24/7 turnout for IR Horse

[Rusty15]

Has anyone ever had luck keeping an insulin resistant horse on 24/7 turnout (with a grazing muzzle)?

My horse has never foundered, but has had a couple of close calls where his hooves have become quite inflamed. Thankfully we caught it before there was any permanent damage. I board so my only options for keeping him are 1. 24/7 herd turnout on a huge pasture (over 20 acres of rolling hills, natural prairie grasses). Or 2. 24/7 in an approx. 12x24’ dirt run (by himself but can interact with horses on either side of him through the fence).

Currently he’s in the run. I feel bad because he seemed so much happier when he was turned out (as any horse would be). He also has some arthritis that I know would benefit a ton from being free to move around freely, especially since due to work, I can’t get out and exercise him every day.

After his first almost-laminitic episode (during which he was turned out with no muzzle) I put one on him and he did super well with it on 24/7. He never got it off. The only issues were that it started to rub his nose and he managed to wear down the hole and make it big enough that it didn’t slow him down at all, which is part of why I took him off the pasture. Now this year I’ve seen some really cool new grazing muzzle designs coming out, and it’s making me wonder if I might not be able to give him a second chance at living out 24/7. Sorry this was long, hopefully it all made sense. Bottom line, I’m curious to see if anyone else has had luck keeping your IR horse on grass 24/7 with a grazing muzzle, or if I should resign myself to keeping him in the run for the foreseeable future.

[Highflyer]

We have a boarder that wears one 23+/7 April-November. She comes in every morning to get a small meal and her Cushings meds so has it off for a bit then. I would not do it unless the muzzle gets removed and checked at least once daily.

You will need to replace the muzzle every year at minimum and probably every several months, since the holes do get bigger with wear on pretty much every brand. Pretty much every horse gets rubbed some, but most of the time it can be managed with creative padding and switching off muzzle brands.

[WNT]

Is it feasible for him to be in the pasture with a muzzle 12 hours, then in the dry lot 12?

[AMackechnie]

We have an IR horse at the barn that absolutely cannot be on one blade of grass. He has 24/7 access to a stall (door open) and a small paddock, which has nothing green in it.

I have tried a bit of turnout with a muzzle for him, but the farrier notices stretching of the laminae and bruising with any grass intake. He’s definitely not thrilled with being kept off grass, but he’d be in very bad condition or dead if he was on it.

I used a Tough One Easy Breathe muzzle on him with a leather halter and it seemed fine. If he had been able to be out on pasture with it I would have had to line it with fleece or something soft.

One concern I had was that if the muzzle happened to come off then the horse would be extremely compromised.

[S1969]

It really depends on the horse and the extent of insulin resistance. 12 hours of grazing, even with a muzzle, is still a lot of grass for an IR horse.

I would say at most I’d consider the 12/12 option as mentioned above. My compromised equines (pony with Cushings and a mini) are on a sacrifice paddock/drylot 24/7/365. In some parts of the year it even grows too much spare grass and they have to be moved to a smaller, complete drylot with stonedust footing. The sacrifice paddock grows so little grass that my other horses would starve to death if they were in it is still too much for my little guys.

[ChocoMare]

My late Percheron was like the horses AMackechnie mentioned. I dry-lotted her 9 months out of the year. Free in/out access to a huge stall attached to a 100 X 60 fenced area. I’d give her her own round bale, in a HayChix 1" hole net. Only after two hard freezes could she go back out with the herd. Once it warmed up, back to exile.

I had no choice. Any grass and she was laminitic.

[Rusty15]

Darn. Unfortunately it’s all or nothing at my barn, as they don’t have time to go out and catch him every day (It’s a huge pasture, it sometimes takes me half an hour to find a horse out there). And I live a half hour away, so can’t get out there every single day. Thanks for the info though!

[PaddockWood]

I think if you can get him checked by someone every day, have sheepskin on hand for muzzle rubs, and have a backup muzzle on hand so when that hole gets enlarged you move to the new one, then turn him out. And, in the event he gets one off and it’s out in the pasture, then you’ve got a back up. But he’s got to be checked through the day right - just making sure it is on. Is that possible?

I’ve managed a couple of IR horses through the years and it can be done even with lots of turnout - 12-16 hrs a day.

[Palm_Beach]

KER has some good articles on grass and maintaining horses that are prone to laminitis.

[LadyBug]

One of mine is borderline IR and my horses are out 24/7. I switched to Greenguard muzzles a few years ago and they’re holding up great. I don’t anticipate having to replace them anytime soon, and the horses also don’t seem to mind them. The girls wear their muzzles 24/7 with the exception of being pulled off for breakfast and dinner. Neither of them fight me to put them back on after they’re done eating, and it has helped significantly in controlling their weight.

If you’re going to try it I’d watch him really closely, especially if he isn’t on grass at all right now. Introduce him slowly. Definitely don’t just throw on a muzzle and chuck him out on 24/7 grass (but I’m sure you know this).