5 Homemade Horse Treat Recipes for Picky Eaters [Super Easy DIY!] (2024)

I recently decided to start clicker training my young mare and found myself hunting around in the refrigerator, looking for anything that might resemble a horse treat.

While my Percheron cross, Pandamonium, adores bananas, they make a mess of your treat dispenser, hands, reins, and pretty much everything else!

Carrots ended up being my horse treat of choice! But, when I saw some of the delicious horse treats available online, I realized that I was doing Panda a disservice.

A piece of carrot might be a suitable reward for picking hoof up, but it wasn’t going to cut it once we got to the bigger challenges, like shoulder-in.

I decided to look around for some inspiration and was astonished by the variety (and complexity) of homemade horse treat recipes available.

How to Choose the Best Homemade Horse Treat

Should I make homemade horse cookies or opt for a recipe with more wholesome ingredients, like ground flaxseed, sweet potato, or grated carrots?

While I’m a dab hand at making pastry, that’s where my culinary skills begin and end! So, my priority was finding homemade horse treats that were simple to make.

I also wanted to find something that wouldn’t fall apart or mess up my treat dispenser and that my horse would find desirable enough that she’d be willing to lie down on command to earn one.

I ruled out frozen treats as it’s simply too hot in South Africa for these to survive even a short training session. I also disregarded anything that would take more than an hour to make. I would rather spend that time being a slave to my horse than slaving over a hot stove.

I ended up with the following five recipes for healthy horse treats, all of which are simple and quick to make but produce mouth-watering results.

Five Simple Horse Treat Recipes You Can Make at Home

Providing for your horses doesn’t have to be time-consuming – or dull. Here are some exciting homemade horse treat recipes that horses love!

1. The Ultimate Horse Cookie Recipe by Tanya Davenport

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These homemade horse cookies look and smell good enough to eat, and Tanya has tweaked her recipe to ensure they won’t fall apart in your treat pouch.

The original recipe is comparatively high in sugar with its apple chunks and molasses but, you can make a low-sugar alternative by using sweet potato instead of apple and a combination of egg and ground flaxseed as a substitute for the molasses.

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2. Earth Muffins by Michelle N. Anderson

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These healthy homemade horse treats are quick to make but delicious enough to coax even picky eaters into giving their best performance.

Although Michelle’s recipe calls for marionberries, if you don’t live in Oregon, you can easily replace these with frozen blackberries.

By soaking ground flaxseeds in water, you can create a gelatinous consistency that binds the berries with the oatmeal and adds healthy omega-3 fatty acids into the mix.

3. Easy No-Bake Horse Treats by the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and Museum

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The biggest problem with these treats is that they’re so tasty, you might eat them all before your horse gets a single mouthful.

The basic ingredients include a handful of horse feed, granola, or puffed wheat, a couple of cups of oats, and some peanut butter to hold the oat mixture together. Some also suggest adding some rosehip powder to the mix to give your horse’s health a boost.

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4. Pumpkin Oat Dog and Horse Treats by Colleen Cheechalk

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These versatile pumpkin horse treats are just as good for your canine companions as your equine ones. You can make a full batch of these crunchy horse treats cheaply and quickly.

Simply combine the dry ingredients, namely old-fashioned oatmeal, and ground flaxseed, in a food processor with a can of pumpkin and a few spices.

Bake on a couple of cookie sheets and then store in an airtight container.

You make these crunchy cookies even healthier by using Golden Paste instead of pure turmeric. This process will activate the curcumin in the turmeric, bringing out its anti-inflammatory properties.

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5. Princess Pixie’s Sparkly Flax Snax by Elk Creek Hot Tamale

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Perfect for the pampered pony and complete with edible glitter, these mouth-watering horse treats are packed with healthy ingredients and take just 18-20 minutes to bake.

A half-cup of molasses helps the wheat flour, oats, and flax meal stick together, while the coconut adds both flavor and helps to boost your horse’s gut health.

Again, if you want a healthier version, you can replace the molasses with a flax-and-water mixture instead.

Read More –Preventing and Treating Plant Poisoning for Horses!

Our Favorite Horse Treat Recipes!

The ultimate homemade horse treat might be all that’s standing between you and a perfectly executed dressage maneuver.

By cooking up a batch of crunchy horse cookies or earth muffins, you’re not only showing your equine companion how much you love him, but you’re also creating a way to reward his behavior with positive reinforcement.

Making treats with herbs or spices can also provide you with the means to boost your horse’s health while simultaneously tantalizing his tastebuds.

You never know, but a few carrot crisp horse treats could be the answer to getting a picky eater to gulp down his unappetizing supplements happily – and regularly!

