Healthy natural treats for horses

Hi all!

Just wondering...besides carrots and apples (and pumpkins, which I never knew!! Thanks Sydney!), what are some veggies or whatever that you treat your horses with? Turnips? Sweet potato? Spinach? I just never know what's safe for a horse to eat, and what's not. I would love to feed Fanny some different veggies every now and then.

Thanks!!
Cyndi

From my university and a study we did these are some I can remember:

Cherry the pits, leaves and wood are poisonous but they LOOVE the taste, try a cherry likit
Banana, my mare Naigens absolute favorite! I give her one or two a week and oh boy do the happy nickers make you feel good.
Turnip, I tie them by the stem with baling twine to the rafters and they attack them until they can rip them down.
Beets
potatoes
watermelon, I've yet to see a horse refuse a watermelon rind or piece.
oranges and grapefruit etc, with the rind. You have to be careful as some horses inhale them and can choke so its best to cut them into tiny pieces.
beans
grapes
broccoli
raisins, also naigens favorites
cabbage/lettuce. When we throw an old bit out they inhale it.
celery
papaya and mango, pit removed.
pears

Basically anything we eat other than anything of the onion(garlic) family (causes Heinz body anemia) and make sure to remove the pits in any fruit that has them.

Funny enough honey and corn syrup was in this study used for several different reasons, one was prevention of colic. when I make Christmas horse treats each one has a dot of honey on top and boy can the horses tell which do and which don't.


Theres a bunch of herbs they like too I cant remember the names of them though. I think frankincense was one. If I find the actual study paper I'll post it.

Things I give my guys/girls:
Bread, stale or not. I find the best way to administer meds, especially powder is to make a sandwich with some molasses and cut it into fours. They NEVER refuse it.
Old cereal that is stale.
Crackers.
Black licorice. It's actually not that bad for them considering its whole wheat, not enriched.
English mints are what make Indigo tick. She will do anything for a mint.

Experiment. Most horses are not sure about veggies at first because they aren't as sweet. Give it a second chance. You'll find each horse has a prefernce. Like I said about Naigen liking Bananas, Indigo just mashes them into my hand and wants nothing to do with them.

Mine does what we call 'attention seeking eating' - that is he won't turn down anything we offer him just in case there is something he really likes coming up

Seriously though, he likes certain things on certain days but he has happily accepted banana (on a hot day - replacing potassium etc?) strawberries and dates.

Once I decided to try giving an orange to my old pony. He hopped excitedly from one foot to the other while I peeled it and threw the peel on the ground. I gave him the orange... he took it in his mouth... PHOOO! fired it about 10 feet away... and hoovered up the peel on the ground

I thought potatoes are poison to horses -?
my boy loves cake (very bad for him), marmite sandwiches, his mum adores cream puffs (very very bad for her!)
he loves honey and cider vinegar which is good for him anyway - I will have to try oranges - hadnt thought of that! He doesnt like swede....

Uncooked potatoes.

My one mare Love, love LOVES ice cream, specifically the soft ice cream. I ride her in the summer to the ice cream parlor and I barely get a few bites out it before she manages to barge her way in for a lick (half the cone lol!) Shes never pushy or grabby about treats but ice cream.

Thanks for all the input!! The other day I tried giving Fanny some celery. Granted, it was old and wilted, but I thought I'd try. She took the first piece in her mouth, thought about it for a bit, then spit it out. LOL I tickled her lips with the tops of another piece of celery, and she wiggled her lips at it and took it, then dropped it with the other piece. Another horse came along and readily ate both pieces.