Update for October: do you want more info on keeping your swinging hay toy safe? If you haven’t checked out our ebook Safe Equine Enrichment, please consider giving it a read! This book takes a deep dive into the risks and safety concerns for equine enrichment and is a must-read if you like giving your equine friend enriching items and experiences. Purchase or read on Kindle Unlimited to make your enrichment safer and support this site!
Enrichment for horses doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated to be a lot of fun. Quick and easy DIY enrichment items have lots of benefits! They help you relieve boredom, provide mental stimulation, and encourage natural behaviors for your equine friends.
I used a random find from a tack sale to make a fast and simple horse toy that encourages browsing and problem solving. Here’s how to make your own swinging hay toy for horse enrichment.
Are Swinging Hay Toys Good for Horses?
Moving toys for horses that hang from a rafter or tree branch are some of my favorite equine enrichment items. They get your horse to use their body and brain in three dimensions to look for tasty treats above ground level. Hanging horse toys come in lots of shapes and sizes. They’re versatile and are some of the most popular boredom busting toys for stalled horses. If you’ve ever seen or used a Stall Snack or tied up a hay-filled Hol-ee Roller Ball for your horse to play with, you get the concept.
Swinging Hay Toys are Great Horse Enrichment
You can buy hanging horse toys to keep your horse busy and entertained, but if you’re crafty and want to save some money, why not make your own? You can create a swinging hay or treat toy out of lots of materials. As long as you pay attention to safety, the sky is the limit on creativity for this enrichment item. We cover a lot of hanging toys that you can upcycle or repurpose from other materials in this blog. For inspiration, check out the Bucket Lid Browse Toy and this cool swinging treat kebab called Things on Strings.
Do it yourself horse toys are great because they’re not only a great money saver, they’re unique. By making your own equine enrichment items, you can give your horse extra variety. And variety is the spice of life – for people and horses!
Here’s how I turned a $1 tack sale find into a super cute and entertaining treat-dispensing enrichment item.
How to Make the Swinging Hay Toy
While browsing at a tack sale, I found this cat toy on a table for a dollar. That’s too good a deal to pass up! A cat owner would put kibble in the toy for their cat to scoop out with their paws, but a premade toy like this is perfect for making a swinging browse enrichment item for horses.
Step 1: Make a Plan and Find Your Item
The plan: fill the toy with bundles of hay plus some tasty crunchy treats like pretzels and saltine crackers, then hang it up outside with a pan underneath. The triangle toy will swing around as the horse browses, creating some challenge. As the hay comes out and the toy swings from the tree, the crackers will fall out of the holes into the pan below.
You can use any similar plastic item, or cut your own holes in a jug or carton. A small cardboard shipping box or cereal box will work well too, but will be a little less durable. Repurpose a container that’s roughly the same size or a little larger, depending on how much hay or other forage you want to add.
Here’s the cat toy for scale next to three handfuls of hay. We had three different cuttings of hay in the stable so I scooped up a little of each for some flavor variety. The hay will go inside the toy along with some treats – more pictures below.
Step 2: Attach the Rope to the Swinging Hay Toy
Remember that this kind of toy isn’t made of horse-duty plastic. Your horse should only use this hanging toy when firmly attached to a tree, rafter, or other overhead structure. If you use it on the ground, your horse could roll or step on it and break it, putting them at risk for cuts.
So before filling the item with treats, attach the rope:
When making a hanging toy like this, using a thick strong rope is better than baling twine. Put the rope on before you load up the toy with hay or treats to make sure that attaching the rope doesn’t knock out the goodies.
This is the safest way to attach the rope and hang up the toy. Twist the excess rope around itself in a spiral and tuck in the end, pulling the rope snug as shown:
You can also a repurposed lead rope cut to the length you need for hanging the toy at about your horse’s resting head height. Either way, don’t leave loose ends or excess rope where your horse could pull, swallow, or get tangled up in it.
Step 3: Fill with Hay and Horse Treats
I filled the toy with hay followed by crunchy treats. You can use any type of treat your horse likes:
Put the hay in first, then add special treats on top if you like. Bites of fresh fruits or veggies are always a big hit, and you can use store-bought treats too. As the horse pulls out bites of hay, the tasty treats will fall out of the holes.
I decided to sweeten things up with a big handful of extra-tasty grass from an ungrazed part of the property:
When your swinging toy has enough forage and treats, it’s ready to hang up! Here’s the finished product for your inspiration. It’s overflowing with messy forage and those crunchy crackers are safely hidden inside:
Hanging Up Your DIY Swinging Hay Toy
Enrichment items like this can go in the stall or pasture. They’re especially good for stalled horses who need lots of extra mental and physical stimulation while indoors. But swinging treat toys can also liven up the pasture environment for horses outside. You can even hang up a toy like this in the barn aisle for a special enrichment session with your horse or to keep them occupied while waiting for a session with a farrier or bodyworker.
The example toy here hangs from the clip of the lead rope. You can also knot it to a beam or branch using the full length of the rope. Just remember not to leave loops or open twists of rope where a horse could get their nose, or even a stray hoof, caught in the attachment rope. In the article on using a hay scale, you’ll find a picture of a rope and overhead-mounted tie ring ring toward the end of the writeup. This kind of attachment setup is perfect for swinging horse toys like this one.
Here’s the complete setup:
You should attach the swinging hay toy at about the height of the horse’s head or a little above. A sturdy tray rests right underneath the toy so that the crackers and stray bits of hay will fall into it. This adds a second level of puzzle to the toy and prevents the treats from being lost in the leaves.
Using the Swinging Hay Toy
Once you’ve gotten this far, you’re ready for your horse!
Most horses have a great time with toys like this. Some might take a little while to figure out how tasty the hay and treats inside the toy are. And some might even be a little nervous at first. It’s a good idea to follow the basic steps to teach your horse how to interact with new enrichment and always take things slow. And never lock a horse inside a stall with a new enrichment item: this isn’t a safe way to introduce a new toy or feeder. Let your horse get used to new items outdoors or in an arena before using them in the stall.
Our enrichment model gives this toy two hooves up:
Safety Notes
Safety is key when using horse enrichment! As much fun and benefit as enrichment offers, keeping things safe is vital and badly designed toys and puzzles can be risky. Keep your horse safe by making sure that:
- The swinging hay toy is at or above withers height, not low where legs or body could come into contact with the toy
- There are no sharp edges or points on the container you use to make this toy
- The toy is securely attached by a strong rope
- Someone is in the area while the horse has access to the toy, just in case there’s a problem
If you want more information on equine enrichment safety, please check out the ebook Safe Equine Enrichment available on Amazon. Safety is absolutely critical when providing enrichment to horses. A purchase of our book will give you the knowledge you need to use enrichment items safely – and helps support this page!
Related Enrichment Ideas
Browse and forage puzzles like this toy are such great horse enrichment items! Try out some of these related ideas for more variety in your equine enrichment routine:
- The bucket lid browse toy for swinging, treat-snagging fun
- The classic Things on Strings hanging treat kebabs
- The Kong Wobbler for a sturdy treat-dispensing toy that releases goodies when nudged