Licking mats for horses are an easy way to relieve boredom and promote relaxation. Give your horse a lick mat, and they’ll enjoy tasty sensory enrichment with minimal effort. And since licking mats for horses are an easy DIY project, your horse can enjoy the benefits of enrichment while you enjoy the benefits to your wallet. Here’s what you need to know about licking mats for horses.
What Are Licking Mats for Horses?
Licking mats for horses are the horse equivalent of a lollipop. It’s a horse-sized mat or board to which you add a tasty smear or spread.
Licking mats are popular enrichment items or toys for dogs and cats. They keep your pet occupied, promote a natural feeding behavior, and relieve stress. Licking mats for horses work the same way, but you’ll use horse-friendly spreads for equine-approved fun.
Your horse’s licking mat can be smooth or textured. There’s at least one lick mat made for horses at the time of this writing, but you can also use large dog licking mats or make your own textured rubber licking mat.
Why Licking Mats are Great Horse Enrichment
Lick mats are a great toy for any horse, but they’re especially good enrichment for horses who are nervous or need help to relax. Licking is a naturally calming, stress-relieving activity for horses, and using a lick mat keeps your horse’s mind occupied.
You can use a licking mat in the stall or pasture, either on the ground or upright. A licking mat on a stall wall is a perfect way to redirect a horse from unwanted stall behaviors like kicking or pacing. But they’re also great for horses without any behavior problems – use a licking mat as a horse toy to keep your horse occupied and boredom-free during stall time.
Licking mats provide crucial sensory enrichment for your horse, especially when they’re stalled. You can provide lots of flavor variety by using different licking mat spreads.
What Behaviors Do Licking Mats for Horses Encourage?
Enrichment for horses is all about encouraging natural horse behaviors. Licking is a wonderful way to promote not just licking, but using the senses and problem solving as well.
With a licking mat, your horse gets the chance to practice these behaviors:
- Licking
- Nibbling with teeth or lips
- Whisker work and scenting
- Problem solving (depending on the design)
- Sensory behaviors like using taste and smell
How to Make a Horse Lick Mat
It’s not hard to make or set up a lick mat for horses. You have lots of options for materials and spreads. The best part of this enrichment activity is finding the combination that your horse likes the most!
What You Need
- A smooth sturdy board or mat, ideally anywhere between 12”x12” up to 24”x24”, such as:
- A cutting board (best, easiest DIY choice)
- A square of smooth rubber stall mat
- A plastic cafeteria tray
You can use some other surface too, depending on what’s available. I like to use a cutting board for the most basic smear board because it’s food-safe and easy to clean, has a handle for easy carrying and storage, and is inexpensive to buy. But you can use anything that’s sturdy, mostly flat and smooth, and the right size.
If you’re using a licking mat made for dogs, remember how big your horse’s tongue is. Try to find a board with an open, simple texture so that your horse can lick up all the spread.
For a horse new to licking mats, you can always start with a flat, smooth surface. See how your horse does, and increase the complexity by adding a more textured surface later on.
- A tasty paste in any flavor you choose, such as
- peanut butter
- honey
- applesauce
- pureed grain
- and many more – you can get really creative!
Keep any food requirements or sensitivities in mind when selecting the smear or syrup. And remember that a little goes a long way – only a few tablespoons of material are needed for this every-once-in-a-while enrichment.
3. Optional equipment:
- Hardware and tools to anchor the board to a surface such as the floor or stall wall
Applying the Spread to the Licking Mat
Start with your board or mat, clean and ready to go.
Apply the smear material. If you’re using sweet, sticky syrups, a little goes a long way – you’ll only need a few tablespoons. A plastic squeeze bottle makes using a licking mat a breeze.
Pastes and smears made from soaked and pureed grain or pureed veggies will go on a little thicker. You may need up to a cup of applesauce or pureed grain to set up your horse’s licking mat.
For thick smears, you can use a knife or a silicone spatula to apply the food just like icing on a cake – and a layer no thinner than a layer of cake frosting is just about right.
Using Your Horse Licking Mat
You can give the smear board to your horse either in the pasture or in the stall. It can be offered on the ground or secured to a vertical surface.
If you use the licking mat on the ground, sweep the area clean or use the licking mat inside a pan to keep bedding or dirt off the sticky spread.
Most horses LOVE licking mats and will go for the mat right away. If your horse doesn’t seem to understand, sprinkle a little feed on top of the mat to encourage them to have a taste.
For safety, remove the mat when your horse is finished with it. Give it a rinse, but you probably won’t need to do much cleaning – your horse will have licked the mat clean!
There are so many variations of flavors and textures available. This enrichment offers endless variety, so you can use a licking mat for your horse several times a week as part of a good enrichment plan. Most horses will never get tired of playing with a licking mat.
Related Enrichment
Licking mats for horses are a feeding enrichment that provides sensory stimulation. To encourage similar behaviors, try these toys and activities:
Fruit Carton Snuffle Mat for simple feeding enrichment
DIY Car Mat Slow Feeder, a simple DIY licking and feeding mat
Sensory Texture Board for basic, non-food stall enrichment