DEUT1432 Let us analyze this. The interdict against muzzling applies to all animals. If so, let it be written: "You shall not thresh with muzzling." Why does Scripture specify "an ox"? To liken the muzzler [i.e., a man] to the muzzled [i.e., an animal], and the muzzled to the muzzler, viz.: Just as the muzzler [a hired laborer] it Is permitted to eat of what is rooted in the ground, so the muzzled must be permitted to eat of what is rooted in the ground; and just as the muzzled eats of what is "torn" [from the ground, i.e., the "threshing"], so, the muzzler must be permitted to eat of what is "torn" [if that is what he is working with] (Bava Metzia 89a)