Keeping Your Horses Happy with Horse Toys

BySusan Davis

If you are reading our blog about keeping your horse happy, you are probably already quite aware of how intelligent your animals are at all ages. High intelligence means that your equine friends need regular mental stimulation just like we do to maintain emotional and intellectual health during all stages of life.

Unfortunately, your equine friends can’t talk and tell you they need some entertainment and more stimulation to prevent boredom. Instead they will act out with possibly destructive behaviors that can endanger themselves, their stable mates, and even you.

However, there are some behaviors you can watch for. If you’ve been together with your horse for a long time, you may already know what to watch out for.

What Behaviors Should You Watch For?

  • Small stalls or cramped corral areas.
  • Unwillingness to work
  • Sluggish or listless behavior
  • Repeated circling in their stall
  • Pawing the ground
  • Banging their head on the wall or beams
  • Temperament changes
  • Kicking or other aggressive behaviors
  • Chewing on posts, doors, or beams

A lack of activity, which is especially common during colder seasons when your horse may be mainly in the stable, plus lack of exercise, can increase their level of boredom even more. Less exercise or unchanging daily routines are also contributors.

Help Keep Your Horse Happy With Lifestyle Changes and Toys

One simple solution you can try is to increase your horse’s spaces to stimulate them in different ways. These include:

  • Provide a larger stall or rotate to different stalls. The larger space gives your horse more area to explore and move around. Also, a different stall periodically gives him or her more new experiences.
  • Provide a larger corral or rotate corral spaces. This gives them more and/or different turf to explore and more things to see or watch to stimulate them.

Consider additional interaction as another way to stimulate them.

  • Interaction, especially in the stall during the winter months when they can’t go outside, provides a good distraction, especially if you have small horse toys or in-stall toys to play with.
  • Consider turnout time with other animals for companionships. This could be other horses, ponies, foals, colts, or fillies, goats, or even barnyard dogs. Horses are herd animals and any kind of group activities can reduce boredom and provide positive stimulation.
  • Teaching your horse tricks or training them with various skills. Your horses will love to learn tricks, especially if you provide companionship, interaction, and treats along the way.
  • They will especially enjoy learning to pick up particular items or recognize patterns. Clicker or treat training are both useful and can help keep them interested during the training sessions.

What Kind of Horse Toys Can You Use For Stimulation?

There are a wide range of horse toys available for you to choose from. Some are better suited for use in the stall and others are best for when your horses are turned out in the corral or pasture. When choosing the best toys for your animals, be sure to consider the following factors.

  • Your horse’s age, from a young foal through the one-to-two-year-old yearling stage, and full-grown horses through to the senior horse stage.
  • Personality
  • Size
  • Environment your horse lives in (stabled, with a corral, pasture) and weather in your area
  • Ability to supervise your horse’s play time. You should actively supervise play time with toys to make sure they aren’t injured in any way. Choose toys which are safe and durable for them.

Be sure to regularly inspect toys for signs of wear and tear and replace them as needed to prevent accidents.

Common Categories of Horse Toys To Choose From

Most horse toys fall into one of 8 categories.

  • Balls
  • Tug or Pull Toys
  • Chewing Toys
  • Puzzle Toys and Feeders
  • Stall Toys and Hanging Toys
  • Stuffed Animals and Carry Toys
  • Treat Toys
  • Outdoor Toys

Additional Tips To Consider When Choosing and Using Toys

Always start with simple toys. You can gradually introduce more complex toys as your horse gets use to them. Make sure to choose toys that are the right size for your horse. Foals and smaller horses should use toys that fit their size and others should be reserved for full-sized or senior horses. Always avoid toys with small parts that could be a choking hazard (just like children, horses can choke!). This can be worse than with children because they have larger mouths to break a toy into small pieces and choke. And they can’t scream help if they are choking…

If the toys become worn or broken, replace them right away to avoid injury and supervise their play time to make sure nothing breaks during play.

There are many positive aspects play time to increase your horse’s mental stimulation. Different colors in toys are new to a horse even if they have a similar toy. Different colors and shapes intrigue animals. Flavored toys are good for nibbling. Tug or pull toys or even carry toys (think a small ball or stuffed animal) keep them entertained.

Short and Long Term Benefits Of Using Toys

Just like children, horses need play time and stimulation to be happy and healthy, and toys are a big part of keeping your horse that way.

  • Improve Mental Stimulation and Cognitive Function
  • Prevention and Reducing Boredom and Stress (have a toy on hand when the vet comes by!)
  • Reducing stress levels, especially when traveling (stall toys can easily be trailer toys, too!)
  • Increasing physical activity and exercise
  • Strengthen bonds between you and your horses
  • Increase interest and stimulation by improving their environment
  • Improving overall health and wellbeing

What To Watch For If Your Horse Continues To Demonstrate Boredom Behaviors

If your beloved animal doesn’t improve, check with your vet. Bored or stressed behaviors can be symptoms of something more serious. Your horse may need some professional assessment and if something is wrong, treatment of the underlying problem.