Switched from the black nylon type to the Flexible Filly this year on my easy keeper. I love the extra space around his muzzle and that it seems more comfortable on him.
However, he quickly figured out how to eat from the side of it rather than the hole. Has anyone else had this issue? Did you come up with a way to remedy it? I figure it’s still slowing him down some, but may end up not being enough as the grass really takes off.
Yes, I did. It didn’t quite work for me.
I’ve heard this from several people now, which is pushing me away from trying it on the one horse I intended to try it on - I already have an issue with him figuring out how to eat out the side of a Greenguard LOL I resolved that with blocking off the areas with Gorilla tape.
So, you could try that, just wrap the tape to close off the lower portion of that that gap
I had that problem, too. I kept experimenting with different muzzle placement. I also emailed quite a bit with ThinLine and they were super helpful. They actually ended up sending me a smaller size muzzle and that did the trick! I will admit that it was really frustrating (if I see another bread tie on a muzzle I think my brain might explode) but it ended up being worth it to try to make it work.
I think what the larger issue was that I needed to figure out how to get the hole in the right spot. Once I got that in the right place, she no longer tried to eat out of the side.
That was last summer. When I put it back on her the last time, she was back to eating out of the side. I think I figured out that I had made the crownpiece on her halter bigger, so I made that one hole shorter and the problem was fixed.
I will also say that looking at the muzzle on her while she’s just standing there, it fits much closer to her mouth than the pictures and instructions say that it should, but it works for her and she doesn’t mind it.
My horse will be going into season 3 with her Flexible Filly muzzle this year. I agree with Pico_Banana that I also have mine adjusted quite close, maybe even barely grazing her lips. I’ve been lucky and have had no issues with rubbing. I will add that she has never tried to eat out of the side, so I can’t say for certain that the adjustment is the cure. However, I believe the close fitting helps to prevent it from “swinging” on her nose. I also try to keep my halter adjusted so the noseband isn’t too low on her face (breakaway crownpiece stretches over time) and the flaps start well above the end of her muzzle, if that makes sense.
Anyone have thoughts on how well this holds up to being rubbed against the fence/run-in/other horses? 3 days in the Greenguard and already have bloody face rubs, and I’ve looked at their fitting guide and can’t for the life of me figure out how to make it better, so thought this might be worth a shot. But not for an itchy-faced horse who loooooves rubbing their face in general, and the construction of this one looks like it might just snap apart right away.
I didn’t have any rubbing issues. It truly is flexible and moves around easily when he rubbed his face on his leg or whatever.
However, even after several different adjusting experiments, I moved back to the Tough-1. I might be able to switch back once the grass is less lush in the heat of summer, but he was getting too much with the flexible filly eating out of the side.
I don’t have a " face rubber" but it should hold up fine as it is pretty flexible. Where exactly is your horse getting bloody? From the muzzle itself rubbing, or from the halter or straps?
Both - the muzzle itself rubs the low point of her chin, and the halter rubs under her jaw bone. I can fix the halter one with a custom cut fleece but… duct tape the muzzle itself? Not sure how to solve that one. It’s also an old muzzle so maybe it’s just the wear on the plastic that is irritating.
Duct tape didn’t work for me but I actually did “lace” a piece of fleece onto the bottom of a greenguard muzzle that was rubbing one of the horses. Just cut it strategically so that the bottom of the muzzle that touched the horse was fully covered in fleece, and then secured the other sides of it around the gaps in the muzzle.
Is the muzzle too tight? I use a regular breakaway halter so I am not sure if the ones you can order with the muzzle are configured differently?
The muzzle itself should be roomy and not be in contact at all on any part of the horses face. I have a couple fingers width clearance from my horses mouth to the bottom of the muzzle. She has never had any rubs, but then all she does is eat.
It looks very loose when she’s standing in the barn, it’s not in contact with her chin at all, but maybe I can try making it even looser. Just using a regular breakaway.
The weaving a bit of fleece into the muzzle grate itself is a good idea, I’ll have to get more and try that.
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