Nice try, a research team says.

According to a new study, horses show behavioral signs of poor welfare while housed in box stalls, regardless of their “enrichment” status. And the longer they’re confined, the more extreme those signs get.

“There’s this idea that adding toys and brushes and windows and different bedding can make stalled horses’ life dramatically better, but that’s clearly a myth,” said Léa Lansade, PhD, of the French Horse and Riding Institute and the National Institute for Agricultural Research’s behavior science department, in Tours. 

“This kind of ‘enrichment’ can’t replace what’s essential, which is to give horses the possibility to express the basic behaviors of their species: move freely, have social contacts, and access forage throughout the day,” she explained. “Once they’ve got that, then we can add the ‘extras’—toys and so forth. But it’s important to remember: These have to be added to the rest, not substituted for it.”