You would have to see my 1300 - lb. Canadian eating out of the “breathing” holes - and the 1" hay net. Talent. Eating sideways is not a problem for him. His body condition was 8 out of 9. He’s about a 7 now. More work is not an option due to scheduling. He wears the muzzle 12 hours a day, drylot so hay only.
Nearing the end of week 1 with the GG muzzle and just wanted to say THANK YOU for the recommendations! Vast improvement over what we were using!
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yes, I’m late to this, but greenguard hands down! I use mine attached to the halters and then used some electrical tape on the attachment straps to make sure it stayed secure (and if the whole thing came off the orange would be easier to spot). No problem with any of them coming off at all.
So far the airfern TB (retired) and the fjord (default status: airfern on steroids) have kept them on all summer. They are out for about 12+ hours a day (night t/o) with muzzles and the only problem I had was some rubbing on the TB nose from the halter (added sheepskin) and when I first used it on the fjord, the bottom buckle was rubbing and created an owie that was fixed by 1 adjustment.
They go in the drylot/stalls during the day and can still get about half a bale of grass hay in the rack to munch on
In fact, it works SO well I had add some grain to the TB’s ration balancer and give a half flake of T&A hay starting about a month ago. He could probably go w/o a muzzle, but he is a landshark to other horses, so some limitation of his biting is fine by me and while his name is technically “Lido”, he has over the years been referred to as “Lardo” and Peppy San Lido Boonsabar given his impressive ability to chunk up. So now that he has neck/back arthritis issues, not being a Lardo seems like a good idea. The fjord gets the muzzle because, you know, fjord.
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This is a great thread. I have resisted the Greenguard because of the price, but I probably have a dozen other broken grazing muzzles, or ones where the horses have creatively enlarged the center hole. So I could have bought several GGs by now. My sweet tiny pony understands it is his lot in life to wear a grazing muzzle and does so without complaint but my 1 QH who is a total air fern HATES them. He can get a conventional one off in four hours or less, and after he’s got it off, he’s extremely difficult to catch. He may be fat, but he’s smart! He’s currently in a dry lot and not too thrilled about that either. I never thought that it might be the breathing restriction that he hates so much.
I may have to break down and give the GG a try.
ETA: Mine’s in the mail and due to arrive today. Will report back how it goes.
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They have a month guarantee if he manages to break it.
Early results with the Greenguard muzzle are good. I confess I had never really thought about the breathing restriction or how claustrophobic a regular muzzle would be. My one air fern who is SO difficult to keep a muzzle on visibly was alarmed when I brought the muzzle out; but after I attached it to the halter and adjusted it he relaxed. It’s still on, 18 hours later, which is close to a record. And he figured out how to eat and drink with it pretty much immediately.
I put traditional muzzles on the other two horses and let them all out into the pasture. The tiny pony who pretty much lives in a grazing muzzle was accepting of it, the other horse was FURIOUS, galloping around, shaking his head and rubbing the headstall on anything he could find. I also realized that the traditional muzzles REALLY restrict their jaw, which can’t be fun for them.
If the worst of my fatties keeps the Greenguard on for a week, I will suck it up and buy a second one.
Oh, and Greenguard’s customer service is very good. There were detailed instructions in the box with the muzzle, and they also emailed me a lot of supplemental information. I guess they understand at their price point they need good customer service.
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thanks guys for replying back! I enjoy reading other peoples’ experiences. It kind of strengthens my resolve to keep doing the right thing. I think my horse accepts the muzzle better than I do at this point, but the difference the GG makes is a big help to us both.
Here’s a question - anyone feed grain with the Greenguard on? That might be worth the price for me.
ETA - alfalfa pellets with some beet pulp to mix vitamins, really.
I would consider adding salt to your pellet/vitamin mix. I don’t think a horse can access a salt block with a muzzle. Or make sure they have non-muzzle time with a salt block.
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The slots really aren’t designed to eat food like that. They do need a little bit of time without the muzzle anyway so they can access salt.
Non-muzzle time to eat whatever concentrates, and access loose salt 
I second the not being able to eat grain, if only because I forgot to take the muzzle off the fjord one day before I dumped his grain (ration balancer pellet in flat pan on the ground) and it was not a happening event. And really, if a fjord can’t find a way to eat, a way cannot be found! (He was pretty disgusted with me that day)
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Couple barns ago a feeder was too lazy to take it off for grain time- Miss mare managed to eat the grain, but she also got the muzzle stuck in her mouth. She was NOT pleased with me when I found her and fixed it. Made sure that didn’t happen again.
MyDD keeps a muzzle on her horse all year round. Otherwise he balloons. I don’t know if we have the GG in Canada, but she swears by the Best Friends with a halter. This is the only one that fits her horse or her mare (both draft crosses). Our mare wears it from May to October and manages to eat very well. she does manage to lick a salt block easily. She gets no grain.
The gelding is ridden every day or just about so gets times without, gets his salt and some grain.
She replaces the muzzle when the hole gets too big or his pasture mates decide to free him. Then she uses twine and duct tape.
