What is a snuffle mat for horses? A horse snuffle mat is an awesome toy that gives your horse a mental workout, relieves boredom, and promotes relaxation. Horse snuffle mats are perfect for keeping your horse occupied and entertained in their stall or pasture. With a snuffle mat, your equine friend can enjoy a fun puzzle that you can buy…or DIY! Here’s why your horse needs a snuffle mat, and how to use this great equine enrichment item.
What Is a Horse Snuffle Mat?
Snuffle mats are more familiar to dog owners than equestrians. They’ve been on the dog enrichment scene for several years. Only recently have they started to come into use as equine enrichment, and it’s about time! Horses love snuffle mats, and a snuffle mat is a great way to keep them mentally and physically entertained.
A snuffle mat is a flat base mat with strips or loops of fabric attached to the top side. You scatter treats on top and within the fabric strips. The “snuffles” of fabric mimic a pile of grass or loose leaves, and your horse (or dog!) noses through the fabric to find them.
Snuffle mats give your horse a chance to use their senses of smell and touch. They’re great sensory enrichment for stalled or pastured horses. And you can use them with any feed or treats, so snuffle mats for horses make great slow feeders.
You can buy snuffle mats for horses online, but they’re also a great DIY horse enrichment project.
Let’s take a deep dive into horse snuffle mats and how to use them.
Why Snuffle Mats for Horses are Great Equine Enrichment
Dog snuffle mats give your pup the chance to scavenge or sniff out imaginary prey. For horses, snuffle mats are just as fun, but for different behaviors.
Snuffle mats for horses mimic how wild horses would push aside leaves or tough grass to find the good stuff underneath. There’s often fresh green forage underneath. When you use a horse snuffle mat, you’re recreating this instinctive foraging pattern.
Enrichment for horses is all about encouraging natural behaviors. Giving your horse stimulation and the chance to use their bodies and minds is crucial for good mental and physical health. Enrichment for horses is especially important during stall time.
Snuffle mats are great horse enrichment because they’re easy to use, safe, and a lot of fun. They relieve equine boredom, so they’re especially good for horses in stalls. But you can use your snuffle mat anywhere, indoors or out.
What Behaviors Do Horse Snuffle Mats Encourage?
Snuffle mats are a LOT of fun for horses! They give your horse a ton of sensory stimulation and encourage all these behaviors:
- Feeding and Foraging
- Nosing, nudging, lipping, and snuffling
- Sense of touch and whisker work
- Sense of smell
- Problem solving and puzzle skills
Have you ever seen your horse “snuffle” with their lips? You’re likely to see this adorable behavior as your horse vacuums up spilled feed from the ground, or if you feed from a flat mat. Horses use their whiskers to find bits of food and then sweep it into the mouths using their lips.
Snuffle mats for horses encourage this natural behavior. It’s also a simple but fun puzzle for horse, and they’ll have to work just a little to get their treats. Many horses seem to love food puzzles and the mental stimulation they provide.
All this sniffing, nudging, and rummaging around make snuffle mats a must-have for horse owners. They’re just too much fun to pass up!
Where to Buy a Snuffle Mat for Horses
Right not, snuffle mats for horses aren’t mass produced. Instead, you can either use a snuffle mat made for dogs, create one yourself, or buy from a small-scale snuffle mat creator.
Snuffle mats for dogs come in many shapes and sizes. The best are made with sturdy, thick fabric bases, ideally with nonskid material on the backing.
To be safe for horses, your snuffle mat must be sturdy and made from nonwoven fabric. That means you should look for a mat made with fleece or felt, which won’t fray if torn. It’s important to buy a high quality mat for horse use, because no one wants a dangerous snuffle mat!
It can be hard to assess snuffle mat quality while shopping online. I’ve personally used this mat, available from Amazon and really like it because it has high quality felt snuffles. This makes it easier to clean! The round shape is a plus because it fits perfectly into a feed pan.
How to DIY a Snuffle Mat
If you can’t find the perfect snuffle mat for your horse online, why not DIY one? If you’re crafty, you can make a great snuffle mat from scratch.
