The Grazing Muzzle

It may look strange or just plain cruel if you've never seen a horse with a grazing muzzle on.  "What is that thing?" many a friend has asked when seeing one of my horses in a grazing muzzle.  The muzzle is not to keep the horse from biting (although it would probably work for that!), but it's to reduce grass intake.  And it might just save your horse's life.

Growing up, we had four (or more) horses kept on about two acres.  We never had a problem with an overabundance of grass.  I had never heard of things like laminitis or insulin resistance back then.  When I got married, my husband and I bought thirty acres.  We fenced off a five-acre pasture, and again, I never worried about how much grass my horses had access to.  I rode nearly every day, and my horses weren't fat.

Fast forward to 2011.  I now had five horses in two pastures--both with more than enough grass.  Four of these horses were what I'd call obese.  I had two small children so riding time was limited.  I had recently completed two equine nutrition classes as part of my acupressure certification and had learned just how bad too much grass can be for your horse.  I knew I needed to do something.

I know it seems ironic that grass can be bad for a horse.  Aren't horses, like, supposed to live on grass?!?  Well, the wild horse actually evolved in the desert regions where vegetation was sparse.  They covered many miles a day as well.  Many of our domesticated horses today are actually in quite a different environment than their ancestors.  And while it may look pastoral to see the fat horse grazing peacefully on the lush, green pasture, it's actually not a good thing.  It seems we're seeing more and more overweight (and under-exercised) horses these days.  And researchers believe insulin resistance and laminitis are on the rise.

Anyhoo, back to my topic--grazing muzzles.  If your horse is overweight, shows symptoms or has been diagnosed with insulin resistance or laminitis, a grazing muzzle may be the way to go (unless you want to keep your horse in a dry lot and feed low-sugar hay).  There are some laminitic horses that can't tolerate any grass at all.  But if they can, a grazing muzzle can greatly reduce the amount of grass they eat.

I use grazing muzzles on three of my horses, but not all of the time.  They've gotten used to them and don't seem to mind them too much.  I have one horse who simply doesn't like the grazing muzzle though--she will stand in her stall and pout all day if I leave it on her.  I've actually done several things to limit my horses grazing-- we re-fenced our pastures, making them smaller, I keep the horses in their stalls/pens during the daytime hours in the spring/ summer (since sugars in grass are highest during the day), and I use the grazing muzzles.  It's really helped to keep their weight under control.  Hopefully, we won't be seeing any laminitis or IR around here!

To read more about safer grazing, I suggest Katy Watts site, or this article from The Horse.  


Ta-ta!