DAN: "I want to leave a muzzle on my pasture kept mare 24/7.
I have issues, regardless of brand, with rubbing.
Any suggestions?"
So when I actually started reading her question
about leaving her muzzle on 24/7,
I thought she was going to-- a lot of people
feel bad for leaving it on, so I thought
that's where she was going.
And I was going to reference that study you talked
about in our last video about grazing muzzles, which we can
put the link in the description for you guys
so you can check that out because a lot
of helpful information there.
But this is another one that comes up
a lot about the rubbing with some horses.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
Were there any comments on that one?
DAN: There were no comments on that one.
DR LYDIA GRAY: I thought there would
be because I get a lot of questions about muzzles.
DAN: Not on that one.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
So I do have a lot of experience with muzzles not -
somewhat as a veterinarian but mostly because my horse has
been wearing one for 10-plus years.
All right.
So let's talk muzzles.
This one is-- and she's said she has used different brands.
DAN: Correct.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So not as much for her, but for everyone else,
try different brands because they fit differently.
One thing you'll notice is like this one's an easy breathe.
So there's a large hole here for the nostrils.
But the depth of the muzzle is important.
This one my horse does not keep on
because it's simply not deep enough from the top
where it rests on its nose to here.
DAN: So he just slips right out?
DR LYDIA GRAY: He just goes and it just-- so I go out there,
and it ends up-- it's here.
He's like, this is my throat catcher.
So there's--
DAN: This catches all the hay I dropped.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
So there's another brand that is like maybe an inch more here,
and then he can keep that one on.
But so what I do is I get a muzzle, and we're past all the
trained to wear it and trained to use it
and to eat out of the little hole and all that.
So now we're just talking about fit and comfort.
And they make them pretty--
this is a nice plexi-- flexible--
I just combined two words there.
DAN: It was great.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Thank you-- material but--
so what you do is you put it on the horse.
And then you let him wear it for a little bit,
and you see where it rubs because you don't actually
know.
But you don't let it rub skin.
You notice some hair thinning, and then that's your clue, OK.
I got to pad that area up.
So we have some--
can you grab some of those things?
DAN: I can do that for sure.
DR LYDIA GRAY: One of the first things
you can pad with is fleece, and that's probably synthetic
and this is actual wool.
But we sell a variety of fleece halter--
these are all halter piece--
DAN: Attachments.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
This is a little halter for later.
But they go on here and the crown piece and other places
and so-- but they're very handy.
I also get the Miracle Collar fleece covers--
I think these are also synthetic--
because they have this larger piece here.
And that larger piece, I put--
where'd my muzzle go--
I put on here.
And actually, they rub--
I have to keep pulling this up for orientation--
they rub here because--
DAN: Oh, yeah.
DR LYDIA GRAY: --you think about their jaw keeps moving.
So this part down here.
My horse rubs actually where the ring is, this right here.
DAN: Oh, really?
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yep, and this.
So what I used at home is moleskin.
And I get moleskin from like a Walgreens or a CVS.
And it comes in little squares with a peel-off so it's sticky.
And they're almost three by four inch, and they fit perfectly.
So I put one here, and it put one on this side.
And I cover this, and I cover this.
Other things you can use are duct tape, very, very smooth--
black electrical-- well, it can be any color-- electrical tape,
because it's maybe a half-inch thick.
And it's very, very smooth.
DAN: So you can kind of customize it a little bit.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Mm-hmm.
But you, if I--
I probably will bring in and show a picture of my muzzle
because it's unrecognizable as a muzzle.
It's got so much--
DAN: Much fleece on it?
DR LYDIA GRAY: Well, fleece, if you put too much fleece
and it doesn't fit well.
It's hot also.
But there's just so much on-- there's reflectors on it.
It's like there's flags and whirligigs.
I mean-- but you just got to do what your horse needs.
And I will give one more fact about muzzles
that I learned the hard way, or I should say
Newman learned the hard way.
DAN: Yeah.
Oh.
DR LYDIA GRAY: When it gets cold, because remember,
they're--
especially if they're wearing this all the time--
they're dipping this into their tank or the trough
or whatever to drink.
The muzzle gets water on it.
It freezes to their face.
So when it gets cold, you must remove the muzzle.
Now that's a very bad time of year, dangerous time of year
for sugars in the grass.
So at that time, until the grass is dead,
you may need to bring the horse into a dry lot
or paddock or stall or something because they
can't be without their muzzle on that grass
while it's so dangerous.
DAN: Because like I was talking about our previous question,
if your horse is out overnight on grass
during this time of year where temperatures drop
a lot at night and they're drinking cold water,
that might not be the best.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Well, but it's tricky because if it's not
freezing, then they're OK.
They need that muzzle on.
But once it gets below freezing at night then,
yeah, they can't have the muzzle on and therefore--
DAN: Poor Newman.
DR LYDIA GRAY: --they can't be--
Yeah, well, it was only one time.
But look at all the people I'm helping.
DAN: Yeah, that's true.
Look at that.
I will say, though, because you did
mention you're trying different muzzles and things like that
because Newman knows how to slip out this one apparently
pretty easily.
But we do have free return shipping on sized items
here at SmartPak, so you can get different ones shipped out
to you to see how they fit on your horse
and if that brand is going to work for you.
And if it's not, send it back.
And we can send out a different one for you.
DR LYDIA GRAY: And not just brand,
but like this muzzle is all one piece.
There are muzzle baskets that just
have the halter attachments.
I have found that this doesn't fit him as well, the one unit.
But if I buy just the muzzle with the--
I think has four halter attachments--
I've got a halter that Houdini could not get out of,
and I put the basket on that halter.
And then we're good.
DAN: We should do a video of you like building Newman's custom
halter for like the how-to.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Oh, my God.
10 years, I have built this thing.
DAN: What you do is then cut moleskin, attach here.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Oh, yeah.
Hours and hours.
I feel like a little kid with a craft.
DAN: If you'd like to see that video, comment down below.