Muzzle-less

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Lotty

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My mare has had laminitis and I recently got the all clear from the vet to say I could ride and she could be turned out in the field. I started putting her out for an hour, then two and have just reached 3hours :)

She has a greenguard grazing muzzle with the greenguard halter which she wore last year with no problems. Today I went to get her after her 3hours and she was muzzle-less :( How on earth did she manage to get it off as the fencing is all tape and the electric is on.

I am going to have to go with a packed lunch tomorrow and watch her........grrrr
 
I feel your pain, I too have an expert muzzle remover :rolleyes:

She rolls & yanks it off over her ears before I can even shut the gate behind me, could your mare have done the same?

I've given up with it tbh, plus it rubbed chronically. She's not lami prone (that I know of, touch wood) so slightly different. We can't strip graze so I've upped her workload & she's in with soaked hay a couple of days a week.

Can't blame them really though, can't be much fun for them! ;)
 
I use the Roma comfort grazing muzzle- better than a greenguard imo because it's basically like a little headcollar. So far (touchwood) my mare hasn't figured out how to get it off because she's very fat and I don't want her getting lami. It does rub slightly but I'd rather her have tiny rub marks than lami.
 
My mare is a muzzle trasher so I stick to the rubber bucket-type but cut the hole out so it's about two inches wide. This means she can eat enough not to get cross & go into muzzle killing mode, but it slows her down enough to do it's job it terms of preventing lami. She tends to get rubs on her chin but I have sewn a pad of fybagee into the part of the muzzle that rubs & I clart this in vaseline every day, works a treat ;)
 
I feel your pain, My lami boy has just discovered how to get his off and is doing it repeatedly now soon as I put it on and turn around its off :-( Just dont know what to do as he needs it on or cannot go out :(

I feel terrible making him wear it but its for his own good!!!

:)
 
Try plaiting a small plait at the front of your horse's mane and plaiting the band of the muzzle into it :) sorts our girl out and she rolls, rubs, shoves herself against the gate, rubs her face in long grass....!! :) she is lami prone and has just recovered from a bad bout of it.
We have a normal Shires grazing muzzle and this year it's been fantastic - Vaseline sorts out any little rub marks or sewing a piece of rubber or foam onto where its rubbing. We (fingers crossed) have cracked it this year...however our friends youngster does find it funny to drag it off her!!
K x
 
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I have tried a green guard but this rubbed her raw and I haven't used it since. Tried the roma one which has stayed on but rubbed her cheeks. This was solved by putting some velcro sheepskin noseband covers on both cheek pieces.
 
I cut the front webbing bits off mine apart from the very top band - just leaving the rubber strips going up. It leaves them much freer to breathe. I leave the back intact. Fleece sleeves up the sides alleviate rubbing and if you put a headcollar over the top of the muzzle for supervised time (ie not left out, unattended, for hours) Dinky Rugs do a more ventilated version, and I kind of copied that. It must get very hot and sweaty in a Shires type if you don't open it up at least around the nostrils.
 
I know the answer to the mystery of how Greenguards are removed....

I saw him at work - cheeky swine tried to pull it off in front of me, just so I know he hates it.
He puts his head down, lifts his HIND leg and scratches just behind his ear, with the hind leg!!! Tries to lift it over his ear....Little git, that's how they remove them!


I couldn't bear to see how sore and rubbed my boy got in a Shires muzzle so got him a greenguard.
He has so far chewed through 2 of the leather straps, removed it completely several times and hates it!!! But keeps him trim and lami at bay.
 
Hi, I have only recently started to use a grazing muzzle on my fat little pony, she's not had lami but could well be on the way to it if she doesnt stop filling her fat face!!!

I'm just not sure how often I should put it on her and for how long???

I was putting it on her every other day, so on for 24hrs then off for 24hrs but a friend of a friend told me that this was worse because she would stuff her face when it was off and this was worse - any thoughts on this greatly appreciated

It was found completely intact in the middle of the field today, she has a shires one with velcro up the sides but the velcro was still all together so a complete mystery as to how it came off!!!!

xxx
 
ticketyboo said:
Hi, I have only recently started to use a grazing muzzle on my fat little pony, she's not had lami but could well be on the way to it if she doesnt stop filling her fat face!!!

I'm just not sure how often I should put it on her and for how long???

I was putting it on her every other day, so on for 24hrs then off for 24hrs but a friend of a friend told me that this was worse because she would stuff her face when it was off and this was worse - any thoughts on this greatly appreciated

xxx
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I agree with your friend that your pony will just stuff her face, and will only undo all the work of the muzzle. A lot of people leave muzzles on 24/7 (obviously taking it off for breaks) but I personally don't like the idea of leaving my mare with it on throughout the night. So I put my mare's muzzle on at 7 or 8 in the morning and take it off about 11 at night (easy because she's just outside the house!) Depends what works best for your pony and you.
 
mmmm......looks like mine isn't the only one then :)

Tomorrow, I 'm going to take a little packed lunch and sit in the field and watch. I'll let you know how she does it :)
 
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