Winter is a tough time for all horse owners and it can be tough for our horses too. Many need to be stabled in the evening, long nights can mean long hours stood in. Horses actually spend a small portion of their day sleeping so what do they do all night? What would they be doing if they had a choice?

Anyone who knows me will know how much value I put on environmental enrichment and I wanted to spend some time looking at what enrichment is and why it is so important that we increase the use of it across the board for our horses, donkeys and mules and start to view it as part of everyday management instead of an added extra. Ultimately horses are a captive species that are commonly kept in an environment which restricts and limits their display of natural behaviours, enrichment is not just for zoo animals but for all animals that are kept in a restricted environment.

Environmental enrichment is how we adapt the available environment to optimise an animals sensory stimulation and provide choice. We can positively influence our equids emotional state and therefore their welfare by providing a complex environment for them to occupy.

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