At first, I thought his frustration was solely due to lack of turnout, so I exercised him more and gave him longer turn out in the arena when it was available. However, nothing really improved. So, I thought about the exercise I was doing with him... Rather than doing flatwork or lunging during the week, I gave him lots to think about, including doing some ground work exercises.
I noticed a difference in how settled Louie was in the stable after learning something new, and having a lot to think about. This could be anything from leg yield from the ground, to almost circuit training over poles and blocks to navigate around. There's a whole heap of different things to do everyday to keep their mind active, which is very handy when you have a horse like Louie that learns new things after just a handful of tries!!
I still noticed that during the day he would be frustrated and unhappy in his stable until his work on the evening. So I bought the basic Likit to give him something to 'play' with but that was a challenge.
Louie loved the carrot and apple flavours in the Likit holder - any other flavour and he wasn't so interested! However, Louie also soon realised that he could get his jaw open wide enough to be able to chew the holder and crack the Likits inside - we went through a fair few Likits in a short space of time as Louie could finish one in the space of a few hours!!
