Trying to get a herb into a horse in treat form, home made sugar free... any bakers out there i need your help!

[Horsekaren]

As the title ... Help and ideas are required.

To help with my boys legs i want to introduce marigold and cleavers into his forage only diet.
He doesnt have any hard feed, i dont want to pop it into some chaff and pull him out to give him the herbs as this wont always be possible every day. I want to try and make it into a biscuit / brownie / treat form so i can home in on him when he away from his herd and sneakily slide him a treat.

He has chocked a couple of times in the past so it either needs to be hard like a normal horse treat or soft like a brownie ( studd muffin type thing)

must be sugar free.

He wont eat it in herb form by itself ... the bugger!

He is retired living semi wild so pulling him out every day i know sounds like it would be the simplest way but it can be tricky in winter when you have a herd of hungry horses. i can see to his legs in the field but food is a different matter!

all ideas welcome

 

[quizzie]

Grind finely, mix to a paste with yoghurt or similar, and syringe into mouth using old worming syringe

 

[smolmaus]

My first thought would be to use a simple dog biscuit recipe, there are millions of them online. My second thought would be if the compounds in the herbs you want to get into your horse would survive the heat of baking?

If not, or of you can't find that out, you could go the no-bake dog treat route and bind with no added sugar peanut butter? Something like this?

 

[vhf]

I was wondering along the old fashioned bolus style. Can't quite remember my veterinary history enough to think how it would work exactly but easier than a syringe and with no 'cooking' of the active ingredients?? (I am sure I read about them in the James Herriot series!) Maybe herbs+yoghurt rolled in oat flour to make a squishy ball??

 

[cauda equina]

Put them in a sandwich?

 

[asmp]

Put them in a sandwich?

I was going to say jam sandwich

 

[hollyandivy123]

Use apple flavoured jelly, melt, dont add extra water mix, set and cut into cubes, add a bit of mint?

 

[stangs]

Shove them in a ball of oats and applesauce or molasses if you're comfortable feeding it to your boy?

ETA: just saw that you wanted something sugar-free. Skip the molasses for sure then, and maybe mix the applesauce with water to dilute.

 

[Annagain]

Marmite sandwich

 

[SussexbytheXmasTree]

I can’t see the harm in one treat a day having some molasses or black treacle in it. A fridge cake type concoction. I’d probably go for some oats and treacle. There’s lots of sugar in grass and hay especially when you consider the quantities consumed that one sweet treat can hardly be of much significance.

 

[Winters100]

Is it a large quantity? Could you simply cut out a section of apple and shove it in there/

 

[PurBee]

Stevia is sweet tasting but not a saccharide! So calorifically easy and a good sweetener for diabetics and ems horses.

I wonder why youve chosen marigold tho? I searched and searched ages ago but didnt find compelling evidence for their use medicinally (i grow loads) but its great topically ON skin issues, yet internal medicinal uses are, from what i gather, limited?…would like to learn more.

So you could use stevia, mixed with the herbs, and maybe some speedibeet soaked…if you mix the lot to be the texture of flapjacks…you can squidge them into balls/mini cookies, and they should hold their shape. Keep refrigerated if making a batch. I wouldnt cook the herbs unless they have to be to extract the medicinal compounds better.

Depending on the herb used depends on how best to extract the medicinal elements of it. Many herbs were/are taken as a tea, as heat from boiling water/simmering is required to extract the healing compounds. You’d get a lot more healing power from your herbs if used in the correct way. So do check if cleavers need to be simmered to best get healing action. Marigold oils are utilised and so i often add marigold dried petals to standard veg oil, leave for 4 weeks, shaking the jar daily….to extract the oil soluble medicinal compounds.

Then you could add that calendula oil to your beet cookies and you could use cleaver tea to soak the beet, add stevia powder to sweeten and shape into treats.

 

[Horsekaren]

Stevia is sweet tasting but not a saccharide! So calorifically easy and a good sweetener for diabetics and ems horses.

