| Hooked on Horses By Carolyn Miller #Boredom It’s raining. Mud grabs at your boots and hangs on for dear life. Everything around you is wet and dirty and there in that pasture stands your horse, staring dolefully at the ground. He stands there day after day then in his stall he stands night after night. Does this paint a boring picture? It does for the horse. Horses get bored and when they get bored, they often get into trouble, i.e. challenging fences, trying to get into the barn, chewing on things they shouldn’t, knocking things over, picking on each other. Here are a few things that I’ve found keep them happy through a long, dreary winter: 1. A horse is the happiest when it can graze all day, so instead of feeding the horse a lot of food twice a day, feeding a little bit all day is pretty close to grazing. 2. Rotate pastures; either through the day or every other day, whatever might fit circumstances best. 3. Keep the horse someplace where he can see any daily activity that might go on; near the barn, the house, a neighbor’s house, or near a road. 4. Provide him with a toy like a big colorful ball to mess around with. 5. If the horse has to spend a lot of time in his stall, try hanging three gallon milk jugs (empty of course ?), painting them with molasses, and then sticking grain to that. If you make sure the jug can swing, and that the horse can’t pin it against anything, it may create more of a challenge as they try and lick the jug clean. Of course if you can get out and work with him, that would ultimately be the very best! Carolyn Miller |
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