Box Rest Boredome Buster Ideas please ?

[Spangles]

Apart from fruit and veg kebabs and a mirror, what have you used to help ease boredom ? Horse is very good but I feel mean that for the next month or so we have to enforce box rest.

Any unusual suggestions ? Tried and tested ideas ?

 

[pistolpete]

Can you put him in a stable sized outdoor pen? I like putting hay in different places. Some in a bucket some in a net on the floor mine wasn’t shod. Also split any feed into two or three buckets. Leave them in so they can lick them clean kick them about! Pick cow parsley and cleavers put in large holes haynet. Hay blocks. Good luck.

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

Likit treat ball, mine loves his and looks out for it every night and chooses it over his dinner. He has a portion of his evening pasture cubes in it

 

[Skib]

When I was an elderly helper on a yard, I would groom any box rest horse. Omitting the injured leg or area. I am old and slow and love grooming and I talk to the horses, but I also believe that being groomed should be regarded as work for the horse. It occupies their brain. So twice a day was fine. Not to clean the horse but for company.

 

[VioletStripe]

Treatball, hay blocks, a broom head mounted so they can groom and scratch themselves on it - you can also get wall-mounted rubber scratch pad things but I have no experience of these! I know lots of horses like those jolly balls that they can push and play with but unless there's a reward of some kind, my boy really can't see the point

I know lots of horses like having the radio on during the day while others are out too.

 

[Annagain]

Sometimes not stimulating them too much is better. Plenty of hay (assuming it's not a metabolic issue) and peace and quiet is often the way to go.

 

[cauda equina]

If possible, another horse for company

 

[Quigleyandme]

Can you still buy Uncle Jimmy’s hanging balls? They did a low sugar version and they are quite big and solid so a challenge to get a purchase on. We used to hang them from the rafters and my pony soon learned to duck as it swung towards him so he got a bit of a workout and added stimulation. Whole swedes on the floor are good too. As pistolpete said, feeding a bunch of cow parsley, dandelion, cleavers and milk thistle will be well received and I agree with Skib too about grooming and attention.

 

[SpotsandBays]

When mine was on “barn test” for a couple of months (I put him in the old cow barn which was considerably bigger so he could move around a lot), I put up multiple haynets (each net using hay from a different bale) so he could pick and choose. Some hay on the floor also. Treat ball, jolly ball, and buckets. (Hes very playful and loves chucking a bucket about). Salt lick, hanging lick, swede on a rope.

 

[QuantockHills]

not too much of the treat balls, likkit's etc as they often contain lots of calories! I made this mistake and mine put on a lot of weight over 6 weeks... because I 'felt sorry' for him..... hay in multiple nets, I leave the radio on and gave dried sticking nettles and cow parsley to pick at.... good luck!

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

Hayball? No extra calories.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10160903202619377

Apples in the water bucket if the horse understands (mine doesn’t!)

 

[laura_nash]

Hayball? No extra calories.

Apples in the water bucket if the horse understands (mine doesn’t!)

Be careful with apples in the water bucket, I knew one that figured out if she drank the whole bucket she could eat the apple and my cob just throws the bucket over and floods the stable.

Hazel, rose and hawthorn branches went down well with mine.

 

[SantaVera]

carboard box loosely closed with hay and afew low sugar treats mixed in.

 

[canteron]

I used to tie up huge bunches of bamboo in the stable (has to be tied tightly in at least 2 points) so the horse could ‘graze’ on it.

I had a huge bamboo so this was a good way of pruning it - but apple branches are also good, they like the bark!!

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

Be careful with apples in the water bucket, I knew one that figured out if she drank the whole bucket she could eat the apple and my cob just throws the bucket over and floods the stable.

Hazel, rose and hawthorn branches went down well with mine.

I‘m quite the expert at flooding the stable on my own, thought I’d turned off the tap after filling up the water bottle I use to wet his feeds, went off to stuff the hayball, came back to water pouring out of the door. ??‍

A good one for me is just to sit in the stable with him, he goes from hay to sniffling in my pockets for treats.