I saw something like this Horse Grain Slow Feeder at Dover the other day, but I can’t find it on their site. I laughed out loud when I saw it, thinking how furious my horse would be if I made him eat from this haha. It would be good for him because he inhales his grain.
I would have to put that in a trough or something because my horse would just step on the edge and flip it over
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It looks exactly like the parallax ones we get here in the UK; if so, you fill the base with sand or water (it comes with plugs) and it is actually quite heavy. The shape also makes it difficult to tip.
My yearling is extremely destructive but his has survived well 
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If your BO has kids and such, leaving him out probably isn’t in the cards. She’s got to go in the house and do other things, and doesn’t want to worry that he’s going to have a change of heart in 15 minutes and then hurt himself.
Can he hear dinner getting poured in his bin, from his paddock? Can she practice catching him throughout the day a couple times then let him go, if she’s home?
Would you allow him to wear a halter and a 2’ long drag line, so it’s easier to snag him?
Him balking at the door would get him a pretty swift discipline, if he were mine. You want to back? Ok, let’s go way way longer than you originally planned, and faster, too.
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Is the issue being caught or does he show signs of stress once he is IN the stall? Or both? Those are two different problems in my mind.
I’m happy to be wrong, but I can’t imagine toys in a stall would incentive a horse to come in that doesn’t want to. Boredom buster? Maybe. But making his food harder to get doesn’t seem like a great incentive from his point of view. If he needs to be occupied in the stall more, get him a 1in extreme slow feed net if you don’t already have one. That will give him a few more hours of hay time if nothing else. The large majority of horses I see with stall toys don’t do much with them unless food is involved. Ive only known a few horses that seem to entertain themselves with toys.
If he just doesn’t want to come in, I’d start a lot of practice with catching him and incentivizing that.
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She will leave him out until night check (~9 PM, but at that point he really needs to come in).
When he started doing this, we tried pouring grain noises, shaking grain in feedpan noises, and shaking his tub of cookies (a sound he knows well) and he was not motivated by any of them.
He does get left in his halter now. The 2 foot lead is probably a no-go because I would expect him to break his halter daily by stepping on it.
BO corrected him appropriately for balking. Thankfully he’s only done that once and he’s not very committed to being naughty once you catch him.
A 2’ drag line that doesn’t have knots in it won’t break a halter, unless it’s got one of those paper-thin fuses. It will make being outside not quite as fun.
Agree that food dispensing toys are more likely to be interesting, but I think something that squeaks might make him happy. He loves interacting with things. Knocking stuff over, throwing things, making them make noise, etc, so the rubber chicken that squeaks might be interesting.
He’s come in perfectly the last two nights. Just some days he doesn’t seem to want to. There are only 3 horses on the property with one rider each, and we generally ride in the “after work” timeslot, so once the horses are inside, the barn is shut up and dark and quiet. I think that’s his problem. It’s boring. But there’s also no one to observe his behavior. He DOES trash his stall every night, but he’s done that for all of the 5.5 years I’ve had him and he never once tried to avoid coming inside at our last mid-sized boarding barn. They came in much earlier (~3-4 PM) but there was activity of boarders, BM who nearly lived in the aisle, and a bunch more horses to entertain him. But he still trashed his stall. In current barn, he’s seemed content when I get there and they’re already in due to terrible weather. BO says he still has hay in his small hole net at night check, at which point he gets some more.
Barn is set up so the pasture connects to the aisle. On normal nights, horses are not caught. They know the drill and want dinner and are let inside 1 by 1 to be walked with a lead rope around their neck to their stalls. It’s just random nights where my boy says “nah, I’m good out here” and won’t come in on his own or be actively caught. When BO needs to catch him randomly during the day for a blanket change, farrier, wtv, there have never been a problem.
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Can’t she chase him into the barn, then? Not ideal, but doesn’t let him play the “lalalala you can’t catch me” game.
Or set up an alley to chase him into and then close it, and lead him in.
My guys are keen to get in when there’s a carrot waiting in their feeder.
She doesn’t want to chase him at all because she’s afraid of injury in the deep mud around the barn. As much as possible, I’m trying to solve this without asking her to make any big changes in her set up.
I really think he just finds his stall boring and wants to stay out where he can observe interesting things instead of being in a closed dark barn. He tends to do this on days I don’t go mess with him, so I think the stimulation gets his brain more tired so he’s willing to go in at night.
Is there any chance that he’s associating coming in with being worked, in a bad way?
Not really. When he sees me (hours before turn in) he knows he’ll be worked and he generally walks or trots to meet me at the gate (unless he has a fresh flake of hay and then I have to walk to him, but he never moves away from me).
BO doesn’t work him at all. In winter, coming in to work meant not going back outside again during the week, but since the days have been longer, he gets turned back out after working and coming inside for the night just means dinner and stall time.
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Sorry for 21 questions - does he get grabbed first (when he’s not being a butthead)? Last? Random?
Really the only suggestion that might work is her “fake” catching him throughout the day.
My guy is very curious about things too, no interest in stall stuff to my sadness though. Ive been thinking of getting a rubber chicken for him when I out by a dollar store next, but I dont have high hopes.
I made a “snuffle box” when we moved to a barn that had less turnout than we were used to. None of this type of thing has ever kept my guy busy too long, but it’s something different to stimulate their brains. He’s an easy keeper as well so I can’t overdo food things and once the food element is gone, so is his interest.
Link to snuffle box! There are lots of other ideas there too https://enrichingequines.com/diy-horse-snuffle-box-easy-horse-enrichment/
I don’t mind the 21 questions. I have been mentally obsessing over this for weeks now trying to solve it without making BO’s already difficult life situation harder.
When he’s not being a butthead, he’s not really caught at all. He’s more “allowed to enter the barn in an organized manner.” Like the boss mare is standing at her door waiting to be granted entrance and she then walks herself into her stall. The boys are lined up at their door, and are allowed in one at a time to be escorted to their stalls. It’s only when he refuses to be come in that someone has to go caught him, but when he has to be caught randomly during the day and not when they know it’s turn in time, he’s never been a problem for anyone.
OMG I LOVE THIS! Thank you! Fun craft project for us!
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I feel like the one I saw at Dover snapped into the top of a feed bucket. So if you feed from a bucket hanging on the wall, the horse would not be able to knock it over. Mine might trash the whole bucket trying to get to the food though!
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Have there been any changes in his neighbors, or his access to his neighbors, or his relationship to his neighbors?
But the more you describe the set up and his need for stimulation, leaving his window open (even if just until 9!) certainly sounds like the easiest change to prevent the “but inside is boooooooring…” whining!
No changes I can think of. Property is a bit of an island between farmland, forest preserve, and a county highway. Stall neighbor/turn out buddy (no physical access in stalls) and “across the aisle” boss mare are as they have been the last 9 months. General routine is unchanged other than turn-in getting later as the sun goes down later.
He was in rehab for some stifle issues at the start of the year. This started in the period of “feeling better” but before he was doing more than walking straight lines under saddle, so I think he got generally bored while feeling good and it being mild outside, so discovered that it’s an option to refuse to come in and now…he knows…
I ride with BO tonight. I’ll approach the window discussion again. I agree it seems like the easiest change to make, but her horse is partially clipped and naked in the evenings so she might not be open to it. At the end of the day, I guess it’s her prerogative to risk having to spend time catching him instead of leaving the window open when it’s cooler than ideal. I would just like to not have the Problem Horse because I don’t want to be invited to leave!
Window seems easier than putting one of the goats in with him at least!
