How to Make Horse Treats Without Molasses
Sep 21, 2023 | Super Equestrian
Horses love to take treats from their owner in response to any positive behaviour. When you give treats to your loving horse as a reward, they become inspired to repeat the desirable behaviour. Everyone loves to get a treat, right?
What if the treat is one of your favourite foods?
Like humans, horses expect some of their favourite foods as treats. Horses generally like sweet foods very much. Their favourite recipes include oats, molasses, apples, carrots, butter, and many other delicious ingredients. But molasses is not a healthy ingredient to prepare treats for most of the horses.
Making horse treats without Molasses starts with researching different kinds of healthy ingredients which are sweet in taste or have attractive smells in them such as honey, dates, raisins, pumpkin, cherry or other sweet foods. After that adding oats, apples, maple syrup can add a pleasant taste to this treat. Then, mix the ingredients thoroughly and bake in the oven to prepare the delicious treat.
Although making treats without molasses sounds easy, it is a difficult task because horses love the taste of molasses very much. Let's discuss the ways to make horse treats without molasses:
Understanding the Molasses Free Approach:
After converting refined sugarcane into sugar, it is burned in a furnace to produce a sticky substance known as molasses. Let's have a good understanding on the molasses free approach:
What Are the Benefits of Opting for Molasses Free Horse Treats?
The use of molasses in horse treats can have an adverse effect on some horses. If the horse does not metabolise the molasses material properly, it will accumulate in the body and cause toxicity.
Molasses increases the horse's blood glucose levels and inhibits insulin production.This causes various digestive problems in the horse's body, loss of energy, and increased fatigue. To get rid of this problem horse treats should be replaced with other healthy ingredients instead of molasses.
Why Do Some Horse Owners Prefer Natural Ingredients Over Molasses in Equine Treats?
Natural ingredients contain a lot of vitamins and minerals that are very useful for your horse's health and works as a great source of energy as well. Artificial sweetening agents are not free of toxins and added sugars, which might cause metabolic disturbances in the horse's body.
Horse owners who are conscious about their horse's health, prefer natural ingredients over molasses to increase the sweetness of the treat and makes the horse crazy to have it in their mouth because they have a huge fascination with sweet foods. If you want to know about horses' favourite treats, read this article: What do horses like to eat as a treat?
Selecting High-Quality Ingredients:
It is very important to select high quality ingredients for making horse treats because it is closely related to the horse's health. But if you don't have a good idea about the ingredients, you can not choose healthy ingredients that are consistent with the horse's preferences. Let's examine the procedure of selecting a nutritious ingredients for homemade horse treat:
How Can You Select Nutritious Ingredients for Homemade Horse Treats?
There are many ways for selecting nutritious ingredients for horses but all you need to do is thorough research about the nutritional value of those ingredients. The ingredient may contain different kinds of vitamins and minerals. But you have to keep in mind that all the vitamins might not be suitable for your horse.
Among the four fat soluble vitamins (Vitamin A, D, E, K), vitamin A and D can accumulate in the horse's body if you give those in excess amounts and ultimately it will cause a toxic reaction to the horse's body.
So, you should add a relatively lower amount of vitamin A and D containing ingredients in the treat. Make a list of ingredients your horse likes and research their nutritional benefits, so that your horse can get the best nutrition.
What Are the Best Molasses Substitutes to Enhance Flavor Naturally in Equine Snacks?
You can try various sweet containing molasses substitutes to prepare treats for horses. Among them some ingredients have a pleasant flavour, your horse will love that.
Honey is the most commonly used flavour enhancing ingredient. You can use maple and grape syrup as a natural sweetening agent that helps to enhance taste and flavour as well.
Tried and Tested Recipes:
If you are wondering how to treat your horse without molasses, learn some recipes that will help you diversify your horse's treats.
What's the Recipe for Delicious Molasses Free Carrot and Oat Horse Treats?
Crunchy oats with carrots is one of those delicious recipes your pony will love to eat.
Let's jump on the ingredients list first:
- Dried oats - 1 cup
- White flour - 1 cup
- One grated carrot
- Brown sugar - 1 teaspoon
- Salt - 1 teaspoon
- One fourth cup honey
- Vegetable oil - 2 teaspoons
Method of preparation: Before going to the preparation, first preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit temperature.
Now, take a bowl and add grated carrot, oats, flour, sugar and salt accordingly and mix them together. After that, add vegetable oil and stir with other ingredients. Then, add the honey and mix thoroughly.
After mixing, form a ball shaped treat and bake in the oven for fifteen minutes. After baking the colour of the balls will be golden brown and a mind-blowing aroma will emerge from the treat.
Seeking a Distinct Equine Snack? Try These Step-by-Step Apple Cinnamon Bites!
Cinnamon is a very popular spice, helps to relieve the horse from different kinds of infectious diseases and boost up the function of their immune system as well. The recipe of delicious apple cinnamon bites is here:
Ingredients:
- One apple
- Oats - 1 cup
- Flour- 1 cup
- One fourth cup honey
- Brown sugar - 1 tablespoon
- One pinch salt
- Cinnamon oil
- Water
Method of preparation: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit temperature. Slice the apple in a small cube shape. Then, take a bowl and mix all the ingredients thoroughly with the sliced apple. Now, make some round shaped cookies from the mixture and place them in the oven through a cookie sheet for fifteen minutes.
