Bad weather and busy schedules can sometimes prevent proper exercise or turn out time for your horse. This can sometimes lead to higher levels of stress and an unhappy horse. If you want to minimize stall 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 with each other and their surroundings. Horses will be free to put their heads into the aisleway, giving them more entertainment and creating a more natural, less confined feel in your barn.

Use Privacy Panels in Stall Partitions

If your stall panels have grill work, then consider including privacy panels. 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.

Design Stalls with Windows for Entertainment

In addition to using an open stall front design, make sure you include a window in each stall for entertainment. Barn windows can help to reduce boredom, leading to reduced stress.

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 way 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. 

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.