Recent research has revealed that grazing muzzles are effective in reducing the amount of grass eaten by ponies and horses by as much as 80 to 83 percent. This confirms that grazing muzzles are a management option horse owners can use to reduce forage intake while still allowing pasture turnout.
Using a grazing muzzle appears to be more effective than restricting access to pasture, for reducing the amount of grass eaten by ponies and horses making their use a boon to horse owners who have horses that are susceptible to obesity and related disorders such as insulin resistance and laminitis.
In the past, reducing pasture time, was the main management tool for many pony and horse owners.
Use of a grazing muzzle may not completely solve the overeating problem, however, since some ponies appeared to adapty their grazing behavior to eating more in a short time span.
For this reason, the use of a grazing muzzle could be a much more effective and reliable solution if used appropriately. Grazing muzzles significantly reduce bite size and intake. Anecdotally, ponies fitted with grazing muzzles spend a greater proportion of time engaging in foraging and eating directed behaviours than their non-muzzled counterparts
Grazing muzzles must be used with care, should be properly fitted and horses and ponies should be adapted gradually to wearing them. Group and individual behaviour should be monitored closely to observe any potential concerns caused by changes to the herd dynamics. Total exclusion muzzles are not advised.
For more details see:
A Longland, P Harris, C Barfoot, (2011) The effect of wearing a grazing muzzle vs not wearing a grazing muzzle on pasture dry matter intake by ponies. J Equine Veterinary Science 31: 282-283
J. Ince, A. Longland, C. J. Newbold, & P. Harris.(2011) Changes in proportions of dry matter intakes by ponies with access to pasture and haylage for 3 and 20 hours per day respectively for six weeks. J Equine Veterinary Science 31: 283
Information taken from press release, edited.