My horse goes mad if he has to be stabled for more than a day!

Q:           My horse goes mad if he has to be stabled for more than a day- he becomes very angry and difficult to handle, is there anything I can do to help him when the weather is so bad he has to stay in? A:            While some horses are happy living in, for other horses it can be very hard to adjust to 24hr stabling. If your horse is stressed by being confined, they often react by being difficult, angry or bargy. To help to reduce your horse’s stress levels, make sure they always have hay or haylage available, as this keeps them satisfied, and eating gives them something to do! If they are a very good doer, double net small holed haynets to reduce intake! Reduce hard feed, if your horses are fed a chaff, keep feeding this it helps with gut fill and take your horse much longer to eat, and consider using a horse ball and a few nuts to keep your horse occupied. It can help some horses if they can see a friend nearby, and stable mirrors may also help. Try to avoid high sugar licks and treats while your horse is cooped up, and concentrate on slow release energy sources.  If your horse is of a nervy disposition, we recommend that you feed our fantastic calmative Steady-Up Advance to your horse while they are stabled, and when first turned out to reduce stress. Steady-Up Advance is a unique feed supplement that helps to maintain calmness in horses and ponies without reducing performance.