Horse Grazing Muzzles reducing your horses grass intake and the risk of laminitis
Grazing Muzzles are a valuable tool to keep a check on your
ponies and horses rapidly expanding waistline, however they should be used with
care. Reports show they can reduce grass
intake by 80%. It’s not just fat ponies who are in the risk of laminitis with
often underlying diseases like Cushing’s syndrome, metabolic syndrome and
insulin resistance on the rise especially with the ageing ponies and horses.
Firstly you must make
sure the muzzle is fitting correctly, the “bucket” type (like Shires grazing muzzle) should be wide enough to fit comfortably around the muzzle, personally
I’d always opt for the bigger size as this seems to help with the rubbing,
there should also be a gap around 1”-1.5” between the bottom of the grazing
muzzle and your horses nose. I personally like and use the Shires DeluxeComfort Grazing muzzle as the fit seems to be great with the added benefit of
ready built in fleece “cuff” on the edge of the bucket minimising rubs on
bottom of their chin ( this seems to be the place that always gets rubbed!)
Gone are the days of various padding/gaffa tape/ fleece DIY padding attempts,
it’s all done for you, hallelujah!
Muzzles are not intended to be worn 24/7, I manage my
laminitis prone pony by turning her out at night wearing her muzzle and bringing
in to have a rest from the flies (seems like a bumper year for horseflies this
year, but that’s another story! ) in the stable during the day with haynet full
of soaked hay to make sure she has plenty of fibre to keep her digestion
running smoothly. A common myth is to
turn your horse out during the day muzzled and take the off for the night, you
more than likely find that your pony will gorge once the muzzle is removed and end up eating his/her daily quantity (and
then some!) in the time they remain un muzzled .
It is essential to make daily checks for rubs, fleece
noseband covers with velcro fastenings are excellent to put around the cheek
pieces of the muzzle as they are easily removed and washed. Also you should
make sure there is some grass/long enough grass in your field as grazing
muzzles are designed to restrict the grazing not totally inhibit it!!
You might find your pony/horse turns into Houdini overnight
and magically manages to free himself from the muzzle or as in my case, the 2 year old found it a great game to
remove everyone else’s muzzles/fly masks even over the fence from horse field
next door.......... Fear not, in my experience plaiting a piece of mane around
the headpiece seems to help to put stop to it.
For us humans they say to keep fit and well you have to eat
less and exercise more, I guess same applies to our equine friends. I’m sure my
pony would love to see me wearing a muzzle so I could only eat tiny portion of
the cream cake that is calling my name from the fridge.... (Please come and eat
me, please!!)
Until next time
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