DIY grazing muzzle - parts?

[Bebe_Falcon1]

I can see my little mare getting plumper and plumper by the day, the round bale she gets has a haynet over it (it used to be two, up until recently) with multiple holes, so she’s just gorging herself on it all day. I used to patch up the haynet(s) at my own expense but with six others in the field, I’m fighting a losing battle here.

For my purposes I don’t like the bulky ones as she’s not on grass, but eating at a bit of an upward angle. So I’d like to create a second, very lightweight, mini “haynet” like a grazing muzzle by attaching it to the noseband of her halter using twine that will break if she gets caught. Where’s the best place to find some inexpensive haynet-type material? Just buy a cheap poly net and cut a piece out?

(I need the collective minds of CoTH to help me work this out in case I’m overlooking something obvious)

[2DogsFarm]

My mini is able to eat hay wearing his grazing muzzle. He can also drink wearing it & get limited grass, as well as take a treat.
Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, just get her a muzzle.
You can go cheap (like I have) with a Tough-1, or go for the one of the spendier models.

[Dbliron]

I agree with 2dogs, just buy a Greenguard grazing muzzle. Ours can eat hay with the muzzle on, but it controls intake, so that weight gain isn’t a problem. In fact, it mimics natural grazing behaviours, in that the horses have to work a little for their grass/hay, and ours are quite happy in their muzzles.

[DiamondJubilee]

I also have a greenguard muzzle and put it on my laminitic pony all morning when he has some grass. It really decreases his intake a lot (I can tell by his harder poops when he comes in at night, compared to all the other boys poop). I do remove it for him for about half of the day when he’s on a dry lot and then of course when he is in his stall at night. The only word of caution I have been given with it is to check teeth as it can wear the front teeth over time.

But the muzzle works great and he seems to be happy and grazes along side of all the other ponies and so far, he has been unable to remove it. Bonus!

[rubygirl1968]

I wish mine would leave it on. It’s the only one he works hard at to remove and succeeds. I even used a headstall off a bridle and attached it to the halter. The only thing he came in with that night is the collar.

I think the rest of it disappeared into a third dimension because I never found it. It eventually was bush hogged.

Silly pony.

[DiamondJubilee]

Ponies!! I actually use 4 zip ties attached to a leather halter. One at the noseband, one at each cheek piece and one at the back near his chin. It has worked for a couple of my ponies now but fingers crossed it keeps working! They do try hard to rub it off on fences, other ponies and along the ground ha ha! So far 1 for the Greenguard and 0 for ponies.

[FjordBCRF]

My fjord goes out in a greenguard to eat hay that isn’t in a net on a mostly dry lot. It slows him down but he has no problems with getting some hay. I have also seen success with the Flexible Filly muzzle for hay too.

[pompeiii]

My mini happily eats hay with his muzzle too. He wore a Tough-1 for years (and they started breaking at random, non-normal spots). He wore the Tough-1 with a halter over it when he figured out how to take it off. He’s now wearing a flexible filly muzzle and seems to really prefer that one so we haven’t gone Greenguard. He just likes the weight and lightness.

But, regardless of the muzzle, most of them can figure out how to eat hay with them. They may look and act pathetic, but just leave them alone with food and they’ll figure it out. My mini can even eat out of a Portagrazer with his muzzle.

[fivestrideline]

If you have Facebook, an old barn of mine just started making exactly what you’re thinking. Not sure of price or anything, just saw the ads on Facebook (they’re legit, safety oriented people). Worth checking out, if you don’t want to go traditional muzzle.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid09z6pxtz9KdYKwsZXLyV5camSXLaMTzjS6gsvYLGZUugrsNVFLeWYEMRwkJQ9yvejl&id=100064560947974&mibextid=qC1gEa

Edited to add pic

[equinelibrium]

I have also used a Greenguard muzzle to restrict hay intake. If you’re concerned about it being too restrictive, you can always cut the muzzle so there are larger holes. I did this for my husband’s horse because I was worried the small holes would be too difficult for him to get any hay. He has broken one of the sections, which was expected as it’s a lot weaker on its own. The leather insert has been great to reduce wear on the muzzle itself. If I had put one of those on to start, it probably wouldn’t have broken at all.

Photo so you can get an idea of what I mean. It was effective in getting him to lose weight. He just needed to be slowed down so the other horses had a chance to eat their hay before he ate it all.

Now that they’re on pasture 24/7 with no hay, he’s gained weight again. I got him another Greenguard that isn’t modified, so hopefully that will keep him from gaining more, and hopefully lose weight.

That being said, this darn thing causes me so much grief. It feels like every week I have to spend an hour doing muzzle maintenance. Either the leather insert has moved (likely isn’t a problem for unmodified muzzles, but I can’t get it to stay in the right place), poor horsey is developing a rub in a new spot, the padding is falling off, etc, etc, etc.

I’m intrigued by the @fivestrideline posted above. That looks like a fantastic option for when the horses are eating only hay, and you need to slow down only one in a group feeding scenario.

[Bebe_Falcon1]

@fivestrideline

If you have Facebook, an old barn of mine just started making exactly what you’re thinking. Not sure of price or anything, just saw the ads on Facebook (they’re legit, safety oriented people). Worth checking out, if you don’t want to go traditional muzzle.

Yes!!! This is exactly what I had in mind. I ended up ordering a hay net fix kit - 1lb of 0.5" net and some twine - because putting a small net on the pony instead of over the big (shared) hay bale seemed more logical. Nice and light, and should be inexpensive if I need to fix it going forwards. And now I’m not responsible for fixing-up a POS “big” net in order to keep the weight off my wee mare!

I’m glad someone else out there is thinking along the same lines

[candyappy]

I would be afraid the horse would ingest some of the homemade muzzle.

I have a GG that my mare finally broke through after 3 years of use. I use that one when I want her only partially restricted and she eats hay with either but obviously the one with bigger gaps is easier.