Read the behaviour before you fight it
Weaving — swaying from foot to foot at the stable door — and box walking — pacing the same restless circuit of the box — are stereotypies: habits horses develop when the stabled day frustrates instincts they cannot switch off, principally moving, grazing and watching other horses. They flare at predictable flashpoints: the hour before feeding, the sight of others being turned out, the yard going quiet with him still in. That timing is your diagnosis. A horse who weaves at feed time and grazes calmly all afternoon is not broken; he is telling you the stabled routine has pinch points. It is also why suppressing the movement itself fails: an anti-weave grill removes the swaying and gives the frustration nowhere to go, and the stress usually reappears as something else, from cribbing to a horse who simply goes dull and sour.
Rebuild the environment around him
Start with company, because isolation is the commonest driver. A stable where he can see and ideally touch a neighbour — a grilled partition rather than solid walls to the roof, a window or an open top door onto a busy yard — settles many weavers within days, and some yards find a stable mirror gives a solitary horse a surprisingly convincing companion. Then cover the floor of his day with forage. Horses are built to eat for most of their waking hours, and a horse whose hay runs out at noon has a long, empty afternoon in which to weave. Slow-feeding nets, a net at each end of the box so he walks between them, and forage scattered through the bedding all stretch eating time toward what his gut and brain expect. A horse busy eating is not weaving; design the day so that is true for as many hours as possible.
Put movement and variety back into the stabled day
Turnout remains the real medicine, so maximise it while the fields allow; even an hour in a small paddock or a leg-stretch in the arena changes the shape of a stabled day. Inside, break the hours up: a morning groom, a midday hand-walk with a chance to graze in hand, and small enrichments such as a treat ball or root vegetables hung in a corner, which give the box walker destinations instead of a circuit. Keep the big events — feeding, turnout, work — at consistent times, because a horse who can predict his day weaves less at its edges. And vary where the interest lands: a new view, a different companion in the next box, a radio at the end of the barn. Monotony is the fuel; anything honest that interrupts it helps.
When the habit needs professional help
Most horses reduce weaving and box walking sharply once company, forage and movement are fixed, and it is normal for the habit to resurface briefly at old trigger times before fading. Escalate if the horse is losing weight or condition despite eating, wearing his feet unevenly, developing rubs or stiffness from the movement, or if the behaviour runs for hours regardless of every change you make: at that point your vet should rule out pain, gastric discomfort and eyesight problems, and a qualified behaviourist can help unpick a habit that has become ingrained. What never helps is anger. The horse is not doing it at you, and punishing a stress behaviour is a reliable way to own more of it. Holding the new routine together takes people, and KinsLe Care Teams can roster the extra hay nets, hand-walks and turnout swaps between everyone on the yard, each marked complete as it happens, so the calmer day you designed is the day he actually gets.