Weird things that your horse eats

[ChestnutArabianMare]

Does anybody else have a horse who’s an adventurous eater? My mare is basically the equivalent of an equine garbage disposal who enjoys eating all sorts of unusual items. All of the aforementioned items are offered in very small quantities and are not fed on a regular basis. I’d love to hear what weird things your horse enjoys eating!

On her list so far:

Smoothies (mixed berry)—her favorite ever and not one of her six pasture mates would even try a sip! They all stood around befuddled as she enjoyed herself.
Unsweetened black tea
Green tea
Pineapple (LOVED this and drank the juice too)
Sugar snap peas
Grapes
Bananas (not the peel though)
Pears
Strawberries
Watermelon
Oatmeal raisin cookies
Chocolate chip cookies
Twizzlers
Salt and vinegar chips (a new obsession)
Ritz Bitz (cheese flavor)
Graham crackers
Donuts (especially with jelly)
Bread
Granola bars
Cliff bars
Dog treats

Plus the usual apples, carrots, peppermints, any standard horse treat, etc.

What she didn’t like:

Marshmallows
Cheese

[Scribbler]

Yes, pretty much anything that is fruit or veg, or fruit flavored, or sweet, or grain based like baking or granola bars, will tempt most horses, though they will have individual preferences. Some are more adventurous. Bread is a traditional treat for horses.

My mare eats blackberries off the vine, granola bars, whole roast salted peanuts in the shell, and bananas and peels, and one summer she liked frozen lemonade slushies. But she’s not super adventurous. Other horses like corn chips! She doesn’t like things sticking to the roof of her mouth though.

[BrokenArrow]

Rainbow Sour Straps

IMG_1065

[Training_Cupid]

Mine is generally not very adventurous (doesn’t like many fruits such as bananas, oranges, watermelon (!), strawberries, blackberries) but does like to eat moss off trees! He’s turned down most “people foods” I’ve offered, but he did eat my son’s chocolate chip Z bar (cliff bar for kids).

[2DogsFarm]

From your list, I’d guess these are really your treats, OP.
And offered to Ms Mare, accepted.

DH’s horse once ate meat.
We had pork BBQ, he begged & was given a piece that he ate.

All 3 of mine are Dollar Tree gingersnap addicts.
But in a pinch, oatmeal cookies will suffice.
They will also chow on plain, dry pasta.
Any shape.
A truly cheap treat when you buy at Dollar Tree, though most groceries match or come really close to that price.

Raw sweet potatoes also nommed by all 3.
And sweet corn, cob & all.

[Hippolyta]

Most of my horses have loved Necco wafers (& authentic conversation hearts), Good and Plenty, assorted human sweets and baked goods.

My current horse is picky about treats, hates candy, cookies, oat bars, spearmint (peppermint ok). However, she will attempt to snack on any plant life, including evergreens. She has taken huge bites out of pine trees, which left her with scented breath. She surprised even me when she tried spruce. Very pokey. She is sneaky and waits for the moment I am not paying attention, then CHOMP. I am paranoid we will go by a yew tree some day.

She won’t eat anything I have handled after bag balm, MTG, etc.

Growing up, someone I knew had a horse that loved McD’s hamburger (yuck). He only got them when they went to shows.

Carnivorous Horses

Deadly Equines: The Shocking True Story of Meat-Eating and Murderous Horses
The description of this book is over the top & sounds like a joke.

[Sleipnir]

My horse loves all kinds of exotic fruit, but that is kind of normal. What surprised me was when a friends’ husband decided to be funny and offered him some cooked beef liver (which he had made for his dog), and my gelding just slurped ir up and asked for more!

[Foxglove]

Not quite on topic, but my granddaughter’s 4-H horse (lives with me, she hasn’t ridden him in six years since she aged out), has a “thing” for women’s ears. When one goes into his stall, he snuffles around until he finds an ear, then gently licks it —he’s very quiet and clever and most of the time I don’t see him coming – if he does lick my ear, I gently push him away —after all, for 10 years the kid let him do it --suspect she thought it was cute.

FYI he does not ear lick men --shoers or vets --but the lady vet who was out got licked quite thoroughly, both ears.

