Has anyone used these? I can’t find any reviews online, and a quick search here didn’t bring up anything here. It looks like an interesting product.
I just bought one to try for my mare. The material does seem flexible in a good way (she was getting rubs/sores from the standard style grazing muzzle - from both the muzzle and the straps). I’ll know more once we actually try it, and I will report back.
I am curious as well…although not curious enough to spend the $$ on what looks to be about as sturdy as an e-collar. Hoping I am wrong!!
Thank you, Pattnic! I look forward to an update.
This one is intriguing to me too! I won’t be buying one anytime soon since I shelled out for a GreenGuard muzzle last year (which is great!), but I would have considered this instead if it had been available then as it’s almost half the price. The only issue I see is that the opening is small enough that it could cause a lot of frustration-induced Houdini tactics for getting it off. That was my gelding’s problem with more typical muzzles. The GreenGuard lets in a bit more grass and offers a more natural grazing experience, so while he’s still not thrilled when he has to wear it, he also doesn’t spend all day trying to get it off.
Natalie, what are you doing to keep the GreenGuard muzzle on your horse? Mine gets out of his. I could give a long line of muzzles he rubs off against the fence. The only one that was working was a BestFriend muzzle from last year where the hole has gotten big. But then, he rubbed that one off this morning.
Is he getting out of the muzzle itself, or the whole halter?
First step is try to find a halter that has a long enough piece that goes under the jaw so the throat latch can fasten and stay behind the jowl.
That seems to be really hard (I wish I remembered where I found one), so the next step is to use a “mare collar”, a head collar, to attach the crown piece of the halter to, so they can’t pull it over their head.
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I had my mom buy one for her pony, but I haven’t gotten my fencing up yet to test it out! Seems like once I’m done fiddling with the fit it will work out well. I do think you need to be really picky about making sure you use a halter that fits very well, since it seems like it would be very easy to adjust poorly and then get taken off.
If anybody wants to come dig up roots with me, I can put up fencing and let everybody know how it goes, lol.
I have a Houdini horse and had to set up an all-electric paddock for him. He could actually get his traditional muzzle off by rolling on the ground and vigorously rubbing his head on the ground. The crownpiece would come over his ear. So I put a browband and throatlatch from an old bridle on his halter. You have to do the throatlatch up TIGHT - you’ll think wow, that’s really tight, but when the head is down grazing, it’s loose.
I got him the Thinline muzzle and he does not try to get it off. He’s out of the all-electric paddock and no longer tries to get it off. His traditional muzzle rubbed him, and I think they are more uncomfortable from the rubs than unhappy about the grazing restriction, and that’s why they try to get it off. So the Houdini horse who has been in the all-electric paddock for years now finally gets to go out into the big pasture with the other horses. I’m happy with the product, and elated that it was half the price of the Green Guard muzzle.
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The GreenGuard halter comes with a center strap that runs down the forehead to keep the halter centered and therefore in theory makes the whole thing harder to pull off. It looks derpy, so I call it “the center strap of shame.” :lol: That said, my horse wore it like that for the first several weeks, and then I removed it once I figured he would stop trying to take it off. The halter they sell is nicely padded and does fit closely, which I do think makes it a bit harder to remove.
To me, the next step would be to try putting a fly mask over the halter, though I’ve seen horses get out of those too. Then I would move to a mare collar or cribbing strap and tie it all together with baling twine. I would be loathe to subject anyone else to having to ready more horse for turnout with that kind of contraption though.
Have one and LOVE it! I have a big draft cross horse with a very predominant shape to his chin. Every single grazing muzzle rubbed the crap out of his chin. While they curtailed his grazing, it hurt him and he was a bear to muzzle.
The Thinline is extremely flexible and doesn’t rub him anywhere at all.
When you first set it up, you use twist ties to adjust the fit, then use the supplied zip ties to secure it. A well-fitting, comfortable halter is half the equation. ThinLine now provides extra zip ties as the ones they include are rated for 25# of pressure and can break easily.
Another plus about this grazing muzzle is that it fits into the automatic waterer (we have the type with round openings and ball floats) whereas the Greenguard did not.
Almost every horse in the barn is now wearing the ThinLine. Everyone comments about how the horses seem happier and don’t resist muzzling like they did with the Tough 1 or Greenguards which rubbed.
I can’t recommend it enough!
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What size did you get for your draft cross ? Mine wears and oversized bridle, and a 5.5 inch bit - it’s hard to find a muzzle that doesn’t rub.
In case you end up looking at GG too, my oversized, 5.5" muzzle WB wears the largest GG muzzle with good fit.
The Horse to Warmblood size (25"). It’s more than generous for a draftie! My guy wears an OS bridle and a 6" bit. I can relate!
snort my PONY wears a 5.5 - 5.75 bit! (Fjord) But he just uses a normal horse size GG muzzle.
A friend puts a miracle cribbing collar over the halter in order to keep the grazing muzzle on.
Anyone care to share updates on longer term use? Still liking it? Hasn’t torn yet? I’m looking at this for my fatty who can’t handle a standard muzzle in 100°F+ Texas…
