Forage boxes for horses are a simple and cheap but very fun enrichment activity for your equine friend. A cardboard box with forage can relieve boredom, encourage curiosity, and keep your horse engaged in positive and healthy behaviors. Here’s a quick way to add variety to your next forage box: adding multiple compartments! Let’s walk through this ultra-easy equine enrichment and why a simple change can have big value for your horse.
Nested Forage Box Puzzle for Horses: What Is It?
This enrichment item for your horse is a take on the classic forage box puzzle toy.
If you’re new to equine enrichment, this starter article on forage boxes will cover all the ins and outs of this beginner-friendly activity.
Forage boxes are one of the easiest DIY boredom busting activities for your horse. They’re budget friendly but offer a ton of enrichment value. And they’re great for horses who are new to enrichment.
The nested forage box enrichment takes the “box with stuff and treats” concept and adds additional boxes. These extra boxes can have any kind of goodies inside. You’ll add hay or herbs to the box, along with some feed, treats or other goodies.
To get to the treats, the horse has to work through the material in the box, using their senses and brain to find the tasty treats. It’s a great mental workout and fun experience.
Nested Forage Box for Horses: Easy Enrichment Upgrade
Modifying the simple one-container forage box turns your horse’s forage box into a totally different kind of enrichment. This is because even a small change, like adding extra boxes inside the first one, can mean that your horses uses the toy or solves the puzzle in a different way.
Adding a nested box like this to your regular rotation of enrichment is ideal for keeping your stall enrichment fresh and engaging for your horse. That’s a must for good boredom relief during challenging times, but is also great for any equine.
The nested forage box option is more complicated, so it’s a more interesting and challenging food puzzle for your horse.
To get to the treats, your horse will nose around inside the box, using their senses of touch and smell, plus getting a mental workout and having choice and control. Those things are all important for equine mental health.
Why the Nested Forage Box is Great Boredom Relief
Boredom is common in domestic horses. This doesn’t mean that they aren’t well cared for. Rather, it’s because today’s stable environment is very different from how horses evolved, and all their needs are met by people. Living in human spaces doesn’t let horses use their bodies and minds as much as their wild ancestors.
Enrichment for horses means giving back opportunities for natural behaviors like foraging, exploring, using the senses, and experiencing new things. In other words, giving your horse all the perks of living with humans – plus the mental and physical stimulation that they need for the best wellbeing.
Find more on this – and why it matters – in this article on why horses need enrichment.
The forage box for horses is an enrichment item that recreates the experience of seeking food – instead of just having it in a bucket or a pile of hay.
You can also add different treats or types of forage inside each of the boxes. This offers almost limitless variety and options. You could use a nested forage box as equine enrichment a few times a week for a month without repeating the same combinations – that’s some serious boredom busting value!
The nested forage box also offers the benefit of increasing the time your horse spends with the enrichment. Longer lasting enrichment options are especially good for horses on stall rest or other confinement, because their environments don’t offer any other stimulation.
How to Make a Nested Forage Box for Your Horse
Making this equine boredom buster is super easy. You can put one together in five minutes or less.
Supplies Needed
- One large cardboard box
- One or more smaller boxes, big enough for horse’s muzzle to fit into
- Forage, such as hay or straw
- Treat foods such as grain, fruit, commercial horse treats
Plan the Boxes
The first step is to take a moment and figure out how you want to arrange the forage boxes. This is because the smaller boxes are best nested inside the bigger box before you add forage to the bigger box.
There are lots of combinations, depending on how many boxes you have and how big they are. Usually, you’ll want to leave enough space between each side of the boxes that your horse’s nose will fit in between to reach the treats.
You can put a few small boxes in the larger box, or nest a small box into a medium, and then put the medium into a large box. The only limit is your creativity.
To help, try this add-on article with Five Nested Forage Box Ideas to jump start your enrichment building.
I happened to find this snack box in the cardboard recycling bin of a local shop. I think it held bagged chips, but it’s perfect for different forage and treat combinations!
When you’ve decided on layout, put the smaller boxes inside the bigger ones and move to step 2.
Add Forage to the Box
The “forage” in a forage box can be any coarse material your horse can snuffle through. Add the forage in each box, or mix and match forage types between the different nested boxes.
You can see in this picture that I’ve begun to layer timothy hay into each of the boxes (look close and you’ll see a sprinkle of feed in each as well).
Hay is probably the easiest type of forage to use, but there are other options depending on your horse. Straw makes a good forage box addition. You can also use crumpled packing paper, pinestraw, or other similar materials. If you use a non-edible filler, it’s best to use the box under supervision (don’t leave it with your horse in a stall overnight, for example).
Then Add Treats!
Usually, forage goes on top of the treats, and then you’ll add a few treats on top.
If your horse is a total beginner to forage boxes, you may need to skip this step or use fewer treats in the bottoms of the boxes.
You can see here that I’ve actually started this box with a few handfuls of grain, which goes right to the bottom for extra challlenge:
For most horses, take a few chunks of goodies and put them in the bottoms of the smaller boxes. Sprinkle a few treats on the bottom of the bigger main box.
You can use any horse-safe food for the treats in your nested forage box. Changing the size and type adds variety and can change the challenge level of this horse enrichment activity.
Save a few to add in between layers of forage.
Using Your Nested Forage Box Horse Enrichment
Forage boxes are one of the easiest, most user-friendly enrichment items. Most horses will take to it right away.
You can use this equine enrichment in a stall, pasture, or even in other places like the barn aisle. The first time your horse uses a forage box or other new enrichment, it’s best to introduce it in an open area so that your horse can move away if they feel uncomfortable.
You can find more info on introducing enrichment and helping a horse who ignores enrichment in this article. If your horse happens to be fearful of the box – unlikely but it does happen! – you’ll find helpful information in this article on fear of enrichment and new items.
Once your horse understands how to use and enjoy a forage box, you can use it any time. For horses on stall confinement who need lots of boredom relief, nested forage boxes in different combinations can be a great addition to your enrichment plan.
Related Enrichment
Box and container based enrichment comes in lots of shapes and sizes! Try these next: