Bad weather and busy schedules can sometimes prevent you from getting out to exercise your horse or even having him turned out. This can sometimes cause high levels of stress for horses. Stress can cause issues such as ulcers, but it can also create an unhappy horse. If you want to minimize the boredom and resulting stress in your horse’s life, consider the following ideas:
Buy Stalls with Open Front Designs
When building your barn, choosing stalls with open front designs over fully enclosed stalls can allow your horses to interact more with each other and their surroundings. Horses will be free to put their heads out into the aisle, giving them more entertainment and creating a more natural, less confined feel in your barn.
Design Stalls with Windows for Entertainment
In addition to using an open stall front design, make sure that you include a window in each stall for entertainment. Barn windows looking outside can help to reduce boredom in your horse, leading to reduced stress.
Use Privacy Panels in Stall Partitions
If your stall panels have grill work, then consider including privacy panels to reduce your horses’ stress. Privacy panels allow you to put a wood fill in about a third of the top grill work. By positioning the privacy panel in the area where your horse eats, your horse can eat without being disturbed by a horse in a neighboring stall. Privacy panels can keep your horses calmer, particularly when they’re eating.
Maximize Turnout Time
Turning your horse out gives him a chance to relax and be a horse. The more time that your horse can spend in his pasture, the better. While your horse is turned out, he is free to move about, play, graze, and interact with other horses. Additionally, turning a horse out helps to prevent boredom. Providing your horse with maximum turnout time can go a long ways in reducing his stress.
Use iFeed to Provide Small Meals Throughout the Day
Horses are grazers by nature, but the grazing approach to eating often doesn't work with our schedules. The iFeed can change all of that. When you install the iFeed in your horse’s stall or pasture, you can break down his two or three large meals into smaller meals which are fed more frequently throughout the day. Best of all, you don’t have to be present for the feedings – simply program and load the iFeed and it will take care of the rest. Small, frequent meals help to prevent boredom and stress in your horse.
There are many ways that you can minimize your horse's stress and relieve boredom. If you would like to discuss how Classic Equine Equipment can change both your life and your horse’s life, please visit our web site.
