Making Horse Treats with Lord Nelson

Hay there Friends!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! With all of the holiday frenzy, events with friends and family, and occasional sprinkle of snow, I am thrilled about these last few weeks of 2013! But of course, what you kids and I both want to know is what treats we can get our hands and hooves on.  So, I have taken the reins here and found a couple of horse treat recipes that are available online that one of the Center’s very own, Dr. Williams, has contributed to.

Who are your treats for? Courtesy: Flicker

Let’s put everything on the table first. We are going to need PLENTY of treats. BUT, what is more important is to eat responsibly. What do I mean by this?

Well, first of all, like I said in my previous blog post, even I cannot have a lot of these delicious delights. Since the vet warned me about Equine Metabolic Syndrome, I have been on a strict diet with limited treats. If your horse is overweight, has Equine Metabolic Syndrome, PPID (Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction) also known as Cushing's disease, laminitis or PSSM (Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy) disease, then you will not want to choose treats that have sugar or molasses in them. Basically, treat these horses as you would a human with diabetes. As usual, remember to take into account any dietary stipulations that your horse may have also.

If your horse is actively competing, take care not to feed them any treats containing valerian, poppy seeds, licorice, and cocoa or tea leaves, which could potentially test positive for drugs.

Now, for the recipes! These tasty combos below are from a book by June Evers called The Original Book of Horse Treats. Making horse treats is fun for everyone and even fun to share! These recipes are a great gift idea or stocking stuffer for others also! Back to business; check out the recipes below.

Make fun shapes! Courtesy: Kamloops

Carrot & Apple Pâté with Faux Caviar

Ingredients:
2 carrots, diced
1 medium apple, sliced
1/3 cup honey (or molasses)
1/3 cup bran
1/4 cup water
Hay cubes
Handful of horse feed pellets
Handful of raisins

Preparation:
Place apples, honey (or molasses), bran and water into a blender. Add carrots slowly and blend until pureed. Mixture should be pasty; add more bran if necessary. Spread liberally onto each hay cube and top with one raisin and a sprinkle of pellets (the “faux caviar”).


Tri-Color Apple & Carrot Salad

Add some spice! (or peppermints…) Courtesy: Europeancutie

Ingredients:
1 large handful of hay
1 to 2 carrots with the tops, sliced
2 red apples, cut in sixths
2 green apples, cut in sixths
2 yellow apples, cut in sixths

Preparation:
Straighten out hay and cut with scissors into pieces approximately 10 inches long and place in a feed bucket. Arrange in a criss-cross pattern, making a circle flat on the bottom of the feed bucket. Cut the tops off the carrots and tuck the green tops in around the edge of the criss-crossed hay.

Arrange sliced carrots and the apples in a decorative manner, alternating the colors of the apples. To garnish: Place a sprig of carrot top in the center of the salad.

There you have it! I cannot wait to dive into some of these festive sweets! Send me an email or comment below if you have any other recipes that YOU like to feed your horses. You can also post your recipes, along with pictures, on our Facebook page. If you don’t have a horse, you can “adopt” one at the Equine Science Center! For the holidays this year, consider the gift of sponsoring a Horse Hero! You would get monthly updates, a photo album full of pictures of your girl and a beautiful framed picture also. You can even visit her whenever you want! Pretty awesome, right? Even more, you will be featured in the Equine Science Center newsletter and at Rutgers Day with your mare J

Happy Holidays!

Your Pal,
Lord Nelson