I board a horse who can’t be fed with any other horse because he eats his food so fast. He is a small quarter horse gelding, and an easy keeper, and doesn’t need to be any fatter than he is. We are in California, so the horses are on dry lot and fed hay. I have had to put him in a field by himself, which to say the least, is inconvenient. Any horse he is with can’t eat with his pure speed, so doesn’t get enough to eat. I like his owner so I haven’t wanted to ask her to leave. Can anyone recommend a slow feed muzzle? We tried a slow feed hay net, which didn’t work for him.
Not for hay, really. Why wont a slow feed bag work?
I think any grazing muzzle would work fine. Does someone you know have some different styles you can try to see what works best for him? (Don’t want you buying something until you know it will work.)
I like the Greenguard grazing muzzle.
We tried a slow feed bag, and he managed to get through it in no time.
My mare wore a GreenGuard muzzle all summer for the grass and I liked it a lot. A vet told me it would be totally fine to use throughout the winter as well to control the amount of hay she gets outside… I haven’t decided yet.
Hay Chix makes a 1" bag that slows them down considerably. My guy learned how to master it though. It does slow him down, but not for more than a few hours.
My hesitation with a muzzle is that hay lays flat in front of their mouth, for the most part. Its parallel. Grass, however, stands up and pokes through much more, as it is perpendicular.
The problem with going with the small(er) hole hay bag (which I love and use with my horses so I am not anti hay bag) is that the OP is trying to figure out a way to slow down one horse in a group, not all the horses.
Using a grazing muzzle on hay does complicate the eating process some but most horses figure it out just fine.
While inconvenient to keep him by himself I would do that over making him try to eat hay while wearing any kind of grazing muzzle. I don’t know if they make a type of muzzle for hay consumption or not.
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My concern is eating hay with a muzzle as well, because the hay lies flat. The GreenGuard is probably the most promising looking of the muzzles. He is so motivated to eat I suspect he would figure it out.
True. Wasn’t reading closely. Good point.
My ponies are in muzzles & they sometimes steal hay from nets while wearing them.
So, try a muzzle. Type would be up to you, as some are expensive, but fragile.
My mare wears a GG and I don’t see how they can get anything but a random sprig of hay to eat when wearing it. If the grass is overly tall my mare will stay with the short stuff because she can’t get anything significant . They have to push the muzzle down flat so the short grass can poke through.
I know my mare would be a frustrated mess trying to eat hay and To be honest I wouldn’t be able to get it back on her after a day or 2 of her trying.
Maybe something like a cribbing muzzle? They are so darn heavy though.
I have Greenguards for my two square air fern QHs and 10 hand pony and love them. The one particularly square QH whose jaws never stop moving has worn his in the winter with a round bale in his field. The other two are managable with free choice hay from the roundbale; the one QH literally would not stop eating, so the Greenguard muzzle was a great solution that still allowed us to feed round bales and for the other two to eat free choice.
I think it the situation that the OP is talking about; where her easy keeper needs to be fed with other horses, it’s an ideal solution.
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