The holiday season is upon us and, as equestrians, we know what that means: getting lots of horse-related gifts from well-meaning friends and relatives. Of course, it’s the thought that counts, but maybe one day someone will break it to all the significant others, parents, and distantly related aunts out there: instead of (yet another pair of) palomino-patterned socks, what equestrians really want is twenty more pairs of baling twine scissors (you’ll be down to no pairs in about a month).
I’m kidding – it really is the thought that counts with all gifts, especially this year when there may be much less merrymaking than last, unfortunately. If you want to raise some cheer and get your festive mood on, how about enrichment to give your horse the kind of gift that they’ll really enjoy?
In this post I’ll show you how to make this edible holiday wreath enrichment!
First, what is the wreath made of and how does this enrichment benefit your horse?
Enrichment is all about encouraging natural equine behaviors, and this enrichment not only fits the season, it provides some great behavior opportunities for your horse to enjoy. The holiday wreath encourages both investigation and feeding behaviors. Specifically, it promotes the special feeding behavior of browsing – where the horse eats something other than grass, such as leaves from trees or shrubs.
Browsing is an important part of natural horse behavior, but its importance is often overlooked for our domestic horses. This holiday wreath promotes browsing behavior, and the goodies woven into the wreath can be particularly tasty, like apple slices. The best part is that this wreath can be offered as enrichment anywhere, including in the stall. It’s a great boredom-buster.
Materials
The edible holiday wreath consists of a braided grapevine wreath with edible material of your choice woven within the frame of the wreath. It can be put together in less than an hour and is made from foraged materials, so it’s free to make other than whatever fruits or vegetables you choose to make it out of. There are limitless combinations.
Why grapevine? Grape is abundant here, growing near all the pastures, and it is nontoxic. While the frame of the wreath isn’t meant to be consumed, it is not poisonous so no worries if the horse decides to take a nibble. Fresh grapevine is also extremely pliable so it’s extremely easy to weave the wreath and slip the forage between the vines. Conifers such as fir and pine, the plants that Christmas wreaths are normally made of, aren’t good browse options for horses, so we’re sticking with definitely nontoxic ingredients only.
You can make this wreath any size you like, but in my opinion there’s no such thing as a holiday wreath that’s too big! The wreath in this guide is about 14 inches in diameter, which is comfortable and quick to weave but not so small that it’s overwhelmed by the treats. Your horse will love it no matter what size you make it.
How to Make the Wreath
- Cut your grapevine. For this size wreath, you’ll want a two or three lengths of vine around a quarter inch thick, and at least four feet long (but longer is better). If you find a longer length of grapevine, you can easily use that rather than working with a few smaller lengths.
Cut off any side branches from the grapevines. If you want to cut away the little 3-inch tendrils that grow every foot or so, that’s fine. I leave most of them on because they add structure that I can stick more food into.
Now take your first length of vine and bend it into a circle. The circle is the start of your wreath so make it the diameter you want the finished wreath to be. Let one end of the grapevine overlap by six inches to a foot of excess vine.
Wrap the ends of the grapevine, like you’re tying a big loose knot, spiraling the ends of the vine gently over and under to use up the extra length. Let the vines spiral each other loosely, like a loose flowing braid rather than a tight one. If you twist them too aggressively, they’ll break.
Now take another length of vine and begin to loop it through the vine circle, moving in a spiral in one direction until all the vine is wrapped:
Tuck the stray ends down. If they won’t stay tucked, you can snip them off once the wreath structure is complete.
Once you have a wreath made of two or three spirals of vine, you’re all set! You’re ready to add the edible body of the wreath to the frame.
It’s best not to build more than three strands of vine into this wreath because the thicker and vinier the wreath, the harder it is to widen the gaps between the vines to tuck forage in. Because this holiday wreath looks best and keeps the horse occupied longer when there’s plenty of forage built in, a lighter frame is best – plus this takes less time to twist together.
For the forage, you can use anything your horse may enjoy, such as edible leafy greens or hay. You can twist small bunches of hay together and stick them into the wreath for a grassier version. In this wreath, I used bright green romaine and darker red leaf lettuce alternately and let all the leaves face the same way. Working in one direction keeps the wreath nice and compact.
When the greenery is in place, add more edible tidbits of your choosing. For this wreath, I cut apple slices thinly and tucked them along the lettuce leaves. Carrot sticks, celery, or peanuts in the shell would be good additions. Whatever fits your horse and your holiday style – experiment with different shapes and get holiday creative.
I finished this wreath off with some bunches of betony, an edible herb that’s all over the place here. It’s not as palatable as some other herbs but the horses do seem to enjoy it. If you want a color or texture contrast, sprigs of any edible herb will be a nice enrichment addition because of their interesting scents.
When you’ve finished wedging goodies into the wreath, add some twine and it’s ready to go! You can hang it in the stall, around a fencepost, or from a pasture tree. If your horse is gentle on the grapevine frame while browsing, you’ll be able to reuse it. If the wreath ends up in pieces, at least it was a lot of fun for the horse!