"By enrichment, we mean: improving the quality of life for animals that do not live in the wild. Enrichment helps stimulate natural behavior," explains Marloes. By making your horse's living environment as natural and interesting as possible, you prevent boredom and encourage movement. Enrichment can also be done if you don't have a paddock paradise, but another form of housing.

Tip 1 - Hide treats

"One way to keep your horse busy and get them moving in the paddock is by hiding healthy snacks. Think of picked herbs or pieces of vegetables. You can hide these snacks in different places in the paddock, on the ground or on a tree stump or pole for example. Be careful that your horse doesn't ingest a lot of sand when eating the snacks," warns Marloes.

Tip 2 - Scatter feeding places

Ensure that your horse can find its food and water in several places in the paddock or in your paddock paradise. Marloes: "Hang your hay bags in different spots or use different types of slow feeders alternately. This way, your horse will explore where there's something to be had." You can also place minerals - such as a bucket of water with nettle extract or Celtic sea salt - in different spots in the paddock to stimulate foraging behavior.

Tip 3: Grooming brushes

Horses love to groom, scratch, and rub. Marloes therefore has various grooming brushes in the paddock, made from street brooms, cattle brushes, rubber mats with knobs, and coconut mats. "Vary in material and hardness of the brushes," advises Marloes. "And hang them at different heights, horses like to scratch their buttocks, but also their head and mane." Attach the brushes to a sturdy structure, a deeply buried railway sleeper, or to the shelter. "Also a belly brush, which you attach to a horizontal beam, is often a big success," says Marloes.

Tip 4 - Plant edible plants

Sow and grow edible herbs for your pony or horse, next to the paddock. You can then pick the herbs and offer them as snacks in different places in your paddock. Horses naturally eat a variety of herbs and plants, which is very healthy. By growing different plants yourself, you can give them more variety in their diet.

Tip 5 - Offer branches

Horses love to gnaw! Thin and thick branches are often very welcome. The branches of willow, alder, hawthorn, birch, poplar, hazel, and ash are safe for horses. "You can put the branches in a bunch and hang them up, or just spread them on the ground. Horses also become more skillful because, for example, they have to hold the branch with their hoof or use other muscles," explains Marloes.

Tip 6: Feed puzzles and play balls

Even in a small paddock or turnout, you can use feed puzzles or play balls. "Tree stump puzzles are easy to make and fit in any field or paddock," says Marloes. "Also, a snack ball, which your horse has to roll to get the treats out, can be a fun game."

Tip 7: Different water troughs

The final tip comes from us, namely offering different water troughs with minerals. Horses love water with a flavor. And it's fun to add healthy extras to it? You can put liquid minerals in there, which you will definitely see horses drinking daily in the summer. You can also make a water trough with liquid nettle. Horses love nettle. You'll see that after 10 to 14 days, they've had enough for cleaning out their system and they won't drink it anymore. In that respect, horses can very well sense what they need. We recommend doing a liquid nettle cure 4 times a year.

Free E-book with more information and tips for your paddock paradise?

You can read about what a tree stump puzzle is exactly and how to make it yourself in the free e-book by Marloes and Femke Dölle. It also contains more detailed tips for enrichment in your paddock, pasture, turnout, or paddock paradise. You can download the e-book here. Be sure to follow Marloes on Instagram for daily inspiration and tips: @ukiespaddockparadise.