Ice is great horse enrichment! There are lots of ways to work with ice as horse enrichment, and it has a lot of perks. Ice toys for horses are easy to make, budget friendly, and horses love them. Here’s the easiest way to use ice for horse enrichment: a fast, cheap, but ultra fun ice and treat mix!
Ice for Horse Enrichment
Ice is such a good horse enrichment tool. It’s really versatile and lets you create lots of DIY horse enrichment – all you need is a freezer or a local shop that sells cubed ice.
Enrichment for horses is all about encouraging natural behaviors and providing stimulation. In other words, it gives your horse the chance to express themselves, relieves boredom, and is just a fun experience for your equine friends.
When you use ice as a horse toy, you’re giving your horse an unusual sensory experience. Horses love to see, smell, and feel new things, and that’s really important whether your horse lives mostly in a stall or out in a pasture. You can use ice for horse enrichment at any time of year, but it’s especially great in the heat of summer.
What’s the Best Ice Enrichment for Horses?
There are lots of ways to use ice as a horse toy or enrichment. Big ice blocks with treats inside are always popular, but the easiest way to give your horse some ice time is with a big tray and lots of cubed ice.
It’s really simple: Just take a few bags of cubed or crushed ice, empty them into a wide pan or tray, and scatter fruit or veggie chunks in and around the ice.
The ice cube treat tray is part foraging puzzle, part sensory enrichment. Your horse will get lots of mental and physical stimulation by sloshing their nose through the ice to look for treats. And it’s so easy to put together! You can provide this cool, refreshing horse enrichment activity several times during the summer months as part of your equine enrichment routine.
Some horses really enjoy ice cubes even if there’s no food involved, so feel free to make a tray of ice without treats just to give your horse something cold to slosh their nose in.
What Behaviors Does the Ice Cube Treat Pan Encourage?
With this quick but fun enrichment item, you’ll encourage lots of beneficial equine behaviors. The ice cube tray for horses promotes:
- Feeding and foraging
- Problem solving and cognition
- Using the sense of touch
- Using the senses of smell and taste
Why the Ice Cube Treat Pan Is Good Horse Enrichment
This enrichment activity uses the same concept as the classic forage box enrichment, but instead of using hay or crumpled paper as filler, the bin is filled with ice cubes.
It’s great equine enrichment because ice is safe for horses and can be really enjoyable on hot summer days. Most horses quickly learn that shuffling their noses through the ice cubes feels wonderful. It’s a small but enjoyable way to encourage your horse to stay cool in summer.
Bagged ice is easy to buy and use. Not everyone has the freezer space to make large ice blocks for horses, and the ice pan toy makes ice enrichment accessible to all equestrians.
Your ice cubes will melt quickly on a hot day, so the experience changes from solid cubes of ice to cold slush and finally water. That’s a lot of sensory value for one enrichment activity!
If your horse isn’t sold on the idea of ice (some horses are put off by loud, sharp noises like the sound of shifting ice cubes), they can wait to enjoy this item until after all of the ice has melted. The treats in the water will then make a chilly and refreshing bobbing-for-apples type of puzzle. This gives the horse choice and control over how they use and enjoy their enrichment.
Make Your Horse’s Ice Cube Treat Pan
Here’s what you need to put your horse’s ice enrichment activity together.
- Ice cubes, ideally 10 lb or more
- Treats such as carrots or apples
- A large pan or other container to hold the ice
Step 1: Sourcing Ice
First, you’ll need to get a pretty big quantity of cubed or crushed ice.
This part is easy since bagged ice is readily available at gas stations and grocery stores in most areas. Remember that this is a food puzzle and your horse will probably lick and chew the ice, so make sure to use food quality, clean ice cubes from a reliable supplier.
For this enrichment activity I used 20 lb of ice, purchased in two 10 lb bags. It was the perfect amount for the tray in this demo.
I like making enrichment horse sized (big!), but you can also scale this enrichment down and just use a small amount of ice, such as from your home icemaker, in a basic feed pan.
Step 2. Choosing and Filling the Pan
Any large, ideally shallow item pan will work to hold the ice. Feed buckets can work if you just use a small amount of ice, but can be uncomfortable for horses to shuffle through. It’s hard for a horse to work their nose through a deep container of ice cubes, so in these pictures I’m using our favorite mud tray instead. Other options include small kiddie pools (you’ll need a lot of ice!) and shallow rubber feed pans.
I really like this style of tray, which you can get at any large building supply store.
Step 3. Add Treats to Your Horse’s Ice Enrichment Tray
As you add the ice to the pan, put your fruits and veggies inside and layer them in and around the ice. If your horse is new to this enrichment, putting the treats right on top of the ice is totally fine and can help them understand how it works.
Some horses have a hard time figuring out where the treats are using their sense of touch, so cutting your fruits and veggies in a different shape than the ice cube can encourage them to locate the goodies without trouble. For example, if your ice cubes are little squares, cut your apples into wedges and carrots into sticks.
Step 4. Ice Enrichment Time!
Now you get to watch your horse enjoy the ice! If your horse has never encountered ice before, they might be pretty confused. Some horses appear to understand and enjoy ice right away and will go out of their way to lick and nose into it. Others are only interested in finding food but don’t want to slosh around in the ice.
Adding Variety to Your Horse’s Ice Enrichment Tray
One of the best things about this ice enrichment activity for horses is how much variety you can add. Use the ice tray toy in a different way, as often as a couple times a week, for maximum sensory variety.
Try adding water to the ice before using to create an ice water bath, which some horses might like better than nosing through ice cubes.
Check local grocery stores or markets for crushed ice. It’s a different texture and sensory experience, and your horse might have a preference for snow/slush over cubes.
You can also sprinkle in fresh herbs such as mint, or add a few drops of vanilla extract, for extra scent.
Safety Notes
Ice is fun and safe, but there are a few things to keep in mind when you put together this activity for your horse.
Supervise your horse while they have access to ice. A small amount of ice eaten is totally safe, but eating pounds and pounds of it isn’t a good idea. Most horses won’t, but equines often make questionable decisions especially when excited about new experiences. Remove the ice if it looks like your horse can’t tell the difference between ice and food and is simply trying to eat it all.
Always use food safe ice for your horse. If you would put it in a glass and pour a drink over it, it’s okay to use.
If you want to take a deeper dive into equine enrichment safety, we have an ebook on safe horse enrichment at Amazon.
More Enrichment Inspiration
Looking for more ideas related to the horse ice enrichment tray? Try some of these similar ideas:
The Snuffle Box for a sensory food puzzle great for colder weather