I bought a grazing muzzle last week to see if it would work for Penny, to cut down the amount of rich grass she eats as I try to reintroduce her to the pasture after her bout with Laminitis. It consists of a headstall with a basket-like muzzle made of woven flat-weave nylon strap and a rubber bottom. The bottom has a hole in the middle, which allows for drainage and to allow the horse to get a small amount of grass through it. Horses quickly learn to eat grass through the muzzle, but it takes them a lot longer to get their fill.
I allowed Penny to graze freely for about two hours one morning last week, them put the muzzle on her and left her in the pasture for the day. When I first put the muzzle on her she couldn’t figure out what it was and began trying to rub it off on things like the barn, fence posts, the ground, and her leg. After a while she settled down and began to work at getting what little grass she could through the holes in the muzzle. Once I was satisfied she wasn’t going to snag herself on a fence and get hung up, I left her in the pasture.
When I came back for her evening feeding (I’ve been feeding her soaked grass hay morning and evening to minimize her sugars intake), I was disappointed to find several rub marks on Penny’s lower jaw, chin, and muzzle. In fact, the following day, I found skin sluffing off all over her muzzle. I have decided not to use the muzzle unless I absolutely have to.
This particular muzzle is a Weaver brand, which I purchased at Tractor Supply in Fredericksburg, VA. It ran about $40. It seems to be well made and durable. It is possible there are larger sizes, and it could be that I bought too small a muzzle for Penny, which could be the reason for the rubs, however, it seems to fit and not restrict her jaw movements. If it were any looser she would have been able to rub it off on the ground. It was the only size they had and was marked as horse size. It seems to fit her about the same as horses I have seen in other photographs wearing various kinds of grazing muzzles.
I have read posts in various forums from people who use grazing muzzles regularly, to restrict their horse’s diet. The ones I have seen in photographs look like the one I bought. I saw one post that indicated they used Vaseline to keep the horse from getting rub marks, but I can’t see how that would be effective with the amount of rub marks Penny incurred in just one 6-hour period.
I was pretty disappointed with the results of my trial use with Penny. If there were no other solution, I guess you would just have to deal with the rubs, and I may have to with Penny, as she recovers from Laminitis, but I will certainly try to find other solutions as I reintroduce her to the pasture.
I used the Best Friend Muzzle on my horse with great success. It is padded and well thought out and worth the extra buck. It looks to me like it fits too tight around her muzzle. The one I have is a bit less tapered. She may actually need a larger size or drop it down a hole. I found that even loosely fit it was not easily rubbed off. It should not be so tight that when she opens her jaw it touches the sides of the muzzle. The BF also has a plastic breakaway that can be replaced if the horse were to get hung up. Hope this is helpful to you! It’s tuff, I know.
Thanks for the info. I think I will shop around online and see if I can find a different brand that works better. I saw a Best Friend on the Internet, but all Tractor Supply (our only available local tack shop) had was the Weaver. I dropped it down a notch, but watched her nearly rub it off her nose on the ground, so I snugged it back to where it left about 1.5″ between her muzzle and the bottom of the grazing muzzle. I was very surprised to see all the rub marks on her that afternoon.I certainly won’t subject her to the discomfort this grazing muzzle causes, if I can at all help it.