Guest blog: Brainwork for horses, a nice winter activity

With the recent unpleasant winter weather, it is not always easy to stay motivated to do something with your horse. Especially if you only have access to an outdoor arena, it can be a challenge to do more than just the daily care. Fortunately, Brainwork for Horses is an ideal activity for these moments. It takes little time, does not require a large space and can even be done in a covered grooming area or in a shelter. As a certified Brainwork for Horses instructor, I am happy to help you on your way.

12 February '25 - 4 min reading time

What is Brainwork?

In general, brain work is hiding food in, on or between materials that are strange to horses. As for food, you can choose fresh vegetables or fruit, but because you need a lot of food, healthy and not too big horse treats are also very suitable. Especially for horses that are sensitive to sugars, it is good to look for food that contains little sugar. You can hide the food in a sniffing mat, but also think about a large feeding bucket in which you put some dog toys and cuddly toys.

It is not about actual hiding like with Easter eggs, but about offering food in a way that challenges the horse to use its senses. So it is not a problem if the horse sees that you are putting the food in the material.

Stimulate senses and natural behavior

Horses search in a different way than humans, they use their senses:

• Smell

• Touch (with hooves as well as with lip, nose and whiskers)

• Sight

• Taste

• Hearing (the latter often plays a lesser role in brain work)

  
  

By using the senses, we stimulate the natural behaviour of the horse. In the wild, a horse always had to use its senses to find food. Even if you keep your horse in a paddock paradise, we can no longer completely imitate this. Moving the haystacks every day is simply not a realistic option. However, horses still need mental challenge that comes from searching for food themselves. With mental stimulation and interactive games such as brain work, substances such as endorphins are released, also known as the happiness hormone. This gives your horse a calming and positive feeling. In addition, your horse can get rid of its energy with brain work. Did you know that 10-15 minutes of brain work can be equal to an hour of physical training? You will often see the same signals afterwards. Think of yawning, rolling or shaking itself.

Get started with the step-by-step plan!

The terms brainwork and enrichment are often used interchangeably, but there is one clear difference here. With brainwork, the horse gets to work on its own, for example with a fine-meshed hay net in which you hide carrots. Brainwork is something you do together with your horse and has a beginning and an end. We even have a step-by-step plan with which we introduce the material and gradually increase the level of difficulty. You only go to the next step if your horse shows no signs of tension. Below is a brief example of how you could build up a brainwork session with a towel as material. A towel is actually a simplified version of a snuffle mat.

In preparation:

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• Provide a quiet environment for Brainwork. No distractions with stable mates walking close by, lots of loud noises or other horses standing too close.

• Make sure you have enough food ready and with you in a hip bag, for example

• Keep the towel handy

• When working on sand; extra surface in the form of a sail or yoga mat. Note, when you use an extra surface, first do steps 1 to 3 with the surface and then start again at step 1 with the towel that you are going to add to the surface.

• Don't forget to have fun together during the session!

  
  

Step 1: Start by introducing the empty towel. You show the horse the towel at bow height and let the horse approach and investigate the towel at its own pace.

Step 2: Place the towel on the ground and let the horse investigate the empty towel again.

Step 3: Spread food around and in or on the towel. Place the food clearly visible and findable, so that it is ready for your horse to grab.

Step 4: Hide the food a little harder, build up the difficulty slowly. By building up slowly, you prevent frustration.

Step 5: Do you see that your horse is searching more sloppily or that the focus on the game is slackening? Then it is time to finish. You do this by sprinkling some food on a spot a few meters from the towel, while you clean up the towel in the meantime. Do you not have the opportunity to spread the food somewhere else? Then give some food from your hand.

The above step-by-step plan is a concise version, would you like to receive an extensive step-by-step plan in your mailbox? Then download the free step-by-step plan here!

Patricia has her own company, Paardenmeisje 2.0, where she focuses on mental training for horses. In particular, she gives lessons and workshops in Brainwork for Horses, in which she is certified. She does this both physically and via online courses. Through Brainwork and other methods, she helps horse lovers to translate and understand the language of their horse. Strengthening the connection between human and horse is what she finds most beautiful.

Website: https://paardenmeisje2punt0.nl/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paardenmeisje_2.0/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paardenmeisje2punt0

Blog by Patricia Groenewegen, Horse Girl 2.0