Wearing muzzle but not eating.. help!

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Daisy2

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Put muzzle on Marley but he just stands there, I have spent about 2 hrs trying to teach him on and off but everytime I come back he is just standing there, I have hidden just to see if he is faking it but no luck. He is in a shires type muzzle, any tips please and should I make the hole bigger and then buy another one when he has got the hang of it. Oh and my mare munches away no problem with hers so I know the grass is the right length. Cheers:D
 
I would leave him to it tbh. If you know he can eat (ie put grass through the hole) then when he's hungry enough he will eat :)

You could make the hole a little bigger but I found that this meant the muzzle didn't work.
 
I use a Shires muzzle with the hole made slightly bigger and it still restricts the grazing sufficiently to control weight and prevent laminitis with mine. I recently bought a new one and left the hole the same size but my horse still wouldn't eat at all until I'd made it bigger again! She can be out all day in it with no problems.
 
touchstone said:
I use a Shires muzzle with the hole made slightly bigger and it still restricts the grazing sufficiently to control weight and prevent laminitis with mine. I recently bought a new one and left the hole the same size but my horse still wouldn't eat at all until I'd made it bigger again! She can be out all day in it with no problems.
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Ok thanks, I will make the hole bigger tonight and see how he goes and then try to put a smaller holed one on when he gets the hang of it. What about drinking did she work that out herself?
 
To be honest I don't think those type of muzzles are any good. The design is certainly suspect if you have to start modifying them by making holes bigger. I think that the Greenguard one is by far the best. The design is better & a horse/pony can get sufficient grass without having to modify the design in anyway. The owner needs to spend a little time adjusting it to fit just right & once fitted the horse should have no trouble with it. Many owners don't give enough time for the horse to get used to the muzzle & are too ready to remove it as they don't think their horse will starve in it. The horse won't, just leave it with it & it will soon get used to it. Horses at our yard all used Greenguard & not one has had any real problems with them.

Greenguard aren't the cheapest by a long way, but they are cheaper than a vet visit & colic treatment :)
 
Daisy2 said:
Ok thanks, I will make the hole bigger tonight and see how he goes and then try to put a smaller holed one on when he gets the hang of it. What about drinking did she work that out herself?
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I did dip her nose in a bucket of water at first to let her see that water would go through and she drinks no problems now :)

I did have a few days of frustration from her as she tried to get the muzzle off too, but once she realised she could actually still eat with it on she was fine, she comes to get it on every morning now.
 
I had the same problem with a Shires muzzle and had to make the hole slightly larger....the problem was the hole wasn't exactly where her mouth was and moved making it just too hard for her to get any grass at all...

Slightly larger hole, problem was solved
 
I'm another one who cuts the hole out. Last time I tried an unmodified muzzle it lasted about 5 minutes and then was killed. My horse knows exactly how to trash a muzzle so it's a compromise between her tolerating wearing a muzzle and slowing down her eating enough to stop her ending up as big as a house & footsore (she is barefoot). The muzzle still does its job with a bigger hole so I'm happy enough :)
 
We tried LL with a muzzle. He stood for three days and refused to eat anything at all. We had to give up in the end and restrict his intake by having him in for a day and a night and out for a day and a night.
 
Mine took quite a while to learn to eat with it, but got there in the end. He has no problem getting enough to eat with his shires muzzle, totally unmodified, and unfortunately is now too good at it and looking a bit porkier than I'd like!!!! I think he actually drank with it on within minutes but took ages to work out the food side lol!!

It just takes a bit of patience and perseverance :)
 
Ours all were baffled by them at first and stood around looking fed up/ trying to wipe them off on the floor. After a couple of days they worked it out, and never looked back. They range from a 12 sec A, cob, sport horse, and 17h hunter, and we've not altered the hole for any of them... They really have been wonderful, and saved the sec A's life following laminitus. they are the shires ones.
 
Well day 3 and Marley is still not eating even with the hole made bigger . I have left him for 7hrs in one stretch in the hope that he would become hungrier enough to just try. So tonight I will make the hole bigger with a new one in my back pocket when he gets the hang of it. I just cannot see how progressivley it will get better as he is not even trying, he just stands there looking dejected and very confused despite the amount of hand feeding carrots through the hole etc. I have to keep at it though for his own good and my sanity
 
Finally Marley had a lightbulb moment, yay!!!! he is eating. I almost gave up as he was weaving at the gate with 13 arces behind him and I was becoming very stressed by it all. We are all happy... never thought he would get there to be honest. So as they live out 24/7 they will be muzzled by day in the big field and strip grazed with some hay overnight.... Its took a few years to find a way to manage my two munchers weight and stop the field from beoming poached etc


Now what about the other things in my life.. perhaps I have room for them now;)
 
Daisy2 said:
Finally Marley had a lightbulb moment, yay!!!! he is eating. I almost gave up as he was weaving at the gate with 13 arces behind him and I was becoming very stressed by it all. We are all happy... never thought he would get there to be honest. So as they live out 24/7 they will be muzzled by day in the big field and strip grazed with some hay overnight.... Its took a few years to find a way to manage my two munchers weight and stop the field from beoming poached etc


Now what about the other things in my life.. perhaps I have room for them now;)
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Excellent news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well done for hanging on in there, it can be a tough process, but worth it in the end. I helped it along by feeding handfuls of grass through the hole, my shetty used to run over to me whenever I was in the field so I could feed him lol!! I think they also learn a lot from watching, and he always watched me pulling up the grass for him and obviously poking it through the hole lol!!!! :D

I thought ( and hoped) you'd get there in the end :D :D :D

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Tennessee said:
Excellent news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well done for hanging on in there, it can be a tough process, but worth it in the end. I helped it along by feeding handfuls of grass through the hole, my shetty used to run over to me whenever I was in the field so I could feed him lol!! I think they also learn a lot from watching, and he always watched me pulling up the grass for him and obviously poking it through the hole lol!!!! :D

I thought ( and hoped) you'd get there in the end :D :D :D

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Ah thanks.. I did exactly as you have just described and yes he followed me around too, I have never been so popular! Those heart strings were playing a tune at the time.. I just felt so relieved.
 
it took my mare ages to work it out. i used to take it off over night and put it on in the day. she eventually started to graze with it on. she got the drinking with it on straight away. i did poke grass through it so she relised she could still eat. she started knowing what i was doing though and wouldnt be caught to have it on or off for that matter. now shes just a little madam in general to catch.
 
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