Boredom Busters

There is definitely a correlation between the number of rides I'm putting on Ashke and his reaction to his environment. He gets two days off in a row and all of a sudden I am dealing with a snorting, spooky, looking-for-any-reason-to-react Arab. I'm just going to have to stop taking days off.

In an effort to keep him entertained, so that he won't let his two girl friends into turn out with him (Amanda was shocked to see all three heads hanging over Ardee's stall wall during her ride on Viking three days ago), I've gone for the enrichment option. We borrowed a toy from one of our barn mates to test, and he loved it so much that I purchased one of my own.

It is pretty phallic shaped.

Our BO referred to it as a horse dildo.

It dispenses hay cubes from a hole on one side, which he gets by moving the "grazer" around with his feet and nose. It is a strange shape and weighted so it takes a bit of work to dispense the hay cube.

It helps him remain engaged during his down time.

Tether ball. Squeeky dog toys. Material dog toy. Rattle toy.

Different textures. Different sizes. Different sounds.

Somewhat engaging.

Treat wall. Redmond Salt. Himalayan Salt. Bird seed (jk).

Different textures and tastes.

He wants more of the grain and molasses, thankyouverymuch.

 Pass-a-fier

The whole thing rotates in the bracket, plus the middle piece will rotate independently.

It smells like apple and Ashke was very interested when I was holding it for him to inspect.

He shied violently once it was installed in his stall. 

Hopefully, these will keep him entertained for a while. Our weather is going up and down in temps and it's incredibly hard to get a solid schedule in place. I'm getting out there five days a week. I may need to bump that to six, when possible, once the weather gets nicer. This week, I can ride on Monday. Then I am taking off work on Wednesday, with a lesson at 10 am, then off to see Dr D at noon. Thursday, since I can't ride anyway, we have tickets to see Black Panther, which we are incredibly excited to go to. Friday night is date night, and I have a clinic on Saturday. So, that means this week I might get to ride four days.

Life is killing me . . .