Environmental enrichment for the resting horse

Summary

Environmental enrichment represents a straightforward yet often overlooked intervention in equine hospital and rehabilitation settings, where prolonged stall confinement can compromise both physical recovery and psychological wellbeing. Clarke's work, drawing on practical experience from Redwings Horse Sanctuary's clinical environment, examines how structured enrichment strategies influence resting horses' behaviour and stress responses during recovery periods. The research demonstrates that deliberate provision of sensory stimulation, social contact, and foraging opportunities significantly reduces stereotypic behaviours and supports more natural movement patterns, even within confined spaces necessary for medical management. For farriers, veterinarians, and rehabilitation specialists, these findings underscore the importance of collaborating with facility managers and owners to implement cost-effective enrichment—such as hay nets positioned to encourage neck extension, companion animals, or varied surface textures—as an integral component of post-injury or post-operative care protocols. Rather than viewing enrichment as peripheral to treatment, integrating these principles into recovery programmes may improve both compliance with box rest and the quality of tissue healing by reducing stress-related physiological disruption.

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Key Findings

• •Environmental enrichment strategies can reduce stress in resting horses during hospitalization
• •Practical enrichment approaches based on sanctuary hospital experience are applicable to equine clinical settings

Conditions Studied