May have to try some of these for my secret santa.
Ted please report back on the treats! 
P.
What’s wrong with apples and carrots? 
for those who don’t want to make treats, Skodes makes cookies and mixes that are herbal- no sugar. Even my VERY picky eater loved quite a few of them. They will also send samples.
Well Ted, my favorites are Beetcilcles.
Spray a container with PAM. Mix up 1/3 beet pulp to 2/3 water. Add chopped veggies Stir GOOD! Freeze over night. Pop out into a rubber tub in the AM and they enjoy them all day long! Works great using bran or alfalfa cubes too! Sure is a boredom buster on those l-o-n-g cold indoor days!
I copied this from a recipe by Equineartworks she posted last year. In it she says you can leave out the molasses/honey and no one will care.
Here it is:
"I just made these ans the horses and dogs are following me around like I’m the horse treat Goddess.
4 cups oats (no quick cook, just regular)
1 28 ounce can pumpkin
2 cups water
2 tsps baking power
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (you can use regular whole wheat flour too, but decrease to 1-3/4 cups)
2 tsps cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tablespoon honey or molasses (i skipped it in the second batch and no one cared )
Mix the pumpkin and water together, then add the oats, the flour and the spices, then blend in the molasses/honey. Drop by tablespoons and bake in a 350 oven for about 20 minutes.
I used everything organic, but non-organic is just fine too
The plan is to try one of the recipies this weekend. We’ll let you know!
Not peanuts!!!
Try chopped carrots and swede or a handful of grass and a pat on the neck and a good long and thorough grooming.
Thanks, Thomas! I was not sold on the peanuts idea, but not having an IR horse myself, I have no idea what their feed restrictions are. Unfortunately, I have to send my treats across the country so carrots, grass, and swede are out. I think that I will try a couple of the recipes this weekend and I have a barn full of eager taste testers. Thanks all!
Apples and carrots are both not recommended for IR horses. They say you can feed a small amount of apple as there is less sugar in apples. This statement below is for cushings.
" There should be no other sources of sugar for these horses: no grain products, no senior feed,
no carrots, no apples, no manufactured treats."
http://www.myfineequine.com/cush.htm
My mare got Skode’s snacks (she loved ALL the blends – not picky at all), parsley (LOVED it!!), celery (occasionally), and she adored raw sunflower seeds. My current mare is not IR but loved the Withers and Withers IR treats too, and we did the bran bits last year with regular applesauce, but sugar-free would be best for an IR horse. It took quite a while to dry it out at my house so I baked it at 200 degrees to help it along…
I was going to suggest a ‘people’ recipe for sugar-free oatmeal cookies, with chopped apple added.
I tried the Apple & Oat chewies and Bess was pleased. Hopefully her secret santa giftee will be, too! 
Is the no-sugar applesauce part in the recipes still be OK for IR horses? Apples contain natural sugars, so I was wondering how much they can have.
Hilton’s Herballs are good for IR horses as well, Smartpak even sells them now! Yay for Smartpak.
[QUOTE=Claddagh;4516035]
Here are a couple that I found awhile ago for a friend. I have never tried them (my crew has no problem with sugar) but I saved them for that just in case day. They all sound pretty good though :yes:.
Oat ‘n’ Apple Chewies
INGREDIENTS:
1 ½ cups unsweetened applesauce
1 cup oat bran cereal or ground oatmeal
½ cup all purpose flour (approx.)
PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 350F
Oil a 9inch x 9inch square cake pan
Spread the batter evenly in the cake pan and bake for 20-30 minutes. The batter will start to shrink away from the sides and it will be firm to the touch.
Slice into squares while still warm. Keep chewies in the refrigerator in an air-tight container or bag.
MICROWAVE HORSE COOKIES
*** This recipe is not good for Insulin Resistant horses because it contains carrots. Maybe try substituting something else for the carrots.
2 cups flour
5 cups oatmeal
½ cup corn oil
1 clove garlic
1 cup diced carrots
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in bowl. Make small balls and place on a microwavable plate. Flatten balls.
Bake on high for 6 minutes.
BRAN BITS (EASY! NO COOKING!)
4 cups Bran
4 cups unsweetened Applesauce
Mix together. Batter should be doughy. Roll out with a rolling pin and cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Let dry at room temperature a day or more.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for these great tips for sugar-free treats. We have a fairly old horse that a few years ago had colic surgery and we like to watch is sugar-intake.
Unsweetened applesauce still contains sugar. You can read this on the label.
I have found some treats online called Beet-E-Bites and another brand called Enjoy Yums Horse treats. I have a mare that is insulin resistant and developed laminitis last February. She is currently on Heiro supplement and doing well. I wanted to try these treats and wondered if anyone else out there has heard of them or used them.
I use the sugar free treats from Uckele or sugar free peppermints.
My severely IR horse can have nothing like most of those homemade recipes. (Skodes are ok). No flour, carrots, oats, applesauce. He does love whole in-the-shell roasted peanuts (yep- shells and all), dried lentils (nice and crunchy), celery, and sugar free peppermints and hard candies. It’s not just added sugar, naturally occurring sugars are a concern as well. I think it’s easier sometimes to think “low carb” instead of “no sugar.” Please make sure that whatever you make, you ok withy the owner before feeding. It is really sweet of you to try not to leave him out!
My boarder also researched treats for her IR horse and found peanuts still in their shells were recommended. I found all the horses liked the peanuts and that is all I use for treats now. Carrots and apples would freeze in the winter and then turn to mush. In the summer they soon got moldy.
Peanuts on the other hand keep well under all weather conditions. Easily fit into your pockets without making a mess. I buy a huge bag for $60 which lasts for about 6 months for five horses. They always find some in their feed tubs when they come in and also get some at the gate when they are turned out. This keeps them from wanting to bolt into the field as soon as they are off the lead.
This works well for me.
What is allure of “baked goods” for livestock?
If you can’t use things like carrots (almost universally liked by horses and don’t have a lot of side effects for the giver like sugary juice) then get a bag of alfalfa cubes and use them. The cubes can be broken into “bite sized” pieces without much effort. Their biggest drawback is alfalfa dust in the human’s pocket and that’s pretty easy to deal with.
G.
