The Best Toys for Stall Boredom

Imagine you are in a small house all day and all night. You are not able to get outside to exercise for more than an hour, maybe a few per day, and even then, it may not be the exercise you would choose for yourself. You don’t have direct contact with your friends, you can only talk with them through some sort of barrier.

Looking back to the days of the COVID-19 lockdown, none of us have to imagine this – we lived it! So we can understand how many of our horses feel if they live their lives in stalls. And just like for people, horses can get used to living in stalls. It is true that just as some people can manage shelter in place better than others, some horses can manage living in a stall better than others. It is also true that stalls have many benefits, benefits which oftentimes outweigh the risks of keeping horses outdoors. But as creatures which are designed to move around throughout the day, horses can tend to get bored if they spend most of their time in a stall. This is true whether they live in a stall full time, or whether they are on stall rest for a short period of time due to illness or injury. In today’s article, we will examine how to manage stall boredom in horses, and look at ways to help alleviate some of the boredom that your horse may be facing.

Boredom in horses often exhibits itself undesirably, in a series of behaviors known as stable vices. These behaviors include weaving, cribbing, chewing (either on themselves or on parts of the stall), pacing, pawing, and kicking. Sadly, some horses that are chronically bored develop aggressive tendencies toward humans or other horses. For more information on aggression in horses, you can check out this article we have published.

For horses who have developed stable vices, there are anti-cribbing collars, muzzles, special hobbles with chains attached for stall kicking, and bitter sprays and creams to discourage chewing. However, rather than punishing misbehavior, why not try to find a way to give your horse something fun and interesting to keep him entertained? Then you can reward behavior that is desirable, rather than punishing negative behaviors.

Read on to find out about the best toys for relieving stall boredom!

What toy would you most like to buy for your equine darlings?