How can improve my mares life? What makes horses happy?!!

[lauraheads]

Hello everyone.

I feel like I need to enrich my horses life. She is a 5yo TB type, 16h grey mare. She is a very loving horse, almost too loving. Sometimes I think that she thinks she is a human!

She hates being in the field for much longer than two hours. She is in a very stable routine, and we have tried gradual variations to see what makes her happy ( with friends and withour. . She will now settle for an hour or so when she can be next to the donkeys on the yard.

She is very sensitive and she has taken a very long time to back and still has away to go. We are now riding in the sand school and indoor. But the stables are on a busy road so hacking is out of the question. Hopefully she will be able to start going places for schooling/showing after christmas. I also dont have transport so just taking her out is very difficult just to see things.

I feel like she has a very unhealthy life for a horse. I have another horse and she lives out at night weather depending, gets lots of variation in riding and goes for long hacks and has friends in the field.

She does have two stable toys but I feel like its not enough. How can I help her get a better balance? I dont want her to turn sour due to boredom and over schooling?

Any ideas?

 

[psychick82]

is there any reason in particular why she doesn't enjoy being turned out? does she get stressed or does she just stand by the gate looking bored?

i try to put new things in the horses field to keep them entertained - they have a few large logs they can chew on and get silly over when i first put them there, a large old tractor tyre, that's it for now.

is she turned out with other horses? if she's by herself she could just be wanting the company of other horses.

you could try adding "exciting" things to her paddock like i've suggested, also put lots of small piles of hay spaced far apart so she can forage for different fibres, you could put her stable toys in the field or how about hiding treats in the field - like a big handful of carrotts in a spot she's likely to stand, then the next time put a few more a bit further away from the gate so she thinks the field is a good thing where she can find nice, exciting things.

hope this helps

 

[Porkie]

I read in a magazine about making a 'toy box' !!

Sounds daft i know but once I read it, it sounded quite a good idea..... it basically said to get a large plastic box (quite wide but not too high sided, something that would go under a bed that kind of size) and you can fill it with stuff for them to 'explore' - every time you use it you can come up with different ideas to put in there.

Start with natural things, bits of foliage, grass, twigs etc - then when they get comfortable enough with it to start exploring properly and really 'playing' add other things like plant pots, a ball, plastic bag, anything you can think of really - you can hide treats, carrots, hay etc. under or in things to encourage the natural foraging behaviour.

Obviously this should all be supervised !! and make sure everything you use is safe enough and not too small to go in the mouth - as it will !!

Not sure if that's the kind of ideas you're looking for but i thought it sounded a fun thing to try.

 

[toffeesmarty]

My mares sound just like yours. If they could they'd stay in 24/7. So much for natural horsemanship!
One of them is 24. I swear that she got an abscess in her foot last winter so that she could stay in. When it came to turning her out she would walk across the concrete yard then stop dead where we join the fields. Perhaps it is a mare thing as my three boys are quite happy out 24/7.

 

[Enfys]

I know this may not be possible, but perhaps consider building a run out pen infront of her stable so that she has the choice to be in her stable or outside in a larger area.

My horses are easy to keep happy, they just want food under their feet, some shelter, and in the case of Zeus, some over-sexed ladies in his herd. Job done.

 

[jumpthemoon]

Is there much grass in the field? I tend to find that the horses want to come in when there is no grass. Have you tried putting hay out for her? Toys in the field? Is she warm enough when she's turned out?