Your ideas on Muzzles

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FourBurrowHunt

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Hi I have a gypsy vanner x and he is quite fat atm but he's recently gone lame ! ( nothing to do with him being fat ) and I was wondering about putting a grazing muzzle on him..but he's in a field with 30 horses and there's very little grass they get hay but he wouldn't be able to get any with a grazing muzzle on .. So good idea or not ?
 
What are the condition of the other horses? If your boy is fat, are they fat, too? If they are, then sounds like you don't need hay at all! If they aren't, then simply muzzle your boy during the hours that they get hay, or section him off at those times, maybe with another fatty.
 
Is there any way you can construct his own smaller paddock? It doesnt sound ideal to have a lame horse in a big herd with scarce food.
 
Sounds like he is getting plenty if he is fat. I take it from your post that you have grass, hay and feed. It's just a simple case of calorie control.

Option 1. Muzzle at night. That way he can still graze, won't get as much, but still gets a good hay portion during the day. Don't give hard feed.

Option 2. Muzzle during hay feeding. Graze as normal at night. Still no hard food.

Option 3. Move somewhere more suited to your needs.

If all the others get fed hard feed at te same time you will have to remove him while they eat if you are that worried.
 
Okay if he cant be sectioned off, what about a period of time in the stable with a small holed haynet which has been soaked for a lengthy period of time? Daytime could be the ideal time to do this, so he's in for most of the time that the hay is out for, he will be out of the sun and flies and the bed will only take 5 minutes to muck out afterwards.
 
Your yard has some strange rules! :o. I would muzzle during the day and take it off overnight. If he is overweight I am sure he is getting more then enough food!
 
I'd muzzle! If he is fat then he is obviously getting more than he needs so muzzle until he is back to the correct weight. Mine was muzzled 24/7 for a period and it helped loads with his weight loss, he used to come in for an hour or so before being ridden to eat some straw so he got enough fibre then he was ridden and back out with a muzzle.
 
My friend muzzled two of her ponies in the stable to slow them down eating their haynets. They managed to eat them fine with them on..

I can't see why they wouldn't be able to eat hay through a muzzle - its the same as grass, with longer strands to poke through.

I don't like muzzles on 24/7, so just have them on either day or nightime.

I would worry about him not getting enough food when he has burnt some flab off.

Ps. I sympathise, having two fatties myself, but you have to be cruel to be kind sometimes.
 
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