As a follow-up to my wood chewing question...

[novachick]

My guys have a jolly ball that spends the majority of the time at the lowest point of the dry lot...the horses won't even touch it. What else do you to keep your minis busy both in the stall and outside?

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

The toys that drop small treats when rolled around are always interesting to them. I have returned their intrest in a ball by rubbing the surface with a cloth dipped in something sweet (I use diluted molasses) and yes its messy but they want to taste it and so start pushing it around again. Sorry thats all I can think of right now.

 

[shorthorsemom]

My youngest boy loves the big hoppy balls kids bounce on. He especially loves the orange one that looks like a horse's head where the horse's ears are what the kid holds onto to hop. He plays with it all the time. He actually picks it up in the air and puts it on top of our other boy's back (much to his horror). He also rolls on it and mugs it with his chest. He will also go "fetch" it if you throw it for him. I wish I could post some photos of him playing with it but it says they are too big. I am already shopping for another one for Christmas. We have supervised toys that he is allowed to play with too, but remove them after play time is over for safety reasons. He "mowed" for quite some time with the John Deere kids plastic mower, and really enjoyed his time with a hula hoop one afternoon. He is quite the play boy you have to keep him entertained or he will take the place apart and make his own "toys" .

 

[novachick]

Ooohhhh, those are all great ideas...keep them coming!!!!

 

[shorthorsemom]

I just thought of another couple of toys. I put a plastic kids crib mattress out there one day (supervised on the toys they can chew or eat) and he bounced on it, walked on it, rolled on it. I tried pool noodles, but they were too fun to bite chunks off of, but until he discovered they could be chewed, he enjoyed fetching them too. I put out a plastic tarp and he dragged that around and enjoyed scaring his buddy with that one too. A plastic kiddie pool with some big plastic kids beach balls in it is fun, in the summer put in some water and the balls. Just be careful with the destructable toys that you are there and intervene if they start ripping things up. Since we are doing driving training now, my trainer has me spinning and opening umbrellas, dragging cans in a bag on a rope and waving flags etc now. The toys can also be used as great training aids. I need some new ideas too, my boy is bored with winter and shorter days and coming up with some not so great ideas of his own lately.

 

[wildoak]

The back side of my barn LOL. I had a big problem with my oversized "termites" for awhile. These were mature geldings, not much interested in toys. I gave them extra hay, and finally moved them to a new area where they seem to be perfectly happy.

We had a little stud who played with a regular basketball - he played soccer with it

would get it going fast enough to do a good trot around the field pushing it, and it was heavy duty enough that it took a good while for him to destroy it.

I've had the same luck as you with jolly balls - they may play with them at first, but the "new" wears off pretty quick.

Jan

 

[Katiean]

A quick cheap easly replaceable toy would be to hang a milk jug. Poke some holes in it and put a hand full of grain, pellets, oats... what ever you have. I would not put rocks in it because once he figures out he can bite it, well, you wouldn't want him to swollow a rock.

 

[novachick]

A quick cheap easly replaceable toy would be to hang a milk jug. Poke some holes in it and put a hand full of grain, pellets, oats... what ever you have. I would not put rocks in it because once he figures out he can bite it, well, you wouldn't want him to swollow a rock.

I like that idea, that's great and cheap! I may do that tonight!

 

[wildoak]

I'd forgotten, but yes! I have used milk jugs with a handful of grain in them - they held their attention longer than the jolly balls. I hung some in the stalls, just long enough for them to push around with their noses. We have such a fire ant problem here, I've always been leery of the balls that dispense food/treats, seems like anything on the ground with food in it would be an ant magnet.

Jan

 

[MinisOutWest]

I use the balls too, but some of my boys are bored with them, so I use milk jugs and water bottles with no lids. they love to crush them and hear them crunch.

 

[novachick]

A quick cheap easly replaceable toy would be to hang a milk jug. Poke some holes in it and put a hand full of grain, pellets, oats... what ever you have. I would not put rocks in it because once he figures out he can bite it, well, you wouldn't want him to swollow a rock.

Question for you...when you use the milk jugs, do you glue the lids on? But then how would you get the grain in after it's gone?

I gave one to Red last night in her stall...I was a little worried about the cap, but put some grain in it, twisted the lid tight and poked holes in the bottom. Hubby goes out to put them all to bed and comes in and says, Red really liked the milk jug...all the grain is gone! Cool, I think, it worked! Then this morning when I go out to feed, I find out that the cap is off. Hubby then tells me that the cap was off last night too, so all she did was beat it up until the cap came off and then she dumped the grain out of the opening. I don't think this is going to keep her occupied now that she figured out the EASY way to get the grain!

 

[albahurst]

That is a funny story! Anyway, we just hang jugs with rocks in them. We try to use heavier duty jugs, like oj comes in. The horses love them!

Good luck!

Peggy

 

[nbark]

Hi,

When our horses start chewing the wood we plaster it with icthamol (hope I spelled that right). It can also be added to stop chew stain to make it nastier tasting but less goopy. Works just like creasote!

good luck

nbark