Spring Grass in the Sandhills

[cberry]

Hi all, so I purchased 2 different grazing muzzles (greengaurd and a best friend). I am attempting to introduce them to my squirrel of a gelding and so far not great…picture a dog trying to get something off its nose but 2 hooves leaping in the air… and I do not forsee this changing soon enough. And yes, I am going to talk to my vet, but was curious on others thoughts.

My gelding is coming 6. I have not had to muzzle him before but the pastures he has been on were okay at best prior. He is currently on day turn out for a minimum of 6-7 hours and ridden 5 days or so a week. He keeps easy on a ration balancer, beet pulp and free choice orchard hay. Spring grass is slowly coming in, in his maybe .25 acre paddock where he is also given hay. The grass going to be fertilized is bermuda.

He will remain in this pasture as the spring grass comes in but I am wanting to transition him to night turn out which means more turn out time (in same paddock). Is keeping him in the same pasture as the spring grass grows in going to acclimate him to the new growth? I am not sure muzzling him will work out well for us and want to maintain his current weight. I know NSC levels are lower at night so that may also be a benefit to night turn out as well.

Just curious what others do for their easy keepers in the NC ish areas for this time of year. He is at a boarding facility that has at least 25 horses.

[OzarksRider]

Don’t despair because your gelding hasn’t adjusted to his muzzle yet. When I introduced my horse to his Greenguard muzzle I thought he would never get it. It was agonizing to see him moping in the field or pawing at his face, starving to death, and it was all my fault. It took persistence and a hard, hard heart, but he finally started eating. It took a couple of weeks, though.

I think one reason my horse had such a hard time with it was that he had been used to a traditional basket style muzzle. The technique for eating with a Greenguard muzzle is different from a basket muzzle. So one thing I would suggest is that you pick one muzzle and stick with it until your horse learns to use it.

I prefer the Greenguard muzzle for several reasons. First, it fits looser and is lighter than a basket muzzle, so it’s cooler in the hot summer months. Second, I’ve never had a rub from the Greenguard muzzle. And third, it lasts a lot longer than any basket muzzle I’ve used.

GG Equine (https://www.gg-equine.com/ ) has excellent information on their website about fitting the muzzle, introducing it to your horse, and solving common problems.

Keep in mind that a horse can’t eat through a muzzle if the grass is too short, and this could be causing some of the frustration. Where I am the grass is starting to turn green but it’s still too short to go through the slots on the muzzle, so my horses are bare faced for now. I expect they’ll be in their muzzles within the next week or so. I also expect that for a couple of weeks the horses will spend an hour or so every day trying to take off each others’ muzzles. But I will have no mercy.

Hang in there cberry. You are being a good horseperson. I know it’s tough love, but it’s the right thing to do.

[Melissa.Van_Doren]

Grass sugars build throughout the day, and are then depleted overnight. So the HIGHEST sugar concentrations are found in the early evening until about midnight, and the lowest sugar concentrations are found in the very early morning hours until about 10am (when the build-sugars cycle is in full swing again).

For more precise, research-based info: www.safergrass.org

I have a gelding who must be muzzled during the Spring and Fall (and other times of wildly growing or stressed grass). He hates it. I hate it. But we both survive it just fine.

I started with a Best Friend muzzle, which needed some strategic padding to prevent rubs.
I changed to a GreenGuard, but he got too much grass through all the slots and distorted the shape of the muzzle with his constant attempts to take it off.
I changed to a Flexible Filly (ThinLine) and he tore it overnight by placing his foot on it and lifting his head. I tried a couple different ways of securing it, with the same results. (The softer plastic which makes it more comfortable also makes it too fragile for this guy.)
So now we’re back to the Best Friend Deluxe, attached to a wide leather collar to keep him from scraping the crown piece off over his ears.

It didn’t take him any time at all to acclimate to the muzzles since eating is his favorite activity, but I have seen some horses really object to them. One in particular was much happier after I clipped his muzzle whiskers - which is Not something I do to any horse, but in this case it removed the stimulus he found objectionable and he was happily grazing within minutes.

[candyappy]

1/4 acre won’t have grass for long. Are you sure he even needs a muzzle? Cut out the free choice hay while the grass is growing may be all you need to do to maintain his weight.

Once the grass is depleted you can add more hay to his daily diet.

[cberry]

We just finished a lovely 8 weeks of ulcer treatment, but I did think of this!

[candyappy]

@cberry

We just finished a lovely 8 weeks of ulcer treatment, but I did think of this!

Then just keep his pasture mowed short and keep things as usual.

Easily done with a lawn mower.