HOW TO KEEP YOUR HORSE AMUSED:
There are lots of horse toys on the market, but what does your horse really like to play with?
Tom & Henry have never suffered prolonged box-rest thank goodness, so the toys they have are there purely for random amusement.
The first 'toys' they had were sections of a tree for us to sit on in the yard whilst having a nice cuppa. These quickly became a source of much amusement and activity, as the boys kicked them around their yard, and thus inventing: 'hoof-log'. Also great for chewing and biting.
Make sure you know which tree yours comes from, remember some could be poisonous.
Then I bought them some 'footballs' because they obviously like using their feet to move things about. These are strong plastic purple giant pill-shaped balls with a central cavity to fill with herbal horse-treats. You can see them in the corner of my yard. Of course the boys love anything that dishes out food, so naturally these became their favourite. I only fill them up a couple of times a year, remember their waistlines!
Spending time indoors can be rough on horses, and Tom & Henry are no exception to getting bored. They only spend a few hours a night, in bad weather during the coldest winter months, from late evening to early morning in their stables.
But I do a few things my 2 like you might want to try with your own horse:
T&H have haybars in their stables, but during the winter I'll hang a small haynet outside their stables, alternating sides each night, so they can leisurely munch whilst looking outside, and of course they can see each other and have a chat.
Also outside we bought some rubber toys designed for large dogs, because Tom loves chewing things., and Henry joins in. They are small tires, totally safe to chew, with some rubber rings, which they hold in their teeth, one horse at each end and play tug of war with!!! I kid you not. And we hung them outside their doors in cotton lead ropes, coiled around itself like we were taught to store them at Pony Club. So they can reach them when their doors are shut, and also when they're just hanging around in their yard.
Food is always a great amuser. I bought them some sugar-free Jimmy's Hanging Balls, and the boys love them!! They don't stand licking and biting them until their gone either, they nibble then go, so a couple of balls, I always put them up 2 at a time, last at least a month. Again, these aren't always available to them, so it's a nice surprise when they are.
They're either making a love heart or a model of the Isle of Wight!!?
These balls come in several flavours, I prefer the sugar free ones, horses aren't designed to eat refined sugar and neither should their teeth be subjected to a sugary assault.
Tom & Henry love their hanging treats, and spend ages licking them.
John bought them a yoga ball, hilarious, a giant silver inflatable ball, very strong. I was certain they'd hate and avoid at all costs.....wrong! the boys went straight up to it, Tom tried to get his teeth round it, and Henry put his foot on it. Suffice it to say, it did not survive very long, it was deflated within a month, whether chewed or stamped on we will never know, but one day I will buy them another, because the amusement it gave them was priceless, they kicked that thing all round their fields from one to another. I never found it the next day in the same field as the last.
Jumps: John has built a tiny rustic cross country jump for their field. It stands on blocks with a shallow scoop where the log pole sits. The boys kick the pole off the blocks, roll it on the blocks walk over the jump, chew the jump and generally love to play with it.
Try to add some fun into your field, just a simple heavy log will do. Make sure it can't hurt them and of course make certain it's not poisonous because your horse will chew it I guarantee it. If it's very heavy make certain they can't roll it this might cause injury - I prefer a log similar in weight and size to a show-jump pole, so when the move it about, it can do no harm.
Be inventive, your horse will love it, randomly add things and take them away for a while, this'll get them used to strange things appearing, and eventually they wont care about strange, hopefully this will help you out riding too.
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