Jolly Balls and other horse toys...........

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mandk

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Has anyone tried their horse with a Jolly Ball? - or maybe a football?? ...... did they play with it or just ignore it?

I am getting lots of entertainment in for my new 11month old foalie (
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) - as he has been with 15 other foals of the same age and will for the time being be in his own paddock with our other horses in view......

He will have a salt lick, likits & boredom breaker, horsehage (well it is sort of enterainment!), decahedron, will be hanging sweeds up etc and was looking at Jolly Balls.........
None of my other horses would be interested unless there was food involved!

Anyone got any ideas?
 
Do you know I did think of a space hopper! !
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lol!

- have you tried yours with one?
- do you think they would stand up to a young horses teeth and feet etc?
- would you go for a kids one or you can get adults?!!
 
My filly has a space hopper & loves it!! She hasn't damaged it in anyway as it isn't blown up completely - well worth watching them play with it - very sweet!
 
- have you tried yours with one?

Yes Sol plays with a kiddies one in her stable
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- do you think they would stand up to a young horses teeth and feet etc?

Sol is nearly 17hh and she stampted(sp) on it and its survived

- would you go for a kids one or you can get adults?!!

You can get both , Sol has a kids one as the adults one was too big for her stable
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Take the lid off an empty lemonade/coke bottle, tie some string round the neck, skewer some carrots/parsnips/apples/swedes on it and hang up!
Hours of fun, and mine plays with the bottle when the veg has gone
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I bought a gymball which she thought was great but got too excited, tried to lay/sit on it and ended up rolling over the top and tried to break her neck - may just be mine though!!

She also has a jolly ball but mainly ignores it so I hung it up & smear it with banana occasionally.
 
Theresa_F is that a kids space hopper or adults & how big are your 2?........... just do not know if an adults on will be too big for my baby boy?
 
Mr M used to love those bright orange things....urh cant remember what they call them, had a stupid grin on them, with little antennas that stuck out of the top that you hold on to, and bounce around on them, SPACE HOPPERS...that's what there called.
Our YO son had one, a giant one and we used to turn him out in the school and he used to love playing foot ball and kicking it about,

Nothing to do with me hopping about on it, really!
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He also likes his decahedron ball, although its banned now because he just trashes his bedding kicking it around his stable, try an apple in the water bucket.
 
Gave my horse jolly balls, the plastic balls you can hang down from the ceiling and put half a treat in, lickits that you can hang down from the ceiling as well and he was interested in NONE of them (despite being an absolute food machine). He's never been a big fan of food hung from the ceilings either - he'll usually bite on the swede until it's released and then leave it on the floor (yet if uou give him one from your hand he'll usually eat it). He's just never really understood the concept of the horse toys and seems to much prefer amusing himself by dunking his hay in his water bucket before he eats it (makes the haynet last longer I suppose!)

In the end I gave the jolly ball to my labrador who absolutely adores it! Unfortunately he's now almost 15 and can't play with it very well but our 3yr old lab thought it was good fun (although she has managed to chew the handle rather a lot!).

So the moral is if your horse doesn't take to it, chances are your dogs will!
 
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Has anyone tried their horse with a Jolly Ball? - or maybe a football?? ...... did they play with it or just ignore it?

I am getting lots of entertainment in for my new 11month old foalie (
grin.gif
) - as he has been with 15 other foals of the same age and will for the time being be in his own paddock with our other horses in view......

He will have a salt lick, likits & boredom breaker, horsehage (well it is sort of enterainment!), decahedron, will be hanging sweeds up etc and was looking at Jolly Balls.........
None of my other horses would be interested unless there was food involved!

Anyone got any ideas?

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The treat balls (minus the treats) make really good balls that you can kick around with them - my yearling used to full on pounce on it, was very funny!

As much as other people may say differently, and I don't know how much experience you have had with a foal (so not meaning to be patronising!) I would be wary of giving it likits, swedes, and salt licks. Likits contain a huge amount of sugar and if you are attempting to get to know your foal and get some handling and ground rules sorted I don;t know how much fun it would be to have something fizzing at the brim from eating a likit whilst trying to get it to learn. I'm also not sure whether babies can take having extra salt i.e. such as that from a lick.

You have to remember that foals have fairly delicate stomachs and you should introduce things slowly and gradually - so if you intend to feed youngstock mix and a chaff, small quantities until they have adjusted. If he/she has never experienced them before, don't just let them have it. If you are putting horsehage down, why don't you hide a few polos in it, or put a shallow amount of water in a bucket and put some apples in it? It is a way of making it fun but gradually introducing them to new tastes and flavours, but not in bulk.

I have 3 youngsters myself and do you knwo what the best form of playing is? Me!
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Even if it is just grooming in the field, picking feet up or sitting down and waiting for them to come over to me, it all helps with them getting to know you and trust you. Mine only ever get a treat if they have done something well i.e. if we've done some playing with scary obstacles and they've done well, they get a bit of carrot/apple/polo but not all the time. I mix it in with praise so they don't expect a treat.

I've waffled
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I hope you have fun with him/her and they enjoy the toys, but I would reconsider the food side of it, last thing you and him/her need is a colicky tummy.
 
That is the biggest space hopper you can buy - Cairo was just under 16.3 and at that time Chancer was 14.3. Chancer particularly loved it - used to pick it up by the horns and run round with it.

I used to kick it for him to chase.

It was also very useful if he was destroying something he should not, though kicking it at him had no reaction, wacking his backside with it used to at least make him move away.

I hasten to add, Stinky is fairly bombproof and has had months of me doing daft things with him, hence drastic measures to remove him from things. A yell or thrown handful of sand do zilch.

Maybe your little chap will grow into one later when he is used to life and a bit bigger?

My chap has a wall tongue twister, snack ball, ceiling ball and his rock salt lick, plus swede on string and ad lib hay to keep him happy. In the field he likes a log to kick around and chew on.
 
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It was also very useful if he was destroying something he should not, though kicking it at him had no reaction, wacking his backside with it used to at least make him move away.

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That's the funniest thing I have read for a long time lol
 
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