Use a Grazing Muzzle to Reduce Forage Intake in Horses

Management of an overweight or obese equine often involves restricting the amount of grain and forage eaten by the horse. It’s fairly easy to cut concentrates from the horse’s diet, supplying necessary vitamins and minerals by using a ration balancer or nutritional supplement that supplies only a few calories.

Options for restricting the intake of hay or pasture are somewhat more complicated. Stall confinement keeps a horse from grazing, but boredom, loneliness, and a lack of free exercise can lead to stable vices like cribbing or weaving. Access to a drylot allows the horse a bit more room to move around, but still isn’t an ideal solution for an animal that is most contented when other horses are nearby.

Use of a grazing muzzle seems to be a reasonable choice for several reasons. While wearing a grazing muzzle, a horse can be turned out on pasture so he can move freely and socialize with his pals, but can eat only small bites of grass. A determined horse can still ingest a fair amount of forage through the hole in a grazing muzzle, but overall intake is usually reduced significantly over what he would eat without the muzzle. Most horses adapt quickly to the muzzle, but owners should check on muzzled horses often for the first few days to be sure the muzzle is adjusted so that it can’t be pushed aside.

A sympathetic owner might be tempted to utilize a grazing muzzle for several hours and then give the horse a few hours of unmuzzled grazing time. However, several studies using Miniature Horses have shown that equines quickly learn to make the most of any chance to eat when they are not wearing a grazing muzzle, making up for a perceived shortage by quickly gobbling all the grass they can find in a short amount of time. Gorging on forage can more than make up for the reduced intake caused by muzzling, and an overfilled stomach can lead to colic. A compromise is to allow the horse muzzled turnout, alternating with unmuzzled time in a stall or dry lot with medium-quality hay to nibble.

Muzzles are designed to allow the horse to drink freely, and owners should be sure that the horse always has access to fresh, clean water.