I have a mini pony that I got last year who wore a grazing muzzle with no issues all last summer/fall. I didn’t use it during winter and she’s been pissed since I started using it this spring. She now just scrapes the dang thing off over he ears. The halter path is fully clipped and I’ve tried tying her mane to the upper part of the muzzle halter and it took her 2 hours to get it off. Any suggestions? I really want to prevent any hoof issues. I’ve tightened everything off and it doesn’t seem to matter.
A thin cheap halter crown piece, or stirrup leather, you can cut it partially through if it’s thick and sturdy, as a “mare collar” around the poll/throat latch, and then vet wrap the crown piece of your halter to that strap. That will keep it from being pulled over the ears. Loose enough for comfort of course 
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we have three miniatures … Dry Lot is the only way we can keep their weight under control. Their brain thinks they require the same grazing/feed or what ever an 18+h horse requires
They are piranhas of the pasture
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I have seen some very successful set-ups with an added neck strap.
Another thing to try is a different style of grazing muzzle. There are several styles now that your horse might find to be less obtrusive so more willing to simply deal with instead of spending time removing it.
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She’s on a dry lot at night but I won’t dry lot her 24/7 I believe she also needs the space to move around and be a horse to be happy. She’s not crazy overweight and we keep a close eye for any founder issues and none so far.
I’ll look for a halter strap to try that trick. I just went out and braided half of her forelock over the crown of the grazing muzzle to see how that works.
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I can try a different brand but our dentist only wants her in a rubber muzzle so we don’t risk her wearing her teeth. She does have an underbite and he said the harder plastic muzzles have caused issues in horses he’s worked on.
That is easy for your dentist to say but he doesn’t have to deal with the hassle on a daily basis. When they can tolerate the muzzle they don’t try to get it off. IME with muzzles.
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I’ve also seen people add a strap that goes from the crown piece of the halter to the front of the muzzle amd that seems to work.
What about something like this, but flip the forelock back over the muzzle crown & braid into the mane? I swear I saw this somewhere on a Baroque type horse with a bridle, but I can’t find it now.
that’s how the Greenguard Halter is designed. I’ve seen some DIY setups. You just have to make really sure the top or bottom can’t slide over, which could put things pulling on an ear, or sliding over to the eye.
But that setup really serves only to keep the front/top of the muzzle from sliding down, helps keep it centered over the muzzle. It doesn’t have any way of keeping the crown piece from being pulled over the ears.
another alternative is to find a halter that fits with the throad latch actually BEHIND the jaw. Almost all of them hang around or in front of the jowl
I have breakaway halters on OVER my muzzles which are Best Friend brand and I secure a halter to the muzzle. Have yet to see anyone get out of that setup. And that’s years now running.
And I duct tape the two halters together at the ring where the throatlatch strap snaps on…if you can picture that.
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ehhh I could use that same logic to say she doesn’t like wearing a muzzle so she shouldn’t have too. Long term permanent damage to her teeth isn’t something I’m willing to risk when there are other options. She can tolerate it and did for many months but figured out how to loop it on anything and pop it off over her ears.
Thank you for all of the suggestions, her muzzle does have two diagonal straps that keeps the muzzle part straight and on her face she’s slipping it over the ears. Braiding her mane over the top of the muzzle worked for a few hours then she slipped it off still and walked around with it dangling like a pretty black nylon necklace LOL. I’m going to look around and figure out a strap situation that actually stays behind her jaw the current one just hangs in front even on the tightest setting. If that doesn’t work I’ll try the halter over the muzzle.
Just know that if the throat latch of the halter still sits like most do, which is not behind the jowl, it’s still going to come off over the ears
And, it’s just so much stuff on their head and face 
Yea that’s why that’s my last option. I’d like to be able to use a flymask in summer too and that would need to go over the muzzle.
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I don’t know what brand muzzle you’re using, but my Tough 1 Easy Breathe is going on 3yo & 99.99% of the time it stays on.
I give mini a low-sugar treat - through the muzzle opening - when I put it on in the morning & he practically dives into the muzzle.
Maybe bribery will make your mare rethink muzzle removal?
He wears it from 7A to ~4P, then remains unmuzzled overnight.
My pastures cannot be called “lush” by any stretch of imagination 
But, like you, I prefer to have him out with the horses, rather than drylotted alone.
He’s slimmed down considerably on this program over 2yrs & with a switch from oats to Triple Crown Sr + the addition of Thyro-L.
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oh she dives into the muzzle and will follow me around to have me put it on. I also use a little low sugar treat in the bottom. She’s just too dang smart 
I can pick it up after she has scraped it off and walk out to her in the field and put it on no problems. She just doesn’t want to keep it on lol
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Have you looked at the GreenGuard halter? In addition to the piece that goes down from the crownpiece to the noseband, the throatlatch is a different design than most. It has two pieces from the noseband that attaches to the throatlatch and you can slide the little buckle-thing up so that it fits pretty snugly behind the jaw. That piece also works to keep the halter on.
You can use the halter even if you don’t use their muzzle.
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I didn’t describe it exactly right but you can see what I mean from this picture:
The collar part needs to be buckled snug enough to “catch” on her cheek bones so it can’t come off forward.
I went thru a similar issue with a horse who got tired of being tied to the trailer, in his stall at home, so going to the collar worked. Braiding in the mane was useless, he ripped out the hair. You could not tighten his halter enough to keep it on him! He even took off his halter and neck rope combination that we use for trailer tying!
I went to a cow collar, since he is a bigger horse. The wider collar does not fold over, so edge will catch behind his cheek bones and prevent collar moving forward. Collar has a keeper for tail of strap. I BELIEVE that a longer collar/strap tail thru keeper, is helpful in prevention of buckle getting rubbed open by a VERY determined animal. He has NOT escaped this setup since we started using it almost 14 years ago.
But collar needs to fit snugly, to catch on the cheek bones before it can come loose over the head. Stirrup strap would probably be perfect on a mini. Has a firm edge to dig in if pulled by rubbing.
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