What does gardening have to do with horse enrichment?
A lot – if you’re interested in growing some herbs, flowers, and veggies for your horse!
There are several good reasons to plant an enrichment garden – and lots of different types of enrichment gardens as well. The type, size, and plants grown in your enrichment garden all depend on what you want to get out of your project, from including more scent enrichment options to growing your own veggies for puzzle feeders and training treats. If you’re wondering if producing some of your own plants for enrichment is right for you, this article will be a good starting place.
Here are some of the reasons why you should consider growing plants for horse enrichment – whether you’re an experienced gardener or have always had a brown thumb.
So Many Scents and Textures
A plot of herbs and flowers grown specifically for horse enrichment is a great way to provide lots of sensory variety for horses. Fresh herbs are one of the most natural and appealing ways to offer your horse exciting and stimulating flavors and smells, encouraging the horse to use their senses in a way that their familiar grain or hay ration doesn’t provide. You can use herbs and flowers to flavor meals, enhance special food enrichment items, or just provide variety by adding scent to toys or stalls.
But herbs and flowers in large quantities are expensive to buy – have you looked at the prices at the grocery store for cut herbs?! – and it’s not convenient to hit the market each time you want some tarragon or rose petals for horse enrichment.
Instead, grow a patch of herbs and flowers just for your horse. You’ll be able to grow large quantities of herbs if you want, so there won’t be a shortage even if you have multiple horses receiving enrichment. And herbs grow quickly, so you’ll be able to offer each plant regularly and increase the overall amount of enrichment your horses get. As an added benefit, it’s much more cost-effective to grow your own, compared with the cost of providing the same quantities of herbs purchased from the store, and it’s far usually far more convenient to grab a handful of plants from your home garden on your way to the stable.
Variety
There are lots of edible fruits and veggies for horses beyond the familiar carrots and apples. If you’re growing produce for yourself, add a few plants in for horse enrichment. If you are new to gardening, growing for your horse in a small plot or container garden is a great way to get into gardening. A hobby project like a small enrichment garden is usually less of a blow if plants fail, compared to a garden for the family table. If your garden doesn’t do well for some reason, your horse won’t know the difference and you can try again next year. THe practice you get wills et you up for success if you want to try your hand at growing veggies and fruits for yourself next season.
As long as a plant is horse-safe, you can use “ugly” produce from the garden for enrichment – plants that develop strangely or don’t have the right shape are fine for horses too.
In an enrichment garden, you might choose to grow some varieties of plants that you can’t get in the store, enabling you to have maximum variety. The supermarket can supply the most common and less expensive herbs, like parsley, while you round out your options with plants like chamomile and savory.
Grow Enrichment – Anywhere
An enrichment garden doesn’t have to be in the ground outside. Most plants can be produced pretty easily in containers, opening up options for equine-focused gardening even if you have a smaller property or live in an apartment. Especially if certain plants, particularly herbs, are hard to find in your area, a container garden can yield plenty of plants for horse enrichment (and your kitchen, too). You can also grow useable amounts of herbs indoors under lights and provide tasty, exciting flavors and scents to your horse any time.
…and any time of year
Along the same lines, it’s really special to give your horses the opportunity to eat – even graze anturally – on freshly grown fodder or plants that you’ve produced in the middle of winter. This is possible with an indoor growing setup.
Since it doesn’t take much space – you can produce a useable amount of herbs for scent enrichment in a pot next to the windowsill – you can garden any time of year. The more equipment and space you have available, the more you’ll be able to grow and in the greatest number of seasons, but even a tiny container under a small LED light can produce a meaningful amount of greenery for your horse.
If you’ve been interested in fresh herbs and other plants for equine enrichment but aren’t sure if growing your own is up your alley, hopefully this post has been encouraging. Growing enrichment for your horses is doable for almost anyone in any situation, and the benefits are well worth it.