Also – let us know your favorite horse treat recipes in the comments below!

What snacks and treats do your horses love the most?

Thanks so much for reading!

5 Homemade Horse Treat Recipes for Picky Eaters [Super Easy DIY!] (2024)

FAQs

How to make sugar horse treats? ›

Instructions
  1. Step 1: Preheat oven to 180°F.
  2. Step2: Mix sugar and water with a fork until the water is evenly mixed in and the mixture looks like wet sand.
  3. Step 3: Press sugar into the mold, making sure to pack in until firm.
  4. Step 4: Place the mold on a cookie sheet and bake for 60 minutes.

What can I give a horse for a treat? ›

Acceptable Horse Treats
  • Apples: This is a safe treat. ...
  • Carrots: This is a safe treat. ...
  • Peaches: This is a safe treat. ...
  • Bananas: This is a safe treat. ...
  • Cucumber: This is a safe treat. ...
  • Peppermints: This is a safe treat. ...
  • Sugar cubes: This is a safe treat. ...
  • Commercial treats: This is a safe treat.
Aug 17, 2023

What are sweet treats for horses? ›

Horses can safely eat candies like candy canes, lifesaver mints, hard butterscotch candies, jolly ranchers, and even skittles! Peppermint candies are a more common sugary treat to give to your horse, but since many candies have the same ingredients, you can safely offer your horse some of your favorite candies.

What sugar can horses eat? ›

So, in order to maintain equine nutrition, an idea of what compromises the α-sugars, and what levels are present. The most common nutritional sugar in the horse's diet are sucrose, fructans and starch (all alphas).

What does a sugar cube do to a horse? ›

A: Simple sugars, such as the sucrose found in peppermints and sugar cubes, are absorbed by the horse's small intestine as glucose and fructose. Glucose causes release of insulin to facilitate the entry of glucose in to cells.

What people's food can horses eat? ›

Can Horses Eat...
  • Carrots. First and foremost, horse's love carrots! ...
  • Beetroot. Often considered as a superfood, don't be too quick to overlook beetroot! ...
  • Cucumber. Got some leftover cucumber sat in the fridge? ...
  • Oranges. Oranges make a super tasty treat for horses, and they're packed with vitamin C! ...
  • Bananas. ...
  • Watermelon.

What will make a horse eat? ›

In simple terms, horses eat grass and hay or haylage, but salt, concentrates and fruits or vegetables can also enhance their diets, depending on the required work regime and available feed.

Can a horse eat peanut butter? ›

Peanut butter is actually safe for horses to eat, but you do need to be wary of feeding too much. The main reason is because peanut butter is high in calories and oil.

What does sweet potatoes do for horses? ›

Feeding large amounts carries some risk, especially when given to starch-sensitive horses. In addition to beta-carotene, sweet potatoes are a good source of vitamin C and potassium.

Can you give a horse an apple? ›

Many of us like to feed our horses apples as treats. But excessive amounts of fruit can become too much of a good thing. A belly full of apples or any other fruit can cause colic or other complications. 1 You probably should not feed your horse more than one or two pieces of fruit.

What food calms horses? ›

Overall, a calming diet is high in fiber that the horse's digestive system will slowly ferment in the hindgut. Think pasture, hay, and chaff. On the other hand, food that's digested in the small intestine and elevates blood sugar levels should be minimized. Things like oats, corn, and molasses fall under this category.

What is the healthiest food for horses? ›

Hay is a type of forage and should make up most of a horse's diet. Hay can consist of grass including orchard grass or can be from a legume (crop) such as alfalfa. Alfalfa hay is generally best for horses in high work environments or lactating mares where the calorie and energy need required is high.

What is a horses least favorite food? ›

Potatoes

Equines don't usually like the taste of potatoes, but they might get tempted to eat it at some point. Potatoes are part of the nightshade family, making them toxic to horses. It contains a compound called atropine, which can affect your horse's autonomic nervous system.

How do you make sugardine for horses? ›

Pour 1/4 cup of sugar into a cup. Add about 3 tablespoons of povidone iodine solution to it. Using a spoon or tongue depressor, stir it until it becomes a thick granular paste (the consistency of cake frosting). Use a tongue depressor, gloved hand or 4x4 gauze pad, to apply it liberally to a defect in the hoof.

How do you make sweet feed for horses? ›

Early in the last century, feed dealers combined oats, corn, and barley, threw in salt and other minerals, bound the mixture together with molasses, and called the resulting product “sweet feed.” Horses liked it because it tasted good; owners bought it because it looked and smelled appealing.

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