Homemade treats for laminitis prone horse?

[Rusty15]

My horse has has not foundered, but has had a couple close calls so my vet had me put him on a grain free low sugar/carb diet…The only problem is that he is terrible about eating powder. He is boarded and they have us pre-make feed baggies so I can’t give him any liquids to make the powder stick to his feed. So I have been giving him the pelleted version of his supplement, but it has corn in it. I’ve tried finding alternatives with similar ingredients but to no avail.

That’s when I thought, maybe I could MAKE a sugar free “treat” that I can mix the powder into that still tastes good enough for him to eat. I was thinking of making a week’s worth at a time and just adding the treats to his feed baggies. I’ve never made horse treats before, so I’m not sure what ingredients to add. I’ve looked at some different recipes and was thinking some combination of:
-soaked beet pulp
-chia seeds
-ground flax (in place of a grain flour)
-coconut oil
-vitamin e powder (as a preservative)

Ideas I’ve seen to mask the taste are:
unsweetened applesauce
unsweetened coconut flakes
stevia
cinnamon
but I’m not sure about the safety of any of these. So that’s why I’m here. Are any of those definite no’s? Any other ideas for masking the taste while being safe?

[MysticOakRanch]

Everything I’ve read about sugar for horses says to even avoid fruit because of the sugars (so that would include applesauce). What I’ve done for treats is simply buy alfalfa pellets - make sure you look at the ingredients, some of them use molassas, but others don’t. My horses love those “treats”. Alfalfa is very low in sugar.

We’ve had a few locals trying to make low NSC treats and market them - so far, most horses aren’t impressed - I’ve tried a few on my mare, and she spits them out. One of my friends tried one on her stallion - and the faces he made were priceless.

[Rusty15]

@MysticOakRanch

Everything I’ve read about sugar for horses says to even avoid fruit because of the sugars (so that would include applesauce). What I’ve done for treats is simply buy alfalfa pellets - make sure you look at the ingredients, some of them use molassas, but others don’t. My horses love those “treats”. Alfalfa is very low in sugar.

We’ve had a few locals trying to make low NSC treats and market them - so far, most horses aren’t impressed - I’ve tried a few on my mare, and she spits them out. One of my friends tried one on her stallion - and the faces he made were priceless.

Yeah my horse likes those fine, but I’m looking for something I can mix supplement powder into and make into a cookie.

[braveeventing]

My obese paint mare is also very high risk for laminitis, and although she isn’t picky she’s very food oriented for training and doesn’t always enjoy being around people, so I give her treats made out of her supplements and grain. I just soak the grain and supplements (she has both powder and pelleted form) until it’s super watery and then in the summer I freeze it into little molds for treats or into her feed pan as a lick block. In the winter I make it into more of a mash instead of a liquid and then lightly bake it. Then she’s not getting any extra food but she’s still getting treats.

[Texarkana]

My cribber’s cribbing is definitely set off by sweets. For awhile, I was hyper-vigilant about keeping sweet stuff away from her. Hay cubes and almonds were our go-to treats. Maybe you can chop some almonds for your treats?

Totally not the question you asked, but will the boarding barn add a little water to his feed? I seem to always own a choker, so I know how weird some barns can be about wet food. But even a splash of water from his water bucket will help the powder stick if you can’t make the treat thing work out.

[luvmyhackney]

I make sugar free treats for my pony. I use ground oats, flax, MSM, and vitamin E, then add a water till it just combines. I then add sugar free peppermint flavoring. Usually a couple tbsp does the trick. Then I usually make little balls and use my dehydrator till hard. He’s picky and seems to love them.

[MysticOakRanch]

@luvmyhackney

I make sugar free treats for my pony. I use ground oats, flax, MSM, and vitamin E, then add a water till it just combines. I then add sugar free peppermint flavoring. Usually a couple tbsp does the trick. Then I usually make little balls and use my dehydrator till hard. He’s picky and seems to love them.

Oats are high NSC So while low in SUGAR, they are high in non structural carbohydrates which contribute to risk of laminitis. Most grains are high in NSCs.

