Muzzle OR dry lot-which do you prefer?

[LMH]

My dry lot is about an acre-has a creek, lots of hills and now, no grass.

My horses go in there during the day.

I let the healthy horses on pasture by night.

I have been dry lotting Polo and the minis all night as well and giving hay...

BUT I am wondering...would muzzles and grass and different scenery be better?

So my question is which option do you like and why:

1. dry lot by day with all horses/ hay as needed. THEN dry lot by night with more hay

2. dry lot 12 hours with hay/muzzle 12 hours with grass

The biggest difference is manure management-getting them out and about means the mannure won't pile up.

The second upside is less hay cost. I have PLENTY of pasture.

The downside is catching the donks to be muzzled.:eek:..and well nose jail.

I am certain they would be ok hoof wise with muzzles. It is just a matter of preference.

[Pely]

I would not trust my pony to keep her muzzle on all day. She is on a dry lot and stabled at night for safety.

[Donkaloosa]

I had to muzzle my mare when she was out on pasture during the day (she was stalled at night), and there was no problem at all with it. Since she was a rather opinionated Appy mare, I honestly thought that she'd throw a major fit about the muzzle. But she adapted to it in no time, still got to graze and be with her buddies.

I'd vote for dry lot by day, pasture by night.

Donk

[bf1]

I am puzzled also (my post yesterday!). And also about muzzling the donks - they say to never,ever leave a halter on a donkey - so how does one muzzle? So I have decided to just move them for a few hours a day - they are so smart that one crack of the lunge whip and off they go, bucking and farting - back to the smaller dry lot for the night! I figure they get some exercise that way too.

[grayarabpony]

Second option, muzzle with breakaway halter.

[BornToRide]

Both - I like to give my IR prone mini as much turnout and natural movemement as possible and we use a muzzle for that if necessary. The rest of the time he's in a drylot.

Ideally all horses should have a set up like Jaime Jackson's paddock paradies that encourage and maximizes movement all day.

Good grazing muzzles are designed to break away if the horse gets caught on something.

[smay]

...on grass if they removed their muzzle, then you ought to play it safe and keep them drylotted or stalled at night. MOST horses/ponies can and WILL remove their muzzle, especially the "safety" ones at their earliest opportunity. I'd hate to have my pony out on pasture at night, when I can't MONITOR the little rascal, because it would be then that he escapes from nose jail!

[BornToRide]

I agree - they would only be out on pasture with my frequent supervision too :yes:

[grayarabpony]

...on grass if they removed their muzzle, then you ought to play it safe and keep them drylotted or stalled at night. MOST horses/ponies can and WILL remove their muzzle, especially the "safety" ones at their earliest opportunity. I'd hate to have my pony out on pasture at night, when I can't MONITOR the little rascal, because it would be then that he escapes from nose jail!

My pony has worn a grazing muzzle for the last 5 years. The first one had 4plastic pieces that connected in 2 places at the top and bottom of the muzzle, and the second one has double velcro in 4 places. She's never gotten either one of them off.

[BornToRide]

You are lucky. My mini needed a serious bridle path to make it stay on. He was VERY good at removing it.

[JSwan]

Muzzle.

They make muzzles that are one piece units - no clipping them onto a halter.

Don't know how well they stay on though, especially on donkeys. Those guys are pretty creative.

Good luck.

[aspenlucas]

I am puzzled also (my post yesterday!). And also about muzzling the donks - they say to never,ever leave a halter on a donkey - so how does one muzzle? So I have decided to just move them for a few hours a day - they are so smart that one crack of the lunge whip and off they go, bucking and farting - back to the smaller dry lot for the night! I figure they get some exercise that way too.
Why can't a donkey wear a halter? I adopted a foundered donkey and she comes in at night with hay and water and during the day is turned out with a muzzle. She wears a cheap leather halter 24 hours a day, makes it quicker to put her muzzle on. I'd think having donkeys and horses that a donkey that got caught on something would be smarter then a horse. That being said, I have two animals I need to muzzle and I had the same dilema, they took to the muzzles quickly and I opted for turnout and socialization.

[Nicker]

Muzzle.

They make muzzles that are one piece units - no clipping them onto a halter.

Don't know how well they stay on though, especially on donkeys. Those guys are pretty creative.

Good luck.

JME, but the ones that clip to the halter stay on MUCH better. I've found the one piece units to be very hard to adjust to fit properly. Some would get their nose over the basket and end up with the thing dangling around their neck. At least they didn't lose it, but getting a hoof in it was a huge concern.

