Human beings love and deserve treats every now and again. Animals are not an exception, and many people give their horses treats as a reward for good behaviour or as a way of bonding with the animal. If you have a horse, you may want to know the best things that you can feed it as a treat.
The first thing you need to know is that when looking at treats to feed a horse, you should not give it too many treats at once. If you give your horse treats too frequently, then what you are feeding it is no longer a treat but a meal. If you decide to give its food after that, then you are going to be overfeeding it, and overfeeding horses or any animal at all is not suitable for them, in the same way, that stuffing humans are not good.
The primary diet of horses is grass, but they also eat other things like hay and concentrates. It is okay to give your horse a treat now and then as treats enable you to bond with it, and it also adds some nutritional value to its diet. It is crucial to ration the number of treats that you feed to your horse. This is because it would get used to receiving them, and would always want some.
Horses are programmed to eat a little at a time at regular intervals as their stomachs are small in comparison to their size. Therefore, your horse would always want something to eat. While you should never leave them for more than 8 hours without food, you should be strong enough to resist giving it something each time it wants you to do so, especially if it just finished eating a meal.
There are various items that you can offer your horse as a treat, but you should make sure that you select treats that are healthy such as vegetables and fruits. Horses enjoy these kinds of treats, and they are actually similar to their diet so, they will not cause digestive problems to your animal. Some of the best and safest treats for horses include:
- Carrots: Carrots are one of the most popular treats that horse owners feed to them. They are nutritious and healthy, and so, they are safe for your horse. However, you should not give too many carrots to it once as they contain a high amount of sugar. Instead, limit the number you give it as treats to 1 or 2.
- Apples: Apples are another favourite treat of horses. When giving your horse apples, it is better that you take out the seeds as a precaution and cut the apple into slices. Also, even though it loves this treat and will want to keep eating if you give it room, you should not give it more than is necessary. Eating too many fruits can easily cause colic in horses, and you do not want that for your horse.
- Commercial horse treats: These types of treats are produced with healthy ingredients and are liked by many horses. There are many varieties of them produced by different companies. You should bear in mind that not all commercial horse treats are right for them. Before you purchase one for your horse, ensure that you read the labels on it and try to see if you can identify the ingredients used. It is best to avoid treats that contain chemicals and preservatives, especially those that with BHA or BHT. While preservatives are necessary to ensure that the treat has a longer shelf life, you will be better of choosing a treat that has natural preservatives like vitamin E.
Other treats that you can feed to your horse include fruits like sweet potatoes, pitted dates, berries, bananas (with the seeds), watermelons, and tangerines. All these are healthy enough, and your horse would like them.
Treats you should not feed your horse.
Not every food item is ideal for feeding your horse, particularly when you give such foods to it in large amounts. Some of these foods might even be nutritious to humans but will cause problems for your horse. Examples include:
- Broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower: While these food items are nutritious and healthy for humans, they may pose some problems to your horse. If you feed it any of these items in a large amount, they will cause severe gas and, consequently, discomfort to it.
- Doughnut and bread: Although your horse might like these foods, you shouldn’t feed them to it as they can cause the blockage in its digestive tract by becoming a doughy mass in its gut.
- Tomatoes and potatoes: Some people feed these foods as treats to their horses and claim that they had no adverse effects on their horses. However, it is still best that you look for alternative treats for your horses instead.
- Sweet feed: Sweet foods such as COB and unfortified sweet grains can cause an imbalance in the diet of your horse if you feed them to it as a treat. Therefore you should not give them to it.
- Chocolate: Horses are sensitive to theobromine (1), a chemical that is found in chocolate, in the same way that dogs are affected by it. Also, if you have a horse that participates in events that require drug testing, feeding it even a little amount of chocolate will result in a positive test. Besides these, feeding chocolate can cause diarrhoea in horses. Therefore, you should avoid giving your horse chocolate at all costs.
- Lawn clippings: Although lawn clippings consist of cut grass and so many people think it is okay to feed them to horses, it is actually not safe to do so. This is because lawn clippings may contain grasses that are toxic to the animals, and you would not be able to differentiate or separate these grasses from the non-toxic ones.
How to feed treats to your horse
Treats can be given by hand, or you can put them in a container like a bucket. It is safer to use a bucket to feed treats to the animal because it might nip your hands or lunge for the treat. If you decide to feed it by hand, place whatever you are giving it in the middle of your palm and extend it towards it gently. Do not withdraw your hand when the horse reaches for it, or it might lunge towards you to get it.
Giving your horse treats can be a gratifying experience as it is a way of bonding with it, plus it provides the animal with additional nutrients. However, you should ensure that you do it in moderation and not only that, but you should also choose the treat wisely so that you do not cause problems for your horse.
Feeding your horse too much of any treats at all may have adverse effects on the balanced diet of the regular meals that you feed to it. For instance, you may lower the protein content or increase the starch level if you give it too many treats.
Some treats even cause severe digestive problems for the animal if they are given in excess, and treats also add calories to the horses. However, the most crucial reason why you should not give too many treats to your horse is that it would upset the delicate balance of beneficial microorganisms in the horse’s digestive tract.
These microorganisms help significantly in the intestinal function of your horse, and upsetting their balance would lead to adverse effects. It is worth noting that it does not take much to disrupt the activity of these microbes, and this will lead to a series of events that can end up in colic or some serious illness.
Glossary
- Prohibited Substances, Feed, and the Performance Horse (Link)
