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Administering Medication: Many medications are bitter and unpalatable. Hiding them in treats can make administration easier and encourage horses to accept treatment. If you’ re disguising a bitter pill, choose a soft, sweet treat with a strong flavour such as molasses or peppermint.
Stretching and Exercise: Treats are often incorporated into dynamic stretching routines, such as“ carrot stretches,” to enhance flexibility and core strength. Despite the name, these stretches can be performed with any treat to guide the horse through the range of motions.
Choosing The Right Treat
SEE TABLE 1 below for a list of safe and suitable treats. Whatever your reason for offering treats, it’ s important to consider several key factors when choosing and feeding them.
Recent studies have explored the use of artificial sweeteners. Both erythritol( approximately 70 % as sweet as sugar) and stevia( around 300 times sweeter than sugar) contain no calories and, importantly, do not affect blood glucose or insulin levels.
HYPP: Horses with HYPP are very sensitive to potassium levels in their diet, and bananas, apricots, plums, pumpkin and cantaloupe are not suitable.
Dental Issues: Horses with dental conditions often cannot chew treats thoroughly, so use softer treats( watermelon or pears) to avoid choking.
Competition Horses: Some treats( like chocolate or poppy seeds) can cause positive swab results in competitions.
Work with your veterinarian or an equine veterinary nutritionist to determine which treats are safe for your horse, especially if they have a health condition.
FLAVOUR PREFERENCES
Moderation is Key: Limit treats to 1-2 per day and offer them in small, bite-sized pieces to reduce the risk of choking( about the size of your thumbnail).
Metabolic Issues: Horses with Equine Metabolic Syndrome( EMS), insulin dysregulation, prone to laminitis, obesity, or Cushing’ s disease( PPID) should avoid treats containing sugar, starch, molasses, or grains( including by-products such as millmix, bran, and pollard). Instead, choose sugar-free lollies or low-sugar homemade options( see the Flax / Linseed Cookies recipe from the Equine Cushings and Insulin Resistance Group( ECIR)). Many otherwise healthy treats become unsuitable for horses with these conditions; for example, apples and bananas are poor choices, although their peels can be a good alternative( see Table 4).
Just like humans, horses can be selective about flavours. You may need to try several types of treats to find one your horse enjoys( see Table 2). Some horses exhibit an aversion to unfamiliar feed items and may require multiple exposures before they will taste them.
Even then, they might need to try a treat several times before deciding whether they like it.
Horses can detect four of the five basic taste components: sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. It is not yet known whether they can perceive‘ umami’, the savoury taste, or whether they experience an age-related decline in smell and taste sensitivity similar to that observed in humans, primates, and rodents.
If such a decline occurs, enhancing the odour profile of feed offered to older horses may help compensate for reduced sensitivity, thereby improving appetite.
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2026 AQHA JANUARY / FEBRUARY ISSUE