Personally if the pony is high risk then I'd dry lot. If it's more for weight control then muzzle.
I don't know how many of the one piece units are forever lost out in the field. There must be some sort of black hole out there that just sucks them up within minutes. I eventually run over lost articles with the lawn mower, but I've yet to run over any of the missing muzzles.

[monstrpony]

My donkeys have worn grazing muzzles in the summer for the past three years. I use the one-piece kind. They stand patiently in the morning to have the muzzles put on, and have, so far, not removed the muzzles without my assistance. My QH, on the other hand, removes his own muzzle and then everyone else's :rolleyes: if I try to make him wear one. So, he gets no muzzle but also no fly mask, so he has to retreat to the run-in barn for a while during the day to avoid the bugs.

Having said that, of course, I will go home today and find that they donks have broken their muzzles and I will never be able to catch them to put the new ones I'll have to buy on their fuzzy heads. So I hope you appreciate my input here!

Having said that, I would not depend on a muzzle, if it were a matter of foundering or not, unless/until I'm pretty confident that the critter in question will wear the muzzle tolerably. Otherwise, under at least periodic supervision only. So maybe your best bet is pasture w/muzzles during the day and dry lot at night?

[grayarabpony]

You are lucky. My mini needed a serious bridle path to make it stay on. He was VERY good at removing it.

I don't know if it's just luck. The double velcro is hard to remove without fingers (it'd be a different story if the horse could get its teeth on it), and the plastic would have also involved crushing the muzzle, which would hurt the horse's face.

[JB]

In my case, the muzzle-only piece that attaches to the horse's own halter stays on MUCH better. I have not found an all-in-one where the throatlatch did not come down sooooo far. That leaves the horse the very, very easy option of just rubbing the crownpiece over his head, and voila, freedom. My WB gelding figured out all he had to do was lie down and rub his head on the ground a few times and off it would come.

I realize it's probably designed that way as an extra safety measure, but really, I rely on the leather crownpiece for that.

I think I actually heard someone a while ago say they tied the crownpiece to their horse's mane - that would solve that! Or else he'd be so mad at not being able to get it off he'd end up pulling mane out as well :eek:

It really does come down to how comfortable you are with the horses who could suffer with too much grass being out there, unsupervised, escaping from their muzzle, stuffing down grass for 8 hours.

Is there a reason you couldn't do muzzle/pasture by day and dry lot/hay at night?

[LMH]

Because the grass is higher in sugar during the day?

That was my thinking...but now that I think about it.:confused:

I just thought of night grass as safer grass?

Also the dry lot houses the other 3 by day and grass by night-so it means all in one spot by day, move 3 to grass and fling open a gate to grass for the muzzle 3.

I guess just a matter of moving around less horses if I go with muzzles by night.

I will have to ponder that.

I hate muzzles. I really really hate muzzles and drylots.

[monstrpony]

I have not found an all-in-one where the throatlatch did not come down sooooo far. That leaves the horse the very, very easy option of just rubbing the crownpiece over his head, and voila, freedom.

This is what my QH did, as well. But I guess it doesn't work for the longears because of, well, their long ears.

[JB]

Perhaps it comes down to what time of day you'd rotate.

All else equal, grass is highest in sugar when the sun goes down. The levels start dropping, becoming lowest around 3-4am, and remain there until around 9-10am, depending on the time of year and whether the sun is actually showing. If they're on grass, muzzled, all night, they start out eating the highest-sugar grass. If they are on grass, muzzled, all day, they end the day eating the highest sugar grass.

Now, if your "day" is 8am-5pm, their time on grass less than 12 hours, so likely they consume less total sugar than if they are on grass from 5pm-8am.

[MSP]

I use a muzzle on my pony. First day she got it off so I attempted to keep her off pasture completely. She ripped apart my steel fence panels to the point I had no other immediate option but to try the muzzle again. I fit it on a little more snug than the first time and so far so good. She has not gotten it off again and her feet look good.

She is out during the day and in her stall/small paddock at night with soaked hay. She is very happy now and so am I!

[deltawave]

There are pros and cons to each option.

On the one hand, my pony gets a LOT more moving around when she's out "grazing" with her muzzle on. She moves almost constantly, looking for that elusive patch of grass that's easy to gobble. :)

On the other hand, she's getting grass instead of the "known entity" of nice, safe hay.

On the other hand, she tends to GOBBLE the hay down.

