eats fine, just smaller quantities. It means she can stay out with her friends.

Imagine if I had not muzzled my good doer on this grass?

 

[Potato!]

can anybody tell me how I can keep a grazing muzzel on my horse who knows how to get head collars etc off in seconds!

 

[LaurenBay]

I know somone who plaits a bit of the mane and loops it over, to keep hers on.

 

[Mongoose11]

Some scarily ignorant comments on this post. If I hadn't muzzled my cob last year I doubt she would have been alive now because she would have colicked from copious amounts of log grass. Having spent time weaning her on to more grass we may be able to have a muzzled spring and a less muzzled summer. Yup.... Cruel - that's me

 

[Gorgeous George]

George wears a muzzle all of the time he is out on grass and when he is in at night he is on soaked hay. I don't feel guilty, I would feel far more guilty if he was overweight or had laminitis. He doesn't seem to be bothered by his in the slightest, he grazes and drinks quite happily and it means he can go out on the grass with his pals. I really don't understand why people think they are cruel, so long as they are fitted properly, don't rub and the horse can eat/drink with them on. Well that's my thoughts anyway.

 

[Gloi]

I'd much rather keep them in bare paddocks and feed hay if needed. At least that way they can still groom each other properly.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

I don't like them-I keep one paddock grazed down and they get hay if needed but I manage my own ground. I have a 19yo who needs to defend himself against the 4yo, plus groom etc.

 

[Triskar]

I think we must all agree to differ - but when I see a muzzled horse or pony in a field with its friends, I see a loved (and healthy) horse or pony - which is what I always like to see!

 

[Rollin]

I have a laminitic horse who is very happy in her stable. Last summer I strip grazed her, limited her turnout to 4 hours a day and she did well. She has not had laminitis for nearly two years.

I personally won't muzzle it means horses cannot groom and socialise normally. Also surely the only way it will work is if the grass is long enough to graze - so what about the rest of the herd?

 

[NOISYGIRL]

No if you want them to stay alive and not inflict a very painful illness on them.

Mine is 34, had lami when he was approx 25, worn a muzzle ever since and he wasn't even overweight. Too scared to leave it off even during winter, I sometimes let him have half hour when I get to yard before getting him in but that's not very often and he usually just wants to come in anyway

 

[Jingleballs]

I don't think they are but my horse will probably tell you otherwise

Ha ha ^ this!!

I've had years where mine was muzzled all summer - not had to do this as much in recent years but this year we have better grazing so I'll be digging the muzzle out again.

I don't like them wearing it 24/7 for the simple reason that mine tends to develop rubs under his chin in is desperate attempts to remove it. He'll be in during the day, in a loose barn with other horses and access to adlib hay or fibre blocks - generally I find the he comes in and sleeps.

People will sometimes make tongue in cheek comments about it being cruel but as others say, much crueler to allow your horse become obese and risk the other health issues associated with this.

I do worry that he misses out on grooming etc but he's a bit of a loner anyway. When he moves into his summer field he'll have a few days without the muzzle just to let them sort out their field politics and then the muzzle will no doubt be on for most to the summer.