Title says it all 
I would normally check with my vet, but she’s had a bear of a week.
One of her minis had a fecalith surgery last week, then this week she lost another to a colic.
Both from her Island of Misfit Toys herd.
Taken over from clients who could not or would not care for them properly.
Then she had an emergency call late last night: Horse VS Car.
Only one thing she could do was euth. 
My question:
Mini goes out on my near-dead pasture from 7A to 10P, muzzled until 4P.
Pasture closed off at 10.
Horses have all day/all night access to the smaller pasture, now essentially a drylot.
I am thinking of leaving the big field open 24/7, as I used to before mini tried
to founder (caught very early, now resolved going on 2yrs).
He’d be out unmuzzled overnight, so add ~9h to his current unmuzzled 6h in that pasture + free access to the smaller.
I’m thinking once we get a measurable snow that remains on the ground, it will be safe to hang up the muzzle for the season.
What say you?
I dunno, I don’t think I personally could do 24/7 it as I’d always be worried it could trigger another episode. But my my welsh pony foundered badly last winter on a dry lot so I am completely paranoid at this point. I’ll be interested to see what others think.
I would just adjust the muzzle time so you can put it back on him for overnight pasture time.
I think it would keep me awake if he spent the night muzzled 
Right now he stays muzzled ~9h - from 7Aish to 4Pish (give or take if I feed a bit earlier AM, later PM).
Then unmuzzled from 4Pish until the following morning, so ~15h.
BUT: no access to the larger field after 10P.
I could remuzzle after feeding around 4, then remove for the night at 10.
Allowing access to both pastures, sans muzzle.
Subtracting 6h from the above 15 & increasing muzzled time by 6h.
Math is making my brain hurt, but I think it evens out timewise.
My concern is the sugar level in the grass in the big field.
Well, thanks to OldLady Brain, the experiment began last night 
I had company & when I went out at 9:30 for nightcheck, forgot to close off the field. 
Mini seems fine today, muzzle is on for his usual 9h.
It comes off at 4 & I’ll see what my Gut says about tonight…
FWIW, the big field looks pretty dead.
From what I understand, having a muzzle on for only half the time may actually result in MORE grass intake as they will binge eat in the time when they don’t have the muzzle on.
If it was me, I would leave the muzzle on 24/7 until the snow falls. Shouldn’t be too long from now haha. Otherwise, keep them muzzled while in the big pasture and leave the muzzle off in the dryer lot to give them a break.
We were typing at the same time.
24/7 is not an option.
I’d stay awake all night worrying he’d get hung up on something.
Probably a very small chance of that, but 
Neither field has much, if any, bingeworthy growth now.
Okay, well with my own way-too-easy-keeper pony I am pretty paranoid about laminitis so I wouldn’t be taking off the muzzle until the snow falls. I’d also definitely be keeping it on for that 4pm-10pm block because of what I said before about binging. Dead looking grass can often be deceiving.
Oh so true that!! (Ask me how I know!)
To keep my horses from binging in their off-muzzle time, I stall them at night with all the lower sugar summer hay they want. That’s the only way I can guarantee they’re not eating the sugar-rich roots of the grass in the pastures. They’re turned out during the day, and right now I leave them muzzle-free for about 3 hours in the morning and 1-2 hours just before I put them up for the night. I’d like to leave the muzzles off all day but we’re still getting a little green growth from all the abnormally warm weather. I’m waiting for sustained cold weather to totally stop the growth before I completely eliminate the muzzles.
My mare has been muzzled all day for the last several months due to our warmer fall weather and the grass ( while not terribly nutritious , I know by my youngster as he has thinned down ) ) still had plenty of green. She had worn a decent sized hole in her GG so I know she was getting decent grass intake.
I just removed it a week ago for her all day turnout but I still am bringing them in the dry lot at night. I just monitor her weight on a day by day but so far she is just the same.
I am sure this will work for your mini as well. If you see any sign of weight change than immediately go back to what you were doing. Mine are usually out 24/7 by now but not while I still have green.
My mini foundered one winter digging through the snow to get to the grass. I live in a part of Canada with some pretty serious snow so now I don’t let her out until the snow is hard packed.
In terms of a muzzle 24/7, they say that in 4 hours a horse can binge eat enough to make up for the time they did wear a muzzle. I tie a frayed piece of twine to the muzzle and clip the throat latch to that. This way it breaks if the muzzle gets snagged. Has only com3 off twice in the two years that I’ve been doing that.
What do people think about using a muzzle in freezing temperatures? I hear some people do that but it just sounds really uncomfortable to me.
Finally talked to my vet & she approved my plan to keep big field closed at night (from 10P), muzzle on 7A-4P.
Once we get snow that stays on the ground, muzzle comes off & big Field can stay open.
Thanks to all for your input 