An uncommon crunchy recipe: delicious dates delight
Dates are a good source of fibre that helps to improve horses digestive functions. It contains carbohydrates, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, which helps in strengthening the immune system and provides a huge amount of energy to the horse. This recipe contains bananas as well, which is a great source of energy.
Let's discuss the procedure of the recipe:
Ingredients:
- Dates - 10 to 12
- Flour of oats - half cup
- One large sized banana
- Rolled oats
- Vanilla extract - half teaspoon
Method of preparation: Clean the dates properly and soak them in lukewarm water for 10 to 15 minutes. After draining the water, squeeze the softened dates and mix thoroughly with other ingredients. Then make cookies with the desired shape.
Now, place the cookies in an oven proof tray and start baking for 5 to 10 minutes. Take the tray out of the oven and flip the cookies over with a spoon, so that both sides crisp up well. Bake the cookies again in the oven for 5 minutes and now the delicious crispy date delight is ready.
A simple recipe full of nutrients: Flax Seed Horse Muffins
Flax seed contains a good amount of omega-3 fatty acids which play a great role in reducing horse's inflammatory disease such as osteoarthritis (joint problem in the body) and heaves (respiratory problems). It also helps in reducing allergic reactions as well.
Ingredients:
- One fourth cup of flaxseed
- White flour - 1 cup
- Wheat flour -1 cup
- Baking powder - 2 teaspoons
- One large sized banana
- Butter - as required
- Maple syrup - as required
- A pinch of salt
Method of preparation: Mix all the ingredients except banana and flaxseed thoroughly with a bitter. After properly mixed, add flaxseed gradually on the mixture, stir to combine. Then add squeezed banana to it and stir again to mix.
Now, place the mixture into a pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Insert a toothpick into the muffin to determine if the muffin is ready to eat. If the toothpick comes out clean, you will understand that the muffin is properly cooked.
A recipe made with butter and love: Frozen Peanut Butter Cookies
If you want to give your horse a good healthy treat in a short time, you can try this.
Peanut butter is a great source of protein, vitamins and minerals. It works very well to maintain the horse's heart health and blood glucose levels as well.
Ingredients:
- One fourth cup of milk
- Half cup Peanut butter
- Oats - 1 cup
Method of preparation: Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and stir thoroughly. Then, make one inch sized balls using the whole mixture and place into the refrigerator for an hour. Now, the lovely peanut butter treat is ready.
A delicious recipe made with just two ingredients: Frozen Grape Pop
Here is another super easy recipe that your horse will love so much. It is made with fresh grapes which will play a very good role in increasing the energy level of the horse's body.
Ingredients:
- Seedless grapes with any colour
- Grape juice
Method of preparation: Blend the ingredients until they become smooth. Place the blended mixture into ice pop moulds and keep it in the freezer until it becomes solid, then take it out and put the mould in hot water to release the ice. Now you can give the horse this treat.
Tips for Storage and Serving:
In addition to making treats for horses, you should also know how to store them well. Different types of ingredients also have different storage methods. Let's discuss the ways of preserving and serving the treats:
How Do You Ensure Prolonged Freshness for Your Homemade Horse Treats?
Like human beings you should serve fresh treats to your horses as this is related to their health and wellbeing. But due to having a busy schedule you do not get time to prepare the treats regularly. So, what can you do to solve the problem?
Well, you can prepare a good amount of treats at a time and store them in a proper way to ensure prolonged freshness to them. In case of dry treats, you must store them in an airtight container for preventing microbial contamination to the treats.
Frozen treats should always be stored in a refrigerator or a freezer on the basis of the temperature requirement, that means you can store a popsicle in a freezer and peanut butter cookies in the refrigerator.
Watch this video to learn how to safely feed a horse a treat?
What Are the Ideal Portions and Innovative Serving Methods for Your Equine Delights?
Horses want to eat anything little by little throughout the day. But overeating is harmful to health as horses can develop some health issues such as obesity or increasing blood glucose level. So, there are some techniques in giving treats to horses. Try to give one to two treats at a time. Not more than that…
Horses generally cannot stay on an empty stomach for more than 8 hours. So 12 gallons of water has to be given to it every day. But still they want treats all the time.
You should not serve more than one or two treats per day as this makes him greedy, which badly affects his behaviour. Treat once or twice daily as a reward for applying positive reinforcement. If you want to know more about this topic read the article natural horsemanship vs positive reinforcement.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
Curious about molasses-free horse treats? Get answers to common queries here.
What ingredient can be used in horse treats instead of molasses?
Raisins, grapes, dates, honey or maple syrups can be used in horse treats instead of molasses.
How does molasses affect the horse's health?
Molasses can change the glycemic index of your horse's body rapidly by enhancing the blood glucose level, which ultimately causes organ damage.
To Conclude
You must serve a minimum amount of nutritious food to your horse as treats to keep them healthy. By giving treats you can create a very good connection with your beloved horse and he will obey you. Horses love molasses as a sweet ingredient in their treats, which are harmful for their health.
So, molasses should be replaced with other ingredients of a similar taste to prepare horse treats. If you have any opinion about the article, please comment and feel free to share this content with anyone who wants suggestions on molasses free horse treats.
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