It takes time to create this super-durable DIY snuffle mat for horses but your horse will LOVE it. Perks of building your own snuffle mat include being able to make it in whatever size you prefer, and choosing all the materials.
You can also bring the snuffle concept into 3D with the Snuffle Box, another great horse enrichment DIY.
How To Use Your Horse’s Snuffle Mat
To use a snuffle mat, first make or purchase the mat you want. The larger the mat, the better; a larger mat is less likely to be picked up and tossed around by the horse and is also heavier and won’t move around as much as the horse uses it.
What Treats or Food?
You can use any food you like in your horse’s snuffle mat. For first-time snufflers, use large treat items such as oversized pellets, horse treats, or chunks of fruit and vegetables.
Slip the treats throughout the folds and tufts of the mat, maybe keeping several of them at the top of the fabric or sticking partway out to show your horse that good things lie within.
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
You can also use smaller foods like grain or feed. Smaller treats make the snuffle mat more challenging for your horse. Once your horse knows how to use a snuffle mat calmly and safely, you can even feed their daily meals on a snuffle mat as a way of slowing down the meal.
Teaching Your Horse to Use a Snuffle Mat
The first few times you use a snuffle mat, focus on teaching your horse how to use it correctly. You want your horse to learn that snuffling through the fabric is fun and rewarding.
Too much challenge too soon might frustrate your horse, and they could even learn to pick up the mat and dump it out on the ground! Make it clear and easy for your horse with big chunks of food that barely take work to nose out of the mat.
Foraging for food and solving puzzles are natural behaviors, but they’re also skills. If your horse is only used to eating from a bucket, they may have a learning curve! It’s okay if your horse seems confused by their snuffle mat at first. Give them the toy every few days to practice until they figure out how much fun it is.
Where to Use It
You can use a snuffle mat anywhere. It’s a great stall enrichment item, but your horse will also love it in the pasture. Giving a snuffle mat to your horse can also occupy them in the barn aisle while waiting for an appointment or tacking up.
It’s best to use your horse’s snuffle mat on a solid surface or in a pan. This is especially important if you’re using small food like grain. If your horse knocks treats off the mat, they can lose them in deep shavings or tall grass.
The one place you should NOT use a snuffle mat is on a sandy surface, like in an arena. Using food toys on sand is never a good idea. If your turnout footing is sandy, put the snuffle mat in a shallow pan so that loose treats don’t get covered in sand before your horse eats them.
Horse Snuffle Mat Safety
Snuffle mats are safe horse toys most of the time. There are a couple common sense things to keep in mind.
When offering snuffle mats for the first time, remember to observe good practices for introducing enrichment. Snuffle mats are readily accepted by most horses, but the loud patterns and furry texture could scare a sensitive horse.
They’ll warm up to it quickly if you introduce the snuffle mat in an open, low pressure space. Never use a snuffle mat in a stall if your horse isn’t used to it.
Before first use, and each time you prepare the mat, make sure it’s safe! Check the snuffle mat over for wear and damage. If any of the fabric strips are loose or frayed, cut them away from the mat to prevent your horse from accidentally eating fabric.
Keep an eye on your horse each time they use their snuffle mat. It’s okay if they want to play rough, but if the mat becomes damaged you’ll want to remove it right away.
How to Clean a Snuffle Mat for Horses
It’s important to keep your horse’s snuffle mat clean! Shake out the mat after each use to get rid of any uneaten food. If you used wet or sticky treats, hose off the snuffle mat or rinse it in the sink. Then hang it up to dry.
Every once in a while you can throw most snuffle mats in the washing machine for a deep cleaning. Cleaning is mostly to prevent food residue and saliva from building up. Basic hygiene is important especially if the snuffle mat is shared between horses.
Before each use, check your snuffle mat to make sure that uneaten food hasn’t been left in the mat.
Related Enrichment
Snuffle mats are a really fun plug-and-play enrichment for horses. It encourages foraging and feeding, and works great to slow down fast eaters. Some related enrichment items include:
The Snuffle Box for a 3D version that keeps food contained
The Car Mat Slow Feeder for a textured, easy-clean feeding mat
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