Homemade Horse Treats – What You Need to Make Treats Your Horse Will Love
Homemade horse treats are quite simple and easy to do. Do you have a horse you love to spoil regularly? If so you may want to take that love into the kitchen and whip up some treats straight from the heart.
Horse treats made at home usually involve natural ingredients such as oatmeal, sugar, carrots, or apples to name a few. However, you must also keep in mind some ingredients are toxic to horses.
For example, tomatoes or chestnuts are toxic to horses and should not be used as ingredients. You may also want to take into consideration any dietary concerns for your horse. If you are monitoring weight control you may want to make something lighter in terms of sugar or other high-calorie ingredients.
What Types Of Treats Can You Make?
Most homemade horse treats are made in the form of horse cookies. There are a couple of other types of treats you can make for your horse such as muffins, biscuit treats, and even cakes.
Horse cookies are an easy choice to make. They usually involve some combination of oatmeal, carrots, apples, sugar, and molasses. If you need to make a more healthy version you can choose recipes with lower amounts of sweet ingredients.
Muffins and biscuits are a couple of other choices for homemade treats. Biscuits are similar to cookies, but what you include as ingredients can offer a different texture to the finished product.
There are also recipes out there for making cakes. When making say a birthday cake for your horse, you may be using a combination of oats or feed, molasses or honey, carrots, and apples. There are versions of no-bake and baked recipes available.
When making healthy homemade horse treats you can substitute in ingredients such as unsweetened applesauce, oat bran cereal, or oatmeal. Look for recipes with lower calories ingredients.
What Equipment Will You Need To Make Treats?
Equipment needs for making horse treats are pretty basic. Depending on the recipe, you should only need basic baking equipment. Likely a mixing bowl or two, a measuring cup, and a spatula.
Other equipment needs include baking sheets, muffin pans, or other baking pans. Plenty of counter space in the kitchen may be helpful when making homemade horse treats.
Any electrical appliances will depend on the recipe. You may need a hand mixer or a blender, but many recipes will work just fine with good, old-fashioned elbow grease.
Where Can I Find Great Recipes?
Great recipes for homemade horse treats can be found both online and offline. Many websites offer great recipes for baking available on the internet.
You can tailor your internet search to specific types of treats or certain ingredients. There are also many books available in the local bookstore filled with horse treat recipes.
Below we have provided an example of a simple horse treat recipe:
Horse Cookies:
1c grated carrots
1 grated apple
2 Tbs corn oil
1/4c molasses
1 tsp salt
1c rolled oats
1c flour
Mix carrots, apples, corn oil, and molasses in a large mixing bowl. Fold in salt, oats, and flour until well-mixed. Spread dough as one piece on a cookie sheet. Can use cookie cutters in the dough for shapes before baking or pre-cut. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown.