Can horses eat hay with these on? Website says they are just for grazing, but if I bought one he would need to be able to eat his morning hay while wearing it…
One of mine does a decent job of eating some hay sideways out of the wall hay rack (I will sometimes fill the racks in the pm before I open the gate to the pastures for night turn out with the muzzles on), but no, they really can’t eat hay with the muzzles properly
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Why is he getting morning hay if he is on pasture? Do you have stubble instead of grass? I think he would be fine with morning hay, as long as it wasn’t tightly packed. It will slow him way down, so he might be sharing his morning hay with someone else.
Grazing muzzles really are designed for eating grass, so that’s why websites only talk about that. But, they have definitely been used for hay. A lot is going to depend on how your horse eats. If he’s one who mashes the muzzle down and then eats whatever’s sticking through, that’s going to be really hard with hay and the GG. With regular basket-type muzzles, most people seem to cut a wider hole in the middle, but then again they aren’t also using it for pasture. You wouldn’t want to cut anything with the GG.
That said, the design of the GG is different enough it may work. Never tried it.
Is the issue that nobody will put a muzzle on before he goes out to pasture?
How many hours in the morning does he get hay?
Mine eat loose hay from the ground with no trouble. They just “slurp” the hay like spaghetti through the hole. I don’t think it would work with a hay net, though.
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Mine are able to eat some hay with it on. I would probably feel comfortable with the amount of hay they get if for an air fern mini, but I’m not sure a horse could get a healthy hay ration if that’s what you need. Even my donkeys get unrestricted time with hay every day.
My haflinger has managed to eat a little hay (like if there was some left out from the day before) while wearing her GreenGuard muzzle, but she will get frustrated and paw so it must not be very easy.
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As a follow up - I got the muzzle and he seems able to get enough hay (loose, and hay flakes are shook out into a tub) to make me feel comfortable with him wearing it all day… He actually seems perfectly content with it on, and hasn’t pouted about wearing it. I love the fit of it, it doesn’t touch his face anywhere. He has only had it on for two days so will report back once we’ve had it for a while to give an update on it.
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I hope he has abundant hay overnight that he can eat without a muzzle? Keep an eye on him and if he starts to lose weight you may need to change things.
Not only is he not getting much grass during the day he is now missing out on 99% of his morning hay. He may get a little if he works at it but he is not getting much.
That is a lot of lost calories in a day and many hours with an empty stomach.
@islgrl can we get some clarification? Your OP says he needs to be able to eat “morning hay”. Then you say you’re comfortable with him wearing it all day.
Is he needing to have his hay intake regulated, but is with horses who need all they can eat?
How many hours is he with the hay? What’s the grass situation?
I personally would never use the muzzle with hay. It’s designed to be used with grass. Hay is a different story and I think you’ll be restricting his hay intake way too much with a muzzle. Could lead to other issues with an empty stomach as well.
I use my GG muzzles with hay when necessary. Believe me, a motivated eater will figure it out.
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I’m comfortable with the “why” I’m managing him this way, and I’m working with a vet but to answer the questions that have arisen… He needs much less hay than his turnout buddies, our turnout situation is not able to be modified, the grass is very short and overgrazed but yet they are at it all day so basically getting lots of bites of tiny stressed grass sugar bombs. Horse is FAT. He gets hay at night inside. Vet wants him to weigh less. I want him to weigh less. I cannot cut back any more of his overnight hay without it being too severe. So, trying something else to really limit daytime eating while keeping forage going in.
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My mare is on night turnout, so a bit different then wearing it all day. During the winter, the field had a round bale for unlimited forage. She still wore her muzzle because, otherwise, she would do NOTHING BUT EAT for 16 hours without moving… no joke. She still got plenty of hay and ended the winter a bit heavier then when she went into it. (Thanks to decreased work load). Trust me, a motivated eater figures it out.
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Thanks for the additional info. I wasn’t questioning the Why, just trying to get more information on what “morning” hay means, how long he’d be muzzled and eating hay. So “morning hay” is really all day hay, or however long it lasts in the pasture.
At some point you can’t keep cutting food back. If he’s really that fat, it may be time to get some Thyro-L into him to help get the weight off, to lessen his chances of becoming IR, or developing laminitis. Balancing his minerals, especially to counter what may be high iron, can also help - not quickly, but over time it can make a big difference.
He was on Thyro-L last year for 3 months. It did absolutely nothing… His BCS is about 8, obviously I want to get that down… So far not IR or laminitic but I would like that always to be the case.
Is there a way to change his living situation? Some horses are just better off with no grass at all. Shelter with a large dry lot and 2 good hay meals per day may be more productive and less stressful on him?
A move did that for my mare and I didn’t short her on hay at all. Her weight loss was gradual and easily maintained . It was so easy!
Now after 4 years of that we moved again and are back to having pasture( and the weight struggle). I can see that dry lot living was much better for her all the way around.
sadly no or I would have him on a dry lot already!
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