[fjordmom]

[QUOTE=Rusty15;n10278032}Ideas I’ve seen to mask the taste are:
unsweetened applesauce
unsweetened coconut flakes
stevia
cinnamon
but I’m not sure about the safety of any of these. So that’s why I’m here. Are any of those definite no’s? Any other ideas for masking the taste while being safe?[/QUOTE]

I believe Uckele makes several sugar free flavorings. I have not used them, but I will say my IR pony LOVES their low sugar/carb horse treats. Maybe talk to them. They were very helpful and forthcoming when I had questions. Would you be able to somehow grind up their treats (which come as rather large pellets), add some kind of liquid - just water maybe - and the supplements and then reform and bake to make "cookies?

Not sure on most of the unsweetened ingredients you list, except I know stevia is fine for human diabetics. It does become bitter when used in baking and doesn’t mix with some liquid ingredients the way sugar does in conventional recipes. Also, if you use stevia, make sure it is 100% pure. Pure stevia is rather expensie. There are plenty of cheaper “imposter” products that are piggy backing on the stevia name. (one example Turvia, conatains no stevia and is composed of erythritol, which is a sugar alcohol and GMO corn). Personally, I’ve used Sweet Leaf brand. Never tried it with my horse though.

Will also add that flax has done wonderful things for all my horses if you are thinking of using that as a base. All mine gobble that up.

[luvmyhackney]

@MysticOakRanch

Oats are high NSC So while low in SUGAR, they are high in non structural carbohydrates which contribute to risk of laminitis. Most grains are high in NSCs.

Since my guy is the only one that eats them, and I use 1 cup of ground oatmeal to 4 cups of flax to make over 125 treats it’s a small amount in the grand scheme of things.

For my purpose they work fine.

[S1969]

Well…the majority of sugar a horse gets in its diet is from hay or grass. So if you’re not being extremely strict about hay and/or soaking it, Im not sure it makes sense to go berserk…the pelleted supplement may not actually add any significant sugar/carbohydrate to the diet.

[CindyCRNA]

@Texarkana

My cribber’s cribbing is definitely set off by sweets. For awhile, I was hyper-vigilant about keeping sweet stuff away from her. Hay cubes and almonds were our go-to treats. Maybe you can chop some almonds for your treats?

Totally not the question you asked, but will the boarding barn add a little water to his feed? I seem to always own a choker, so I know how weird some barns can be about wet food. But even a splash of water from his water bucket will help the powder stick if you can’t make the treat thing work out.

I just learned about almonds as horse treats for those on a LC diet. Rider said her horse loves them. Big bag from Costco.

[MysticOakRanch]

@S1969

Well…the majority of sugar a horse gets in its diet is from hay or grass. So if you’re not being extremely strict about hay and/or soaking it, Im not sure it makes sense to go berserk…the pelleted supplement may not actually add any significant sugar/carbohydrate to the diet.

While that is true - if you have a metabolic horse (I have one), you better be careful about hay and grass too. My mare is on dry lot. I buy tested hay that is low NSC. Why do I do this? Because I know several people who were not so careful, and their horses have foundered and are no longer rideable. My horse’s blood glucose level is normal as long as I watch her diet carefully - she is fit, showing, perfectly normal as long as I’m careful with her diet.

The moral of the story - if you have a metabolic horse, you need to go berserk about EVERYTHING in their diet IF you want your horse to continue to be sound and healthy. When I read “founder prone”, my first thought is metabolic. And this condition can be managed!

[walkinthewalk]

1. If the ingredients list on what you are feeding says “DISTILLERS corn”. That is ok. The sugar has been removed by whiskey makers. In turn, they sell the “dried” corn to feed manufacturers.

2. Don’t worry about a fancy treat. Buy a bag of Standlee Timothy pellets at your local Tractor Supply (be sure the date has not expired), and give him a handful of Timothy pellets.

I have one IR horse and one that could go that way. Neither have had bagged feeds for 11 years. I buy Standlee Timothy pellets and mix their supplements into 1-2 household measure cups twice daily. 1-2 cups per feeding depends on the time of year:)