My horse has developed a bad habit of nodding his head due to boredom?

Question

and the vet suggested giving him some toys or something to play with...Does anybody have some suggestions of some good toys that i can give my horse, like household items?How can I get him to play with them?

Answer 1

milk cartons on string works well.

doversaddlery.com is a good sight for toys. a lot of them last really long.

i went to petco and bought a pretty big bird toy for my bird and my bird didn't want it so I hung it on my stall roof and my horse likes to play with it. the only thing is you might want to make sure its a "horse safe" toy.  a good one is a spinny toy. you can nail the part that holds it to a wall and your horse could play with that if its his thing.

if you have any balls lying around preferably softer ones you can attach a lead rope to it and swing it around

There's a lot of things you can do, if you use big water bottles like ice mountain you can put that on a wall. horses love water bottles. but they need to be changed  A LOT. it can also be hazardous to a horse if it chews a piece off.

I would go around my barn and ask people for old toys their horse lost interest in or if they have any ideas. the most common is milk bottles and they work great. tropicana orange juice is good too!!

here's to horseplay. hope i helped :]

Answer 2

milk cartons on a string or rope.....or get one of those balls they make for stalls....but its lots cheaper to do the milk cartons...wish i had more.... good luck

Answer 3

Take an empty gallon size milk or water jug and hand it from the rafters with a peice of rope. Be sure you take the lid off before you hang it up.

Its up to him if he is going to play with something or not. Some horse don't care for toys.

My horses love Jolly Balls. They only cost about $10.

If you can put him in a stall or a paddock next to another horse so that he can have a buddy.  Or move him to a end stall where he can watch what is going on outside.

Answer 4

when i'm bored I go shopping a lil, answer some yahoo questions or watch a real good movie! I'm sure horsey will love watching anything w/ brad pitt , or um Black Stallion I'm sure...

Answer 5

Well, just remember that a nodding head could be a sign for ulcers.  That was the case with one of the horses I was training.  She had a bad attitude as well...does yours?

After treatment, she felt much better and stopped shaking her head.

Answer 6

Well, it sounds like he is a weaver, which is a vice, and it will get worse and worse untill he is rearing and kicking out. I recommend one of those cages to go on his neck, you can find them in horse catalogs. They prevent him from noving his head down or from side to side, they are also for blanket chewers. Hope this helps!

Answer 7

if the horse is in the stall all the time they will get vises.  let the horse be a horse and get him  out side.

Answer 8

Your vet has watched the horse doing this? Are you sure he isn't actually 'wind sucking'? We had an ottb years ago who was a chronic wind sucker, he would 'throw' he's nose outwards to do it.