How many of you feed mints to your horses

[HollyB66]

This will show how much of a 'newbie' I am to all this.

I was at an event with my eventing friend and saw someone feed a polo to their horse after their dressage test.

My immediate thought was - surely that's bad for the horses teeth.

TOC just posted about feeding mints to a horse and that owners would appreciate this - so have I got it totally wrong???

When I get a horse is the odd mint acceptable???

TIA Holly B

 

[Chestnutmare]

I stick a couple of sugarfree polo's in mins's dinner for her

 

[samstar]

I use mints for when I get her to do her stretches, just don't give them willy nilly

 

[miss_c]

Genie gets a mint when she gets back to the lorry at an event, and if my Mum comes to the yard. They are a treat as opposed to a regular feature of her diet.

 

[RuthnMeg]

^^^^ Yikes!! Meg gets polos all the time! In the morning when I check her, in the evening after I fed her, after her work, just because i love her so much, after a brush, if she gives me 'the look'! and if I feel like it! Often go through nearly a pack a day if I was allowed - my mum thinks I spoil her and iam mad!!
(don't tell me off plz!)

 

[HollyB66]

Perhaps sugarfree is the way to go?

 

[MerryMAL]

Mine ALWAYS get polos... I doubt it's ever been proven it does any actual harm

 

[merlinsquest]

I was told that horses teeth dont rot the same way as humans do...... Cant remember what the difference was, but it was the vet or the dentist that told me this

Carry on.... you know you love to

 

[HollyB66]

[ QUOTE ]
I was told that horses teeth dont rot the same way as humans do...... Cant remember what the difference was, but it was the vet or the dentist that told me this

[/ QUOTE ]

Now that's a possibility, perhaps it is the type of saliva and breaking down of the sugars - if I remember I may ask the vet tomorrow.

 

[Daffodil]

My boy would sack me if he didn't get his daily ration (at least two packets

) of polos!!

 

[LadyRascasse]

i no some one how used to feed there horse 6 packet of polos just for the farrier not including the 3 a day it got normally!!!

mine get them every now and then as i don't like over feeding them treats

 

[LauraWheeler]

i refuse to buy polos now as they are so expensive

(they used to be 12p now they are nearly 50p and they arn't even a whole mint!!). Lucys fav treat is lemon sherberts she loves them and can't get enough.

 

[marmalade76]

I buy them in boxes of 48 tubes from the cash & carry. Get through about two boxes a year. They cost about £11 a box plus VAT.

 

[Nailed]

Sugar free not the way to go... as they are laxitives...
Ted would never eat mints, he just didnt like em.

Cato would eat a million a day if i let her!

Lou x

 

[soulfull]

have always fed the odd mint here and there but Micah doesn't like them so has normal horse treats instead

 

[a_e_d]

Andy always gets an extra strong mint after I ride. He knows that I get off and run up one stirrup then goes the zip of my pocket and out comes a mint for him before I do the other stirrup!!!
He seems to prefer extra strong mints to polos. I used to give him black bullets (Geordie mint) but these are really sweet and not that minty and he seems to prefer "proper" mints to these too

 

[LMuirEDT]

Although horses teeth are made up of the same components as people teeth, they are in different amounts so therefore mints don't have the same effect on horses as they do people.

Also we tend to suck on mints whereas horses crunch and swallow.

If you fed a whole bowl full everyday then you might see an effect but the odd mint here and there isn't too much of a problem.

 

[Hullabaloo]

[ QUOTE ]
I was told that horses teeth dont rot the same way as humans do...... Cant remember what the difference was, but it was the vet or the dentist that told me this

Carry on.... you know you love to

[/ QUOTE ]

That's what I was told as well.
Boo gets mints occasionally - when he's eaten it he pokes his tongue out for the next 10 mins.

 

[kal40]

My new lad was taught to say please for a polo and when I first got him he was begging all the time. As a cob with fairly large feet, it was only a matter of time until he kicked me - it was the right height to hit me on the skin grafts so we had to stop that.

I weened him off them and now only gets one as a treat when he leasts expects.

 

[SecretSquirrell379]

Crop loves extra strong mints too, she gets an apple or a carrot or a mint each day. If she is good then she will get an extra one. I don't give them at the same time or the same place as I don't want her to get used to them and start nipping for them

 

[Kenzo]

I tend to buy the minty horse treats rather than mints now, I don't give them tit bits unless there at a competition as a treat for trying/doing well, sometimes I'll drop a treat in the bucket feed though.

 

[perryhillbay]

Fizz has an addiction to extra strong mints - she can't get enough of them!

 

[vallin]

Mine gets a mint or a horse treat when I catch her as she can be a little madame, so needs a little incentive Also gets them when she's been particularly good, or done something particularly well

 

[Kat]

I think the issue isn't so much their teeth but that it can teach them to nip or misbehave.

 

[CastleMouse]

Ali loves them!

 

[KatB]

Lucky begs for them. She gets through about 3 packets a week, and I use them schooling alot.

 

[mollypops]

Our little mare doesn't like polos, or lickits or anything horsey...

But she would sell her soul for a bit of crusty bread and a custard cream - that's ma girl!!!

Bet she has chocolate cravings too....... *ponders this*

 

[Zippydoodles]

Zippy gets the occasional one, but not very often as he goes all sloppy afterwards and insists on licking my coat for ages (yuck!

) He gets a herby horse treat every time I turn him out and catch him as he's sometimes difficult to catch so I view it as encouragement

. Too many titbits make him nippy though so I mostly give him treats in his feed bowl rather than by hand. His favourite treat in the world? An overripe pear, the squishier the better. would eat them all day everyday if he could!

 

[ester]

only at comps, at home he gets a pony nut, he will do anything for a pony nut!

 

[hedgehog1]

i usually have a packet of polos on me as it saves so much hassle and argueing when they wont load / wont be caught, - seems they are ruled by their stomachs!

also for when they jump a clear round!