On the other hand, the muzzle is tight and no doubt just a little bit uncomfortable and I have to be vigilant for rubbing.

On the other hand, she comes cheerfully to get the muzzle on because she knows that means PASTURE TIME.

On the other hand, she tries to get it off at every opportunity.

On the other hand, watching her buck and play in the pasture is infinitely nicer than watching her stand in the dirt paddock all day doing nothing but STAND THERE.

[BuddyRoo]

Honestly? for my mare, I'd prefer dry lot over the muzzle.

I had the best friends grazing muzzle (one piece) and added the optional fleece stuff.

She didn't take issue with wearing it, didn't remove it....but. But. She chewed through it.

The benefits of a grazing muzzle and bigger turnout are:
1) more movement
2) gets to be with buddies
3) saves hay

Benefits to dry lot:
1) Totally controlled diet
2) no rubs from the muzzle
3) if you spread out their hay ration all over the turnout, they move around more.

If I had a horse who was really prone to laminitis or needed serious weight reduction, I'd dry lot 24/7 over using a muzzle. It's the only way you know EXACTLY what they're getting.

[MSP]

Here is the muzzle that I got for the pony http://www.horse.com/Farm-Ranch-Supplies/Cribbing-Chewing-Control/Grazing-Muzzle-with-Halter-BRK61.html

It has a Velcro breakaway and adjust everywhere for a nice snug fit. It is a lot lighter than the deluxe muzzle also.

$20 and I like it much better than the Deluxe $54 one I had got for my mare. The one I can't use on her because it rubs her raw no matter how much I pad it.

One other thing about my pasture that may be helping is I rested it over the summer. It kept my mare from getting obese and allowed the pasture grass to grow long. I understand this can help reduce sugar.

[JB]

Here is the muzzle that I got for the pony http://www.horse.com/Farm-Ranch-Supplies/Cribbing-Chewing-Control/Grazing-Muzzle-with-Halter-BRK61.html


For my boarder's horse, who is muzzled 24/7 for at least a month, sometimes more, depending on the rain, each Spring/Summer, I MUCH prefer this muzzle. He doesn't pull anything off over his ears, so the style isn't an issue. But, this one is SO much lighter than a Best Friend's muzzle (of either variety), and does not cause NEARLY the rubbing that a BF did. Plus, I can't stand the thought of all the weight of a BF muzzle hanging off his poll 22 hours a day (he's really inside about 2 hours each morning for breakfast).

Unfortunately, this one doesn't come big enough for my WB :( So I have to resort to the best fit, which is the muzzle attached to his halter. Heavy. But, he's in it 12 hours a day at most.

[theoldgreymare]

Another fan of the generic horse.com muzzle here. Our ponies get super cranky on dry lot and tend to stand there and sulk. I think it's better for them mentally, physically and socially to stay with the "herd" and "graze" but we went through muzzles at an alarming rate until I found the horse.com muzzles. I don't think they are any sturdier that the BF brand (had them too) but the little guys don't fuss with them as much because they they are lighter so they stay put and don't get destoyed. I bought four two years ago (two as back up) and are still on the first two. I wm really surprised at how well they held up.

[Roan]

That's exactly the same as the Best Friends one-piece muzzle (except for the size) that I have for my mare. I have hers covered with sheepskin, top and bottom, so that it is as tight as is comfortable and doesn't rub.

Hers is wearing a little thin and the hole is getting bigger, so she'll need a new one in the spring.

Eileen

[JB]

Roan, the design is the same but it's not the same. It's not quite as sturdy, but I'd guess it's half the weight. Really. And, at less than half the price of the BF, one can do some horses a real favor by using it and just buying 2 of they eat the first one :)

[Roan]

Roan, the design is the same but it's not the same. It's not quite as sturdy, but I'd guess it's half the weight. Really. And, at less than half the price of the BF, one can do some horses a real favor by using it and just buying 2 of they eat the first one :)

Ah, didn't realize that and wondered when I saw the price.

Eileen

[KSAQHA]

Here is the muzzle that I got for the pony http://www.horse.com/Farm-Ranch-Supplies/Cribbing-Chewing-Control/Grazing-Muzzle-with-Halter-BRK61.html
I used the same one on a fat pony for over 5 years (during grazing season), and not once was he able to get it off. The rubber muzzle did start to wear after all that time, but for little money, it lasted a lot longer than I expected.

I want to order another for a fat horse, but that size is currently out of stock. wahhhh!