* Disclaimer: The products offered on this web site are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Rather, they are intended for educational purposes only. These treats contain simple sugars and starch levels generally found to be safe for horses with insulin resistance. However, every horse is an individual. Check with your own veterinarian. The statements presented on this web site have not been evaluated by the FDA or USDA. The use of herbs for the prevention or cure of disease has not been approved by the FDA or USDA. We therefore make no claims to this effect.
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For us, the idea of a treat probably brings to mind something sweet - maybe a chocolate, or a pastry. Something you don't think you should actually eat - cookies, donuts, ice cream.
We seem to be wired that way. To us, a treat = something sinful. It's no wonder that when it comes to giving our horses treats, our first instinct is to wrap up some molasses apple cookies and sticky peppermint delights.
To a horse in nature, a treat would be something, well, found in nature - delightfully fresh, aromatic and perhaps a bit hard to come by on a day's 20-mile trek with the herd. A full clump of chamomile in the middle of a meadow. A pine tree branch that has just touched the ground. Fuzzy, wet moss on the shady side of an oak. Long stems of dark green prairie grass, jutting out from beneath a rock in perfect-sized mouthfuls. A medley of low sugar, high fiber textures and smells.
If we were horses in nature, how fun that would be - to be continually surprised with tasty healthful morsels that change with the weather and terrain. Nothing to feel guilty about in this realm - herbs, leaves, petals, flowers, seeds and nuts are some of the lowest sugar and starch foods around. This is what our horses crave, not sugar and starch. But my horse loves his carrot crunches with oats and molasses, you say. Sure he does. That's called conditioning. Now think about it: Have you honestly given him any other choices?
A study published in Applied Animal Behavior Science shows that horses prefer fenugreek, banana and cherry flavored feeds to all other flavors. Yet three of the most popular flavors added to commercial horse feeds are molasses, garlic and mint. There are many natural, healthy food and treat choices that horses will consider delightful, so there is no need to limit them to sweets because we like sweets. Those high-sugar treats are hurting our horses.
What if we could slip into the mind and body of a horse in nature? What if we could see like a horse sees, smell like a horse smells, touch and enjoy like a horse?
Why The Emphasis on Low Sugar?
You may have noticed that the phrases Insulin Resistance, laminitis and founder have become an increasing part of the everyday vernacular of horse people. In the last few years, Natural Horse has published numerous articles concerning Metabolic Syndrome and insulin resistance (IR), conditions managed through rigorous management of the horse's sugars, starches and exercise levels. And for good reason: According to a 1998 Equine Study performed by the National Animal Health Monitoring System, 13 percent of the equine premises surveyed reported having a horse with laminitis. In its December 2006 cover article, The Horse Journal in December reports that even if only half of that 13 percent had laminitis due to Insulin Resistance, that means more than 540,000 horses have Insulin Resistance severe enough to cause laminitis - the second leading cause of death amongst horses (colic is #1).
This information is incentive enough to jump on the low sugar, low starch band wagon.
But my horse is healthy and he eats treats with sugar, you insist. Consider this: If you want to give your horse as natural a lifestyle as possible, you will feed your horse as little man-made sugar and starch as possible. Even low sugar grasses and foods contain enough sugar and starch to sustain a horse in perfect health. The low sugar lifestyle = a more natural lifestyle. It's a fact - horses in nature get their energy from fiber, not sugar.
Some Low Sugar, High Fiber Treat Ideas There are those who consider treats unnecessary. From a conventional standpoint, this is true. There is not one horse on earth who needs a sugar cube. However, when we expand our idea of a treat to take into consideration the horse's natural instinct to enjoy a wide variety of foods, then treats can become part of they way we bring variety, interest and even the element of surprise into our horse's lives. (Remember, horses in nature experience their choices of hundreds of fresh herbs every day!)
And now that we are thinking with four legs and a long, powerful nose, our treat horizons are endless. Here are some low sugar, low starch ideas my own horses, as well as the horses I work with professionally, have relished:
“Meal” Treats
- Small amounts (a teaspoon or so) of whole food powders - like beet root powder - sprinkled over a meal of hay pellets and supplements. We're most familiar with beets as a human vegetable, but they have a long history of use as a food for livestock, using both the roots and the above ground parts of the plant. Beet root is high in easily fermented fibers and very potent antioxidants called betalains. One teaspoon of beet root powder provides the nutrition of one beet. (Do not overfeed!)
- A tablespoon of no-sugar-added applesauce or a container of baby food carrots (which, unlike carrots, are mostly water and therefore contain much less sugar than the whole food itself.)
- A teaspoon of anise, which is a wonderful, licorice-flavored spice many horses adore. You can also try the synergistic combination of ½ teaspoon anise and ½ teaspoon cinnamon, as the two herbs “balance” each other beautifully in terms of taste.
“Hay Mixers”
Many owners who board their horses are faced with limited turnout time, or at the very least, limited pasture for their equine companions. Even horse owners with their own ranches sometimes face the dilemma of putting their horse in a dry lot so that sugar sensitive horses are safe from high-sugar grasses. The question looms: How to provide interest and variety within such limits? The foods in the following suggestions rate low on the glycemic index (GI) scale, which means that eating them does not destabilize blood sugar levels.
- A handful of fresh, chopped green beans tucked into a pile of hay. A handful of shredded iceberg lettuce. Some horses love the refreshing crunch of biting into a ball of lettuce.
- A few pieces of butternut squash or zucchini.
- A stalk of celery - celery packs a lot of crunch and is full of Vitamin K and Vitamin C.
- Some cherries - minus the pits of course - poked strategically into the hay. I have never met a horse who didn't love cherries, one of the lowest foods in terms of GI ratios.
- A large handful of chamomile flower buds. A plant native to Europe, this pretty daisy-like plant has an apple-like aroma that many horses find especially appealing.
- The rinds of organic citrus fruits such as lemons and oranges. These rinds are full of zing and zest.
"Tea For Two"
Not a lot of people think about tea when they think of horses. But horses truly enjoy this herbal delicacy. Try this:
- Pour one teapot of boiling water over a horse-size strainer of chamomile flower buds or cut and sifted peppermint leaves. (Chamomile relaxes, peppermint refreshes.) Allow to steep for 30 minutes.
- Mix the liquid over low sugar hay pellets and or beet pulp.
This is can be as soothing and relaxing for a horse as it is for a human!
As you play around with learning to “treat” your horse like a horse, remember to have patience. Don't just throw the kitchen sink at your horse - introduce new foods into his diet slowly and remember that horses are individuals. Some horses aren't going to like green beans and some horses are going to try and mow you down for more. Also remember that many of our horses have been conditioned over many years to eat what they are eating. Finicky eaters may need a little time to be convinced that stalk of celery in your hand is actually a good thing. Many horse owners have told me that one day their horses rejected lettuce and then demanded it the next!
Try as best you can to think like your horse. And remember - have fun. That's what treats are all about.
About the Author:
Lori Yearwood is a national magazine writer and newspaper reporter with more than 20 years of experience asking questions. As a result of her absolute refusal to give up on her own horses when they experienced health problems due to sugar sensitivity, she founded Skode's Horse Treats - a company that develops, mixes, bakes and distributes guaranteed low sugar, high fiber horse treats across the world.
Published in Natural Horse MagazineVolume 9 Issue 3
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"Treat" Your Horse..
Like a Horse!
by Lori Teresa Yearwood
