For those whose easy keepers stay “hunter fat” despite our best efforts otherwise, when do you deem it safe to remove the muzzle during turnout? I’m in Virginia and have good pasture, but surely the overgrown pony doesn’t have to wear the blessed thing all year long?
Not long before I start putting hay out (which varies wildly based on your grass situation). BUT, mine aren’t metabolic, they’re just easy keepers.
These first weeks with the freezing-not freezing temp swings makes for sugary grass. I put on my mares in early April and then remove for a bit in august because the grass really drops in sugar around me during that time. Then it’s back on until the grass goes brown.
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Sugars rise when days are sunny an dnight temps are below 40*. It doesn’t have to freeze.
Brown “dead” grass can be scary high in sugars. That’s not usually a problem for the healthy horse, and 'dead" grass isn’t necessarily enough calories to make the easy keeper fat, but it is something to just know.
I have one who legit wore a muzzle all last winter. He is an absolute Hoover.
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We go by 3 hard frosts then wait a week. We just had our third here in NEOhio.
I have now officially changed my attitude towards my covid 20 to “I’m just hunter fat” 
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What indicator/event/weather do we use? I still don’t know when it would be safe to let a horse run full- face naked.
I have had the same questions & always get answers about when it isn’t safe. Vet still hasn’t really answered, extension bulletins or my other go-to sources have articles but, again, it’s all about when NOT to graze or when to keep mask on.
I know that in with summer nights, sugar is higher in the am, when nights go below 40, then the sugar is higher in the pm. Stressed grass has a lot of sugar - drought, short/overgrazed, etc, etc etc. I don’t need this re-hashed (not to say it shouldn’t be in this thread, it is good info ) Someone tell me when I can take the thing off.
I know we need to go by the conditions & not the calendar, but I still feel like I have no answer.
Do you know why three? Is that enough to do it in for sure?
If the brown grass has sugar in it & the temps stay cool, does the sugar remain the entire time the plant is dormant? Then what?
As a biologist, let me say I hate plants.
@Hippolyta I don’t know the exact science behind it. My understanding is that will kill the grass for good and then there will be no risk of sugar fluxing depending on day/night temps. I’m not sure how the sugar in the dead grass works.
Our weather is all over the place this time of the year. This week we’ve had highs in 60’s and lows in the 30’s and a few hard frosts. A couple weeks ago we had consistent colder 40’s temps but no hard frosts. I could prob take the grazing muzzle off now as I don’t think there is any actual fescue in Charlie’s pasture right now, just sad green weedy leftovers. I’m planning to take it off him next week since we’ve had the frosts.
We have had nutty up/down temps, too. I am not convinced it won’t be in the 70s at some point in December.
Normally we are usually well on our way to consistent cold/snow, but the last 4-5 years have brought the big fluxes. It drives me crazy because Charlie’s Fjord coat comes in so early in the fall and so thick that I have to do a wider trace clip on him. Otherwise, he is a sweaty mess. I was worried last year I might have to blanket him once winter really hit which I’d rather not do with him, but I didn’t have to. I clipped earlier in the fall this year too so the clipped part already has some solid growth back at least.
At some point it’s just trial and error, based on past incidents
See above, Short of regularly testing the grass, you don’t know exactly what you have. You only know when sugars would be higher or lower than yesterday or last week, based on weather conditions/stress/etc
There’s no black and white here, that’s why you’re not getting the black and white answers you want, unfortunately. What works for Horse A may be a disaster for Horse B. Some IR horses can never have grass. Ever. While others can happily graze with a muzzle for 3 hours but not 4.
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