What’s your horse’s favorite treat?

[Scribbler]

@kande04

I’m a clicker trainer so feed lots of treats, and all of mine like any kind of grain. Right now I have a feed room full of pelleted complete feed because I have an old toothless horse who lives on it, but the rest of mine like it too, so I use it for treats. It may not be as calorie dense as some kinds of bagged feed, but it has enough fiber in it that I don’t have to worry as much about overfeeding it if I want to extend a training session and feed more treats than usual.

I clicker train too and I can easily go through a cup or two of treats in a session. It has to be cheap, safe enough to feed in volume and importantly not rot in your pocket. Nothing like finding week old baby carrots in your jacket!

I too have ended up using a pelleted complete feed, choosing a brand with a larger kibble. I get the 50 lb bags not the same stuff sold in 5 lb bags of “treats”!

None of the horses get this as daily ration and it is motivating enough.
The exception is one place we go once a year to perform where we work on a grass lawn. There the grass is too tempting and I need to up the great value. So for that venue I use hard white peppermint candies and bulk ginger snap cookies!

Interestingly although my mare is super food oriented she is rather cautious about strange foods and hates anything mushy that sticks to her mouth.

Her eyes about popped out of her head with delight the first time I gave her an over ripe pear. She loves apples and carrots of course. One summer she developed a taste for frozen lemonade slushies but when the weather cooled off she lost interest.

[good_booie]

Peppermints and butterscotches. Oh, recently discovered bananas too.

[foggythistle]

Anything he can get in his mouth.
What he gets for treats are CBCs (chilled baby carrots), Herballs, peppermints, Buckeye treats in various flavors, anything he can bum off a passerby…

ETA: twizzlers

Things that are not high on his like list are powdered donuts.

[DinkyDonk]

Brach’s peppermints, and gingersnap cookies–not often because of the sugar in them. Uckele’s low sugar treats made with sunflowers and timothy are the most frequently given in cherry-vanilla and banana-apple flavors. Got to watch those waistlines!

[kande04]

@Scribbler

I clicker train too and I can easily go through a cup or two of treats in a session. It has to be cheap, safe enough to feed in volume and importantly not rot in your pocket. Nothing like finding week old baby carrots in your jacket!

I too have ended up using a pelleted complete feed, choosing a brand with a larger kibble. I get the 50 lb bags not the same stuff sold in 5 lb bags of “treats”!

I used to use hay stretchers because they come in a bigger pellet, but then realized I was feeding multiple pellets anyway, so started using the complete feed instead. Before that I used a coarse sweet feed because I had it for some of the older horses who liked to have lots of choices, and everyone would work for that. But when I switched to the complete I realized that the mice and pigeons don’t like it as much, and that helped with pest control and with keeping the mice and chipmunks out of my pockets. I wouldn’t even mind if they helped themselves to the leftovers, except they were chewing through my pockets to get to them.

Interestingly although my mare is super food oriented she is rather cautious about strange foods and hates anything mushy that sticks to her mouth.

I have a mule who is the same. If I open a new bag of grain he sometimes won’t touch it, or if I’ve touched something that smells funny he’ll try to take the pellets that haven’t touched my hand. It’s not that he doesn’t love his treats, but he’s just very picky about anything new. He’s almost 25 now and I thought he was over it, but he didn’t like something about the new bag of grain I opened a couple days ago and was right back to spitting out the pellets and giving me an accusing look.

Unlike the horses, and especially the two new(ish) ones, who are so agog over the treats that they can’t seem to think about what it is that they need to do to get them.

[16_Hands]

@2DogsFarm

German Horse Crack is too pricy for my Cheapskate Self :eek:
@ near $20/bag my 3 would bankrupt me in a month.
::

What size bag is $20? Around here, the small bag is @ $7.00 and the large bag is $35.

My guys all love the German Horse Crack too. My new boy, Odin, is especially obnoxious when demanding I dispense a treat.

One of my horses developed a fondness for dried apricots and peanut butter granola bars. Two likes peppermints, the third isn’t convinced they won’t kill him. Apples are always welcomed as are carrots.

[sunkistbey]

My horse is a German Riding Pony, emphasis on pony. She will eat anything.

[skipollo]

Ours like the Stud Muffins and German Horse Muffins, but they usually only get those for Christmas because they’re so expensive.

They like the standard apples and carrots. They also LOVE Bob’s Sweet Stripes peppermints, the really soft ones that come in a big tub for like $5 at Walmart.

The retired boy gets strictly nilla wafers because his teeth aren’t the best, and those are easy for him to chew. They dissolve in his mouth so if a chunk gets stuck, it’s not an issue. He would eat a whole box if we let him :lol: but at 31 if he wants a few extra, who are we to tell him no?

[mmeqcenter]

Manna Pro Bite Size Nuggets, usually in peppermint

[2DogsFarm]

@16 Hands

What size bag is $20? Around here, the small bag is @ $7.00 and the large bag is $35.

My pricing dates back to 2015.
Large bag was $18.95ish at local feedstore.
It was Nope then & Nope now.
Why? When I can get away with 3doz for $1?

[lorilu]

Bananas. Peppermints from the Dollar Tree. Carrots and apples… Bravo is not picky. Ludie, on the other hand, does not eat bananas…

[2tempe]

German muffins, no contest…two per day costs me approx $11 per month. He is worth it😍

[wildlifer]

I have one who madly loves candy canes - I get bulk buys of the mini ones for super cheap after holidays or on Amazon.

I don’t buy treats made specifically for horses, they are stupidly expensive.

[OverandOnward]

@trubandloki

Two of my horses will not eat the German horse muffins. I was so sad after buying them (they are not cheap). They will eat squeezy buns, but those German horse muffins are not edible at all. Push around the feed tub and ignore for days not edible.
…

You can send them to my horse. He will write you a thank you note. :winkgrin:

[Texarkana]

Most of mine will eat anything and everything you are offering.

But my picky mare won’t touch most things. Apples, carrots, other fruit/veggies? Hard no. Peppermints and sugar cubes? She spits them right back at you in disgust.

But she LOVES banana-flavored horse treats, which of course is one of the harder flavors to find consistently. Manna Pro Start to Finish and Rounders both make them. I’ve found a few other brands here and there.

Horses are weird.

Mrs. Pastures Horse Cookies are also a big hit with everyone, even the picky mare.

[Cat_Tap]

I have to provide treats for all the horses in the barn. Stopped using carrots as they freeze in the winter and get moldy in the summer. Apples are not good for horses with metabolic problems.

MY favorite treats for them are peanuts with their shells. They keep forever, are cheap and fit easily into your pockets. All my coats have peanuts in their pockets and the horses know it.

Also convenient for giving Previcox, just stick it inside the shell.

[piedmontfields]

My mare loves Hilton’s Herballs. They are low sugar, herbal treats with an alfalfa base.

[Knavery]

Mrs. Pastures… Never had a single horse refuse one.

[arbiter]

Tangerines/mandarins/satsumas/clementines. My horse will do anything for them.

[WB_Mom]

Almost every horse in the barn loves when I bring my huge bag of Malt-O-Meal Tootie Fruities!