What treats do you all feed?

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Stenners

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Im doing a lot of reward based work with my horse at the moment and concious of giving her too many calories/sugar in treats etc so what treats do you all feed other than things like carrots/apples?

My friend uses a large bag of the Baileys High Fibre cubes as treats...
 
Stenners said:
My friend uses a large bag of the Baileys High Fibre cubes as treats...
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This is what I use too. Cheap and cheerful and not too high value. Easily broken into bits by hand when they haven't done something that deserves a whole one 😂

A polo is very high value! An apple she will turn herself inside out for.

EDIT: I tell a lie, its the fibre plus nuggets I use, no added vits and mins!
 
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My girl absolutley loves Stud Muffins but i have to break them into tiny bits as obviously full of molasses and i don't want her eating the whole bag which she would do quite happily!
 
A mix of Thunderbrook, Pure Feeds or Silvermoor treats usually if buying 'proper' treats.

Generally I just buy a big sack of fibre nuggets though & use these day to day.
 
None. My guys don't get treats (well not from me anyway, some of the other liveries like to give them some here and there - with my go ahead)
I do have a bag of herbal treats on the horsebox for special occasions, but that's it.
 
Carrots, apples, celery (obviously only a little bit), Polos, Stud Muffins, Maxima Pick and Mix. I don't feed all of this at the same time but I always give a treat when I bring in, turn out and after riding. I also always give a treat when I leave because I am soppy.
 
Nowt for my lot. They are native ponies after all! If I have spare carrots they either go in their dinner or they get launched across rhe field for them to find.

Nil by hand.
 
Little sticks of carrots or sugar free polos for the feral in training ones. Then it tapers off to just a few polos after a ride!
 
I used to feed herballs as the little feral critter would only eat those or stud muffins when she arrived and I didn't have the money for that many stud muffins! 🤣 The others got all manner of treats as I had to try several brands before finding something she would eat, so I used up the leftovers on them.
Now she has decided that humans are actually fine and not trying to poison her, she gets mole valley own brand along with everyone else- cheaper than the herballs and easy to break in two- I think they're too big whole.
Spearmint polos are the special, high value treat- the old boy is particularly partial to them, but they don't get them very often.
If I fed pony nuts I'd probably use them as treats, but I wouldn't go through a bag fast enough to buy one just for treats.
We did try the fatties on celery, with varying levels of success and I've heard of people feeding cucumber as well, which might be a low calorie option? (Although a bit wet to keep in a pocket.)
 
I do lots of positive reinforcement training and use hay cobs or any other 100% hay product.

I dont like those baileys fibre nuggets, everyone seems to use them as treats thinking that high fibre = low sugar/starch, from memory they're nearly 20% sugar and starch compared to less than 10% for thunderbrooks hay cobs.
 
Anything and everything. They are mostly polite, and get something after being ridden, before they are turned out, and sometimes just for being cute.

I also treat to stand still for mounting. As I have an issue getting on, I need them to stand still. A treat does this perfectly.

Also have trained to have a pee before being ridden, so treat for that too.

Equerry minty treats come in a 20kg bag. Very economical when you have 10 horses on the yard.
 
Agrobs Wiesenbussi as a special treat, they're expensive but last a long time as I don't feed a lot. I bought some cheap Decathlon treats once and he spat them out.

Otherwise leftovers and anything that needs using quickly from fruit and veg bought for me.
 
I do positive reinforcement so tend to use Baileys Fibre Plus nuggets. What options are there for lower sugar/starch options, other than Thunderbooks?
 
i don’t really do treats, i buy big bags of the baileys fibre nuts for