The DIY horse snuffle box is a riff on the equine snuffle mat for enrichment, but is easy to make at home. There’s no need to sew fabric or cut plastic or rubber. And this horse toy uses easy to find materials. It’s a quick project that helps with equine boredom and gives your horse sensory stimulation in the stall or pasture.
Let’s build a snuffle box!
What is a Horse Snuffle Box?
Have you heard of snuffle mats for horses? They’re fantastic enrichment items for all equines. You scatter and hide treats in the folds of a special fabric mat and your horse noses through them to get the treats.
All snuffle mats currently on the market are made for dogs. Some are big and strong enough to be used by horses, but if you want one that’s really horse-grade, you’ll have to make your own.
A DIY horse snuffle box takes the idea one step further by creating a three dimensional snuffling experience.
You’ll take a plastic storage crate that you can buy at any big box store or online. Then you’ll add soft fabric strips using the holes in the box. Add treats and let your horse enjoy!
What Is The Horse Snuffle Box a Good Horse Toy?
Enrichment for horses is about encouraging natural behaviors. Some of the most important equine behaviors are feeding and foraging. Creating a healthy and varied food routine, including enrichment, is a fundamental part of good horse care and welfare.
Snuffle mats and similar toys like the snuffle box encourage natural food-seeking behavior. Your horse will flick and snuffle their nose and lips through the fabric to find the treats. They’ll hunt for the goodies using their sense of smell. When they find a treat, your horse will use their lips and whiskers to locate them and scarf them up.
So to recap, this one toy promotes:
- Feeding and foraging/looking for food
- Problem solving
- Using the sense of smell
- Using the sense of touch
- Fine motor control
And it adds variety to your horse’s routine!
Is the Horse Snuffle Box a Good Budget Horse Toy?
Definitely. Horse toys and enrichment can be expensive, but this DIY horse toy is very budget friendly. So you can save your funds for other projects while still giving your horse a great boredom busting enrichment item.
All supplies for this equine enrichment idea (storage box and blanket fleece) were less than $15 USD.
What You Need for the Snuffle Box DIY Enrichment
You only need a few supplies to make this horse toy. You’ll need to repurpose or buy:
- One storage crate, plastic with perforated sides – any size, but at least 14×14 inches (36x36cm)
- Craft fleece, felt, or other nonwoven fabric – about 1.5 yards minimum (use two yards if your storage crate has holes in the bottom that need to be covered)
- Horse treats or feed, any type appropriate for your horse
How to Make the Horse Snuffle Box
Find Your Storage Box
You’ll need a storage box or crate with perforated sides. They’re popular so you should be able to source one locally without much trouble. I found this one at the local Wal-Mart for about five dollars:
If you can’t find a storage box like this in store or prefer to shop online, this model is available on Walmart.com.
You can also use a plastic milk or beverage crate. Look for these around back of stores or gas stations, where they’re often stacked near the garbage and recycling bins.
Get Some Horse Snuffle Fabric
Most snuffle mats are made of fleece or felt. You can use either for this project, or any other nonwoven easy-to-clean material.
Remember that the type of fabric you choose for your snuffle mat has an impact on its safety! The wrong fabric can make your snuffle mat or box dangerous. Find full details in the article on snuffle mat safety – that info applies to snuffle boxes as well as snuffle mats.
I chose a roll of blanket fleece for this project. It was on sale and was thicker and higher quality than the other fleece options.
Optional: Cover the Bottom Holes
Take a look at your box and decide whether you want to wrap fabric across the holes in the bottom of the crate. If you’re working with thick fabric like this plush fleece, you probably won’t need to. When you’re using a thinner material or want fewer snuffles for an easier enrichment experience, you may want to block the holes so that food can’t fall through.
If you want to block the holes, cut a few long strips about 4 inches/10cm wide, tie onto one of the bottom holes, and weave in and out on the bottom of the box so that the fabric covers a hole before slipping through the next one. Repeat until the holes are all covered.
Since I was working with a very plushy fleece and wanted plenty of big knots and snuffle ends, I didn’t need to do this step and skipped to the next part.
Cut the Fabric Strips
Now start cutting the fabric strips for your DIY horse snuffle box.
Snuffle boxes and snuffle mats work best when the “snuffles” stay a little bit upright. Your fabric strips should be long enough that you can tie them onto the box, but not too long or they’ll flop over. 12 inches/30cm long is a good starting point.
The fabric strips can be any width you like, but 3-4 inches (8-10cm) works really well.
Cut your fabric into strips with a pair of good fabric scissors.
Tie the Fabric to the Snuffle Box
This project is easy because you don’t need to do any sewing or use any tools.
Just take one strip of fleece/felt at a time, stick it through the holes of your plastic crate, and tie it securely. Tie the knot inside the crate so that the ends of the fleece stick up into the interior of the box.
Tying on the fabric blocks the holes in the bottom of the crate and keeps the treats contained.
It’s best to start from the bottom and middle of your plastic crate. Work your way from the middle outward, tying strips of fabric between every two holes. Continue up the sides of the box until you run out of fabric or until you reach about the height of your horse’s eyes. For safety, it’s best not to have any material, even soft fleece, near the eyes.
That’s it! Once you’ve finished tying off the fabric, your horse snuffle box is ready to use. How simple was that?!
If you do want a little extra work, check the length of the fabric strips and fluff them with your hand. If any are too long and flop over, or were tied unevenly, you can snip them to your desired length with the scissors. Make sure you remove any small bits of fleece from the box afterward.
Using Your DIY Horse Snuffle Box
Using this equine enrichment item is simple. It’ll probably be fun for everyone – especially your horse!
Load the toy with any feed or treats your horse enjoys. Because this horse toy uses fabric, I personally prefer to use drier treats like cereal and low-moisture veggies like carrots. This helps the snuffle box stay cleaner.
But for this demo I used a little of everything: carrots, apples, and some celery. There’s a big mix of smells and textures, so even more sensory stimulation!
Remember to introduce new items slowly. Even if a toy will eventually be a lot of fun, many horses are frightened of new objects. This fear of new things is called neophobia, and it’s a normal reaction. If your horse isn’t afraid but seems clueless, find tips for teaching your horse to play with toys here.
Help your horse enjoy their enrichment quickly by offering the item in a safe, open area rather than in an enclosed stall. The snuffle box makes a great stall enrichment item once your horse is comfortable with it.
Related Enrichment Items
The snuffle box is a slow feeder and foraging enrichment. For similar enrichment, try the whole page on feeding and foraging enrichment for horses.
Related enrichment to mention include…
The classic Snuffle Mat for Horses
The Forage Box, an easy cardboard DIY
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