Product Review: No Bored Horses
Do you ever wonder what your horse’s day is like when you’re not there? Breakfast. Turnout with some buddies, maybe. Perhaps lunch? Then they come back into their stall before nighttime, eat another meal and spend those wee hours alone in a 12-by-12-foot stall.
Every routine is different, of course. But it begs the question: Do horses get bored?
“When your horse’s life seems ideal on the surface, but you still wonder whether there could be a piece missing, this book is for you.”
That’s the opening line of behavior and training specialist, Amanda Goble’s book, “No Bored Horses: Essential Enrichment for Happy Equines.” In this rich manual, Amanda explores the theory behind why horses need enrichment to thrive, how lifestyle changes can shape your horse’s health and well-being, and dozens of exercises you can do with your horse to keep your horse challenged, interested, and content.
There’s no other book quite like this on the market – written specifically with horses in mind. Amanda is an animal enrichment specialist and zookeeper, and pulls on her years of experience and education on how horse owners can help fill what’s missing from the modern horse’s lifestyle.
Amanda’s techniques focus on leaning into horses’ natural behaviors, and providing stimulation to their everyday routines. All of these tactics can help change the lives of horses and their caregivers for the better.
I found Amanda’s book at an interesting time in my life. My Thoroughbred was on stall rest and recovering from a soft-tissue injury. Life as he knew it was stripped away from him. While his health and recovery was paramount, I was desperate to find ways to connect with him – and give him some stimulation – during this dormant time in his life.
The enrichment exercises in “Bored With Horses” was a life saver. They were safe to do on the ground and challenged our conventional way of being around one another. They also created interesting mental challenges for him to explore on his own time in his stall and once he progressed to a small paddock. In some of them, they made him aware of his feet and helped start the rehab process of creating important postural changes to ensure his longterm soundness.
I found the book fascinating, in the way Amanda explores horse behavior and interests, and how we can be better equipped as owners to encourage them to explore modern “sport horse” or “hobby horse” challenges in the most natural ways possible for them.