From: Stephanie
Hi Jessica!
I don't feed my leased horse that many treats (I don't want him to get pushy), but when I do, I usually feed apples and carrots and even sometimes little bites of hay or grain. I've always been taught NOT to feed sugar cubes, because of these reasons:
-They are bad for horses teeth
-Horses tend to get especially nippy with them
But yet, I see some people feeding them all the time. I'm curious to hear your opinions on sugar cubes vs. more 'natural' treats like veggies and forage.
Actually, one more thing- I see some people feeding their horses 'people food'- things like chips, crackers, pizza, tacos, pop, etc. This seems weird to me, and not something I agree with. What are your thoughts?
Thanks for your time!
~Stephanie~
I'm glad you're taking care to prevent your leased horse from becoming nippy - good for you! I wouldn't worry about the effect of treats on his teeth, though. It's possible for horses to develop dental caries (cavities) but overall, horses are much less likely than humans to develop cavities - sugar is a much bigger problem for us than it is for our horses. A few sugar cubes used as treats or rewards during a training session aren't likely to cause a problem. As far as I know, the only sugar-caused cavities in equine teeth tend to occur in horses that are routinely fed large quantities of sugar cane. I'm guessing that this isn't a common practice in your area. ;-)
My rule of thumb would be that if a horse is mannerly and not nippy, sugar makes a fine treat/reward. If a horse is sugar-obsessed, as some horses are, and becomes impatient and nippy when sugar is used as a treat, use something else instead. There's no point in giving a horse sugar as a treat or to show your approval if you're going to have to reprimand the horse for being over-eager in reaching for it. That's a little too much like teasing.
"People food" is different. I think that a lot of riders just like to share treats with their horses - they like giving their horses an occasional piece of doughnut or candy or part of a sandwich. As long as they don't offer their horses foods that are toxic to horses or likely to cause choke (hint: UNWRAP those peppermints before offering them to your horse), an occasional orange or a handful of chips or even a soft drink isn't likely to cause trouble either. Horses like a lot of different fruits and vegetables, some horses love bread (real bread, that is, not squishy non-nutritive American sandwich bread), and I can remember, many years ago, being enchanted by a little mare who would sneak up on people holding bottles of cola, grab the bottle, tilt her head ALL the way up, and bring it down only when the bottle was empty. Cola probably didn't do the mare any good, but she lived and performed well into her twenties, so it may not have harmed her, either.
In any case, most of us give our horses things to eat that have nothing to do with the horses' actual needs. Good grass or hay, salt, and water - that's what horses are designed to eat. You're right, a lot of treats don't seem to be natural. But walk up and down the aisle of your boarding barn and read the feed cards - how many of those horses are being fed grain as well as hay and/or pasture? Grain - which many people feed to their horses every day - is not a natural horse food, and in many cases isn't all that good for horses, either. Far too many people feed grain without even thinking about it. If they stopped to think, they would realize that for horses, grain should be no more than a supplement to the horse's basic diet, and should be fed only when necessary, which would be when a horse isn't able to consume enough hay to meet his energy needs. "Sweet feed" is a mixture of grain and molasses (grain and STICKY sugar, yum!). It smells lovely to horses and to humans, and horses enjoy it, but it's not their natural food and it's certainly not an ideal food.
Carrots are very popular with people who disapprove of feeding horses mints or sugar or other "unnatural" treats, but.... think about carrots for a minute. They're high in sugar, they can cause horses to choke if they're fed in rounds or chunks, and they're not a horse's natural food either. In the wild, horses graze, drink water, and lick salt from the ground whenever they can find it. When is the last time you saw a horse pull a carrot out of the ground and eat it? They already have good night vision. ;-)
A few bites of "people food" won't unbalance a horse's diet if it's well-balanced, and if it isn't well-balanced, that horse already has a problem, and a few bites of "people food" aren't likely to make it any worse. I worry much less about people who offer their horses occasional "weird" treats than I do about people who give their horses several pounds of treats a day and don't realize that those "treats" have become part of their horse's daily diet, and should be acknowledged as a component of the daily ration. I've met riders who routinely give their horses several pounds of carrots every day.
If you're still uncomfortable with the idea of "unnatural" treats, and you want to feed your horse a natural, healthy treat that won't unbalance his food ration, pellets and hay cubes would be very suitable. Most hay cubes can be pulled apart into small squares (basically miniature flakes of hay), and I've yet to meet a horse that will turn down one of those tidbits.
Jessica
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