I wonder why youve chosen marigold tho? I searched and searched ages ago but didnt find compelling evidence for their use medicinally (i grow loads) but its great topically ON skin issues, yet internal medicinal uses are, from what i gather, limited?…would like to learn more.

So you could use stevia, mixed with the herbs, and maybe some speedibeet soaked…if you mix the lot to be the texture of flapjacks…you can squidge them into balls/mini cookies, and they should hold their shape. Keep refrigerated if making a batch. I wouldnt cook the herbs unless they have to be to extract the medicinal compounds better.

Depending on the herb used depends on how best to extract the medicinal elements of it. Many herbs were/are taken as a tea, as heat from boiling water/simmering is required to extract the healing compounds. You’d get a lot more healing power from your herbs if used in the correct way. So do check if cleavers need to be simmered to best get healing action. Marigold oils are utilised and so i often add marigold dried petals to standard veg oil, leave for 4 weeks, shaking the jar daily….to extract the oil soluble medicinal compounds.

Then you could add that calendula oil to your beet cookies and you could use cleaver tea to soak the beet, add stevia powder to sweeten and shape into treats.

This sounds like a good idea

I am adding marigold as i read it is a good sister herb to use with cleavers.... i have no idea how correct this is. To be Honest im skeptical of the entire thing but I'm happy to try as there seems to be a lot of good reviews on its effect on cobs legs

I do usually brew my herbs when i decide to give him something but my first attempt at offering him the herbs brewed he wouldn't touch them.
This morning i boiled two Thunderbrooks hay cobs and mixed it in with 2 scoops of Marigold and Cleavers not boild and he reluctantly decided that was worth a go.



I will have a look at dog biscuit recipes as others have suggested.

using a syringe wont work as he doesn't like being wormed so that will cause more of a fuss.

Im really wanting something that will dry or set so i can pop it in my pocket and offer it to him. I big ball of wet food in my hand will likely cause a mugging from another horse on on route to him


as for the bread suggestions... can horses eat bread? i didnt realise this was a thing!

 

[Annagain]

This sounds like a good idea

as for the bread suggestions... can horses eat bread? i didnt realise this was a thing!

I wouldn't give them a whole loaf but a slice or two is fine.

 

[Tiddlypom]

My three all hoover their mixed herbs which include marigold and cleavers . How about adding some dried spearmint, that is healthy and smells yummy - it's in my homemade mix?

 

[Peglo]

I made a cake (tb was 25!) and think I used grated carrot and 16+ mix mixed with porridge oats as a binder. I went for an over night oats rather than cooked porridge.
I didn’t use much porridge oats and they already got carrot and 16+ so it wasn’t a big change in diet.
it set pretty well and think you’d be able to roll it into a treat size but maybe not quite safe enough for a pocket ?

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

Handful of feed is how a woman at the yard does it. Cleavers as in the sticky plant? Is that available in supplement form? My horse loves those things.

 

[AdorableAlice]

You need a fair quantity of marigold and clivers to treat CPL. I found exercise and movement was more beneficial.

They didn’t do anything for my cobs. I feed them in top spec zero chop and a bit of mint out of the garden.

 

[Lois Lame]

My three all hoover their mixed herbs which include marigold and cleavers . How about adding some dried spearmint, that is healthy and smells yummy - it's in my homemade mix?

Would you share your homemade mix with us, Tiddlypom? It sounds tasty.

 

[Tiddlypom]

I mix the following in a large old supplement tub. It's loosely based on Feedmark's No Fill supplement. I feed a 150 scoop twice daily, plus additionally a mix of oily herbs oregano, thyme and rosemary. The feedroom smells lovely at feed mixing time . I add it to soaked agrobs hay cobs and aspero chaff.

This is following on from the equibiome recommendation to increase access to herbs and diverse grazing, to aid a healthy hind gut.

Hawthorn 500g

Dandelion leaves 500g

Cleavers 250g

Marigold 250g

Nettle 250g

Gingko 125g

Spearmint 125g

Crushed rosehips 125g