apples and carrots

I wouldn't feed cooking apples or crab apples but Granny Smiths are fine.
An apple a day is fine.
Mine have handfuls of carrots everyday ( they would be very disappointed if you gave them just one).

I only give the young pony treats in her stable (when she came to me she was terrible for mugging people for sweets - it's a really bad habit that can lead to nipping and biting and it's just rude, she's not stopped completely but is much better).
Older horse is always polite so can feed treats in hand.
I'm sure if you do a search hear there are threads on fruit and veg suitable to give horses - it's quite extensive! :)
 
The only thing to be careful of is the sugar content in apples and carrots, but in moderation, they should be fine.

Swede, banana and blackberries are others I have fed before. Greedy mare not so keen on banana though...
 
I feed mine apples and carrots although not extensively only at weekends as a treat and as a reward for good behaviour. Apples not so much because of sugar content so mainly carrots. I agree about it causing pushiness for treats so boundaries have to be set to try and nip it in the bud - no pun intended!
 
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MIne eat all kinds of appleincluding crab apples. We have a couple of apple trees on the village green and at apple-time of year when I hack past, the horses (who have trained me well) take me into the tree (literally, I sit astride their back surrounded by apple branches) and they scoff the windfalls and wait for me to pick from teh branches for them. Once they've had a few each, we carry on with our hacks.

Carrots and apples are fed at home, a few each, during autumn and winter mainly. Not in the summer/spring as they live out so get plenty of fresh green and sugar from the grass.
 
I used to feed my mare carrots every day in her feed, I had issues with her behaviour though and when I started looking into her diet one of the first things to go was the carrots, could not believe the difference in her. She doesn't get carrots or apples at all in fact the big meanie I am she doesn't get anything at all treat wise. Doesn't bother her.
 
I don't feed my horse carrots at all, I find the sugar or starch in them send him a bit loopy, he's a very spooky horse anyway and if I feed him carrots he gets much worse. Apples, strangely enough, he is fine with - although he rarely gets them. Apples have much more sugar than carrots, but are much lower in starch so perhaps it's the starch that disagrees with my boy.
 
wills_91 said:
I used to feed my mare carrots every day in her feed, I had issues with her behaviour though and when I started looking into her diet one of the first things to go was the carrots, could not believe the difference in her. She doesn't get carrots or apples at all in fact the big meanie I am she doesn't get anything at all treat wise. Doesn't bother her.
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It's the old saying if you don't have it you don't miss it !
 
My girl eats apples - not cooking or crab apples though - too tart for her. She prefers carrots though - just a couple per feed due to the sugars... Although I can't say they've ever made her loopy :D
 
I used to keep my horse at a stud near carrot producing land and they had carrots delivered by the lorry load. The ones in the field in winter had a heap tipped that they ate ad lib and the stabled ones got 2 large buckets a day along with hay. They all seemed to keep well on them, I don't remember any being loopy or lame. Sometimes the load contained beetroot which turned all the poo purple.
 
My boy (rising two) has an Apple and a carrot for his tea. I put them in his feed bucket, don't feed much from my hand. He was having a handful of Suregrow for his tea but vet advised he really didn't need it so cut it out. He looks great on just adlib haylage.
He only has an apple and a carrot because he's used to having a bucket when I've finished my jobs at night. Want to avoid him picking up bad habits like kicking his door!
 
I give mine a couple of carrots in his feed everyday and hand feed a couple too.

He isn't keen on apples as he thinks I'm trying to hide medication in them so is suspicious. This is an interesting article on sugar content.

http://www.thelaminitissite.org/articles/who-said-stop-the-carrots

It says - "100 g hay as fed would give 7.1 g sugar/starch
and 100 g carrot as fed gives 6.1 g sugar/starch
- so a carrot doesn't look quite so evil now!

To be fair, that 100 g of hay has also provided a lot of fibre, some protein, fat, minerals and vitamins, whereas the carrot has mostly provided water, but also that valuable vitamin A."
 
Mine don't get carrots anymore. They're not bothered and it saves me cutting them too. :)

One of my mares loves bananas though. A rare treat if I have a over ripe one I haven't cooked with!
 
Evie91 said:
I wouldn't feed cooking apples or crab apples but Granny Smiths are fine.
An apple a day is fine.
Mine have handfuls of carrots everyday ( they would be very disappointed if you gave them just one).

:)
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Why wouldn't you feed cooking apples? I had a massive trees worth this summer so they got shared out between horses and humans. Was a bit cautious in feeding at first thought they might be too tart, but they all absolutely loved them, more so than carrots or other apples. Was expecting a bit of head bobbing or mouth foaming from the sharpness but nothing just straight down the hatch give me more!
 
Mine also eat cooking apples. Actually it's a bit hard to avoid them eating them as one of their paddocks is an old orchard that still has a few trees left. During apple season they have ad lib access to them but only ever eat a couple. They also get carrots in their feed during winter when there is no grass.

My older horse loves bananas, complete with skin, but the younger one spits them out! To be fair though, I haven't come across anything the old boy won't eat!
 
mine always have the windfall cookers,one is nearly 30yo. they also like swede,carrot,banana,parsnips and old bread.
 
Mone eat all types of apples, often have a few carrots, and eat almost every type of fruit going. Nothing on a regular basis, just as and when I have them.
 
My boys have carrot and apple in their feeds - both in the morning and just carrot at night. I also give swede and parsnip as well. Apples are only ever of the eating variety though. I guess I'm spoiling them a bit though as they are fussy oldies!
 
My boy absolutely loves a tangerine!!! He has either 1 carrot, or 1 apple most evenings chopped up into his tea...if I haven't got any,..he's doesn't get it..simple as!

We have a fruit box at work and there was a pear in there going begging, so I took it (as it only ends up getting binned as the end of the week, as a fresh box comes on a Monday)...and he thought the pear was very tasty!

Doesn't do bananas though..
 
blowsbubbles said:
Why wouldn't you feed cooking apples? I had a massive trees worth this summer so they got shared out between horses and humans. Was a bit cautious in feeding at first thought they might be too tart, but they all absolutely loved them, more so than carrots or other apples. Was expecting a bit of head bobbing or mouth foaming from the sharpness but nothing just straight down the hatch give me more!
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Because my horse doesn't like them - not sweet enough ( she won't eat swede or parsnip for the same reason!)
 
Think my boy would dis-own me if he didn't get his carrots in his feed, although I do remove them in the summer when there's a lot of sugar in the grass. But at this time of year, he gets carrots and apples daily.
 
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