Looking for an easy to make, free, and fun horse toy? This ultra simple DIY craft project is a knockout for entertainment value, boredom relief, and mental stimulation. It’s a surprisingly challenging food puzzle for your horse, but you can make it in about 2 minutes. The best part? It’s upcycled and free! Here’s how to make the paper carton DIY horse treat toy step-by-step.
What is the DIY Paper Carton Horse Toy?
This DIY horse toy is so fast and easy to put together. It’s an upcycled milk or juice carton! With a few strategically placed cuts and holes, you’ll have a reusable swinging toy that holds tasty treats.
This food puzzle invites your horse to use their whiskers, lips, and teeth to snag the wedges of fruit or veggies sticking out from each side of the carton. This horse treat puzzle takes brainpower and provides a mental workout and lots of boredom relief. It also takes some coordination and fine motor control.
A little more challenging than the basic food-loaded Jolly Ball treat toy for horses, the paper carton horse toy punches above its weight for fun and behavior value.
Why the DIY Paper Carton Horse Toy Is Great for Horses
Enrichment for horses is all about encouraging your horse’s natural behaviors and preventing boredom. This paper carton treat toy is excellent enrichment because it encourages natural feeding behavior and problem solving.
Horses get most of their daily nutrients from grazing – eating grass at ground level. But they also like to browse for edible leaves and twigs above the ground. This easy DIY horse toy recreates that experience so that your horse can browse even if you don’t have trees in their pasture.
The carton is lightweight, so even when it’s loaded with delicious treats it swings freely. This makes it challenging – your horse can only use their lips and teeth to grab the goodies so it takes luck and dexterity to grab and eat a carrot stick or apple wedge from this toy. That makes it ideal for easily-bored horses or enrichment pros who need lots of stimulation and challenge.
Why the DIY Paper Carton Horse Toy Is Great for You
The big reasons why you should make this toy for your horse are that it’s super easy, and it’s free! Commercially made horse toys like Likits are easy to use but have an upfront purchase cost. Projects like the fabulous DIY Jolly Egg may be budget friendly, but require tools and time to create.
This toy combines the best of both worlds: it’s free other than the fruit or veggie sticks, because you probably have a juice carton in the fridge right now (or can snag one from the recycle bins at work or school). And because it’s made of paper, it’s ultra-easy to work with for a quick and simple DIY.
Let’s go over how to make it, step by step.
How to Make a DIY Horse Toy from a Cardboard Carton
Step 1: Source Your Supplies
To make this toy, you need only a few things:
- One cardboard or paper beverage carton, such as from juice or milk.
- Serrated knife
- Sticks of fruit or veggies – about 1 cup of treats
- A rope for tying up the toy
You can use any size carton for this enrichment as long as it’s big enough that it does not fit in your horse’s mouth. The grocery-store-standard half gallon or 1.9 liter size works perfectly for this toy. If you don’t have a carton at home, check the recycle bins at your school or workplace.
Rinse the container thoroughly before you turn it into a DIY horse toy, and discard the lid.
You’ll want a paper or cardboard beverage carton for this project. It’s possible to build a similar toy using a plastic jug, but paper is much easier and safer to cut so that’s what we’re focusing on for this build.
Speaking of cutting, a serrated knife is a must have for the DIY milk carton horse toy. It’s the best way to make quick, controlled cuts in the carton. Serrated steak knives aren’t expensive and it’s nice to have a set like this one from Amazon around the barn – they’re ideal for quickly cutting rope to hang toys, or for turf for DIY stall scratching boards. You can also use scissors, but be sure to use extra care – the rounded ends of scissors actually make it harder to cut the slits for the treats.
Step 2: Make the Top and Bottom Cuts
You’ll need to make three sets of cuts in the carton.
First, add a single small hole to the carton’s top, on the opposite side from the lid. This hole will let you loop a rope through the top of the carton, using the hole for this lid, to securely tie your carton to a tree or post. Make this first hole roughly the same diameter as the lid. If you haven’t removed and discarded the lid already, go ahead and toss it.
Second, cut out most of the carton’s bottom. This hole allows treats to fall out of the carton if your horse bites them off instead of pulling them out of the toy.
Leave a rim of cardboard around the edges as shown. This ensures that the carton keeps its shape and rigidity as your horse plays with it.
Step 3: Make the Treat Cuts
Now place the carton on its side and carefully begin cutting a series of X-shaped slits in the carton wall. Be careful while using your knife, cutting away from and starting each cut slowly and carefully.
X shaped cuts work better than circles or single slits because they grab and secure any size veggie stick. They hold each treat in place as the carton swings around. If your horse seems unable to pull the sticks out, you can make this toy with holes for the treats instead for an easier option.
Step 4. Add the Treats!
You can use any horse approved fruit of veggie for the DIY cardboard carton horse toy. Carrot sticks are a natural choice because they’re nice and long so they’re easy for your horse to grasp. Apples are a good choice too, and large pretzel sticks are a grab-and-go option that many horses love.
If your horse needs a low or no sugar option, you can use sticks of celery or cucumber. A combination is even better because your horse will get extra variety of flavor from one toy.
One or two cups of veggie sticks is plenty. Carefully insert a stick into each opening on the carton. They only need to go in one-third or halfway.
With that, you’re ready to add the rope for tying and using your horse’s DIY carton toy!
Step 5. Rope, Clip, and Go!
Pass a thick rope through the lid hole and the extra hole you made in the top of the carton. Knot it securely, and your toy is finished!
A thicker rope, like a section of old lead rope, is best for this toy because it’s less likely to tear through the carton. Cut or tuck away any loose ends so that your horse isn’t tempted to chew on them as they figure out this challenging toy.
For easy attachment to a tree, post, or stall wall, add a carabiner clip to the top – optional but it lets you attach and remove this toy instantly, no knots required.
Now it’s ready to go!
Using the DIY Paper Carton Horse Toy
Like many boredom busting horse toys, this enrichment item shines because you can use it in different locations. The way you attach it can make it easier or more challenging.
Hanging the DIY paper carton horse toy from an overhead branch of stall rafter makes it VERY difficult. Use this option for enrichment pros who enjoy the challenge and know how to get treats from hanging enrichment toys.
For first timers, hanging the DIY carton toy against a solid wall is better. This controls its movement and lets the horse push it against the wall in order to snag the treats. If your horse is new to hanging treat enrichment or prone to frustration, use the toy this way – you can always change the location in the future.
For best results, put a pan or tray beneath the toy to catch the fruit and veggie bits that drop out of the bottom of the carton.
Let your horse try to figure out the puzzle on their own, but if they seem irritated or frustrated and can’t get the treats, you can hold the carton still for them to help. Eventually, they’ll develop the dexterity to do it on their own!
You should supervise your horse at least the first few times you offer this toy. It’s a very safe item since it contains only edible treats and non-toxic carton paper, but you want to make sure that your horse understands that the cardboard isn’t for chewing.
And that’s all there is to it! This behavior-focused horse toy takes almost no time to make, costs nothing, and gives your horse lots of boredom relief and mental stimulation. Now that’s enrichment!
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