If weather or injury has resulted in your horse being on box rest or stabled a lot more than you’d hoped, then you both may be feeling pretty fed up, but the best stable toys for horses are a great way to alleviate boredom. While bored horses are at a higher risk of developing stereotypies, such as cribbing, destructive chewing or box walking, most settle eventually if they have stablemates nearby or something to keep them occupied.
The main aim of stable toys for horses is to enrich your horse’s time in the stable, keep him mentally stimulated and extend the time he takes doing normal activities, such as eating. This is particularly important if you’re feeding a horse on box rest.
From the best flavoured licks to horse balls, there’s an ever-growing plethora of ready-made horse toys available. Some horses are easily pleased, though, so if funds are tight you could try making your own boredom busters for horses.
Best stable toys for horses
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Likit Boredom Breaker
Colours: Red, glitter pink, aqua, purple or lilac
Ideal for food motivated horses or experienced lickers, this multi-directional double hanging challenge will keep the busiest horse occupied. Use with 1 x Likit (650g) and/or 1 or 2 Little Likits (250g).
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Horsemen’s Pride Jolly Mega Ball
Sizes: 25in (red), 30in (blue) or 40in (green)
This heavy duty inflatable ball is made specifically for horses. It comes in three sizes to choose from depending on the size of your horse and his space.
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Likit Snak-a-ball
Colours: Red, aqua, purple or lilac
This treat ball stimulates natural grazing behaviour and encourages your horse to stretch and use muscles from poll to tail. Use with Likit Snacks or any dry pellet feed.
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HKM Ball toy
Colours: Rose or blue
The horse play ball helps provide entertainment and variety in the stable to prevent boredom. Thanks to the practical loop, it is easy to attach so that the horse can play with it at any time. Feed such as hay or carrots can also be attached to the small loops on the ball as an extra highlight. The ball is supplied with an air pump and is therefore ready for immediate use.
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Shires Equine Scratcher
Size: 64cm x 28cm
Made from durable plastic with a texturised, flexible panel that can be mounted on a fence post or stable wall to allow your horse to safely scratch. It offers relief from insect bites, boredom or shedding a seasonal coat. It will not rot or crack whatever the weather and includes mounting hardware.
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Likit Graze Maze Slow Feeding Mat
Colours: Purple or blue
A durable rubber lick mat that can be used to help relieve boredom, provide a distraction, or simply to slow the rate of feeding. You simply use it in the bottom of a feed bucket as a slow-feeder or spread a layer of our yummy Likit Graze Paste on the mat, onto which you can sprinkle feed and treats to create a delicious grazing plate for your horse. It’s also suitable for freezing so you could also make a horse ice lolly when the weather is hot.
I use one of these in my horses feed bucket as he only has a small feed and I noticed once using this it seemed to take him longer to eat his small ration. It’s easy to clean and it proven to be very durable.
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Horsemen’s Pride Jolly Ball
Colours: Wide range of colours
This ball is made of hard wearing material that resists deflating when bitten, kicked, tossed around or rolled on. Some are also scented for extra temptation.
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Stubbs Rock N Roll Ball
Colours: Red, blue, green, pink or purple
Combining a shape that is difficult to roll in a straight line with generous size, this dribble treat feeder will keep a horse very busy. The dispensing hole is 30mm diameter and suits most treats. Moulded from ultra-tough stubbythene, this toy is supremely durable.
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Lemieux Horse Stable Toy
Colours: Banana, bee, cloud, cupcake, pig, robin, sausage dog, apple or popcorn
Keep your horse amused in the stable with this range of 3D horse toys in a number of different designs. It comes with a rope loop that you can hang up and some designs have a play rope through the toy for extra pull play, preventing your horse from getting bored. These toys are filled with natural husk and lined with hessian for extra strength.
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Silvermoor Swingers Rope Kit
Colours: Green
This rope kit will allow you to hang a forage block (available separately) from your stable ceiling. The forage block is made from 100% natural ingredients with no added sugar. There are no corners and the swinging design, which together means your horse has to work to be able to eat it, slowing consumption and promoting saliva production, which buffers stomach acid.
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Horsemen’s Pride Jolly Hay Ball
Colours: Blue or green
This hay ball is lightweight and durable and can easily be hung in a stall or outside. The larger holes allow for hay to be placed inside while the smaller holes are perfect for holding apple or carrot chunks to add a yummy treat.
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Shires Ball Feeder
Colours: Orange, blue, purple, pink or green
This ball encourages a more natural, slower eating pattern than feeding from a bucket. Your horse rolls the ball around and feed is dispensed out the hole. It can be useful for relieving boredom or stress in the stable or paddock. Use with pellet feed or treats.
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Bizzy Bites Bizzy Ball
Colours: Pink or aqua
You can hang this stable toy from the wall, leave it on the floor or attach it to the stable door. Inspired by baby and dog teethers, the textured wings provide an interesting surface for chewing which also aids a teething horse. Use with Bizzy Lick.
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Shires Carrot Ball
This ball is designed to help increase dexterity and encourage learning with healthy treats as a reward. It should keep your horse entertained for hours if you hang it up in the stable. It is inflated using a bicycle pump and has an innovative “hug and tug” feature that varies the effort required to remove the carrots once the horse is familiar with the toy. Can be used with carrots, turnips, parsnips or apples – anything that will be held firm in the holes.
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Horsemen’s Pride Pas-a-Fier
This apple-scented toy has a rotating device that allows your horse to massage his gums for hours. Hardware to mount the toy to the wall is included.
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QHP Horse Stable Toy Novy
Colours: Pink, green or blue
This stable toy was thoughtfully designed with young horses in mind, this charming stable companion is crafted from durable suede and filled with naturally biodegradable coconut fibre—making it both safe and eco-friendly. The cotton and jute hanging cord allows for easy attachment in the stable, giving your horse a playful distraction to help reduce boredom. Whether for a foal or a full-grown equine, Novy is a fun and responsible way to support stable enrichment.
Do horses like stable toys?
Yes, most horses do. Providing horses with a stable toy can be a successful way for owners to offer additional mental stimulation and enrichment while they are stabled.
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Franchesca is Horse & Hound’s Products Editor. She produces all of our buying guides and gift guides, as well as organising product testing and bringing you news about the latest products to hit the market. If there’s a new launch, Franchesca is the first person to hear about it. She brings you the best deals and is passionate about arming Horse & Hound’s readers with honest, unbiased product reviews. Franchesca loves letting riders and horse owners know what products are coming out, how to make their lives easier and how to spend their money wisely.