[initiate1987]

French fries. My last eventer was picky about his treats (favorites were carrots and graham crackers, no apples). We were hand grazing after xc when my mom brought over the standard show fare of chicken fingers and fries. He starts trying to get some, so I gave him a French fry thinking he wouldn’t like it. Nope. He started going nuts trying to get them from me to the point that my mom had to take him so I could eat in peace! That one was a goober.

[Bluey]

We had a gelding that knew when we pulled into a Dairy Queen.
He then watched carefully for someone bringing him his ice cream cone, plain vanilla, please.
He would lick the cone like a human, then crunch the rest of the cone and lick your fingers clean.

[Ponycatraz]

My RMH hony eats eggs and even baby birds. He will raid nests if the birds are dumb enough to put them where he can reach. Try to give him carrots or watermelon and he asks like you are trying to poison him.

My other horse has started eating sticks and roots!! Just had some work done and the excavator pulled up a 3 foot root. Sarge started to eat it like it was a giant noodle and sucked the whole thing down! I tried to get it from him but he wouldn’t let me get hold of it.

Both horses have hay and pasture at all times so it’s not like they are hungry.

[AwiUsdi]

My mare likes fruit pop tarts. My other horse politely declines Mrs. Pastures treats. Some time ago my son alerted me to this video of a horse eating a chick: https://youtu.be/UaJdD0zM2qw

[mmeqcenter]

I once leased a horse who loved sour candies, his favorite being Warheads

[pony_grandma]

Our local Dairy Queen had a special dog sized cone. They would crush dog biscuits if you wanted sprinkles.

[beowulf]

My experience is if it’s sweet and you like it, they’ll like it too. Or they want to try it, at least.

My gelding is obsessed with donuts. I’ve told this story before, but one of my weekly traditions is stopping a few times a week after work at a local coffee/donut shop. I get a coffee to keep me going, and a box of donuts for the horses. One day one of the baristas said “WHERE do you put it all?! You don’t look like you eat 5 donuts a day?!”.

Like any horse person in this century, I have about 2,000 photos of my horse on my phone doing mundane things that I personally find adorable - including eating donuts – so I showed her a video or six. Now the ladies at that shop give me the donuts for free

My gelding’s palate is pretty diverse and he will try anything I give him while the others are a bit more cautious. He loves the soft anisette cookies and licorice – will turn himself inside out for them – so I bought him hard anisette candies and he thinks they’re disgusting.

One of the TBs loves banana chips. I discovered that while trying to find a cheap and easy clicker training treat.

[2DogsFarm]

@Foxglove My WB was a handlicker.
He’d lick my palm forever if I let him, his eyes all unfocused like an opium smoker
My Hackney pony in the stall next door, watched & picked up the habit.
Though he was never as intent as Sam.
I told pony I’d change his name to Monkey See

They are funny beasts

[SnicklefritzG]

horses are so weird. I have one that LOVES bananas. He screams when he sees them. The other horses have absolutely no interest in them whatsoever.

The same horse that loves bananas also has a thing for Good & Plenty’s

One of my horses is super picky about treats. She loves carrots, apples, sugar cubes, etc. But one time some sugar cubes touched the carrots in my treat bag and she questioned the carrot and would not eat it at first. Had to check it out thoroughly beforehand. She also rejected some horses cookies that came in contact with a bag of dry cat food that had fallen into the bag of horse cookies. Even though I separated the cookies, she knew something wasn’t quite right and reject them. The others didn’t care. One of them even tried to eat the cat food!!! but spit it out later. lol.

[Spudsmyguy]

My husband had a horse that liked tuna fish sandwiches (!) We should have named him Hobbes
Chocolate chip cookies
Peanut butter granola bars
fig newtons
cantaloupe
watermelon
Red vines (twizzlers)
Anything I was eating

One mare I used to groom loved snickers bars.

[Heinz_57]

Chicken in a Biscuit crackers are top of the list, here. Given to him by my kid. He is also fond of regular Cheerios, which I use when we are working on clicker training.

[chestnutmarebeware]

Pumpkins. Buy them in bulk and smash them on the ground in the pasture, and it’s an instant pony party! The sheep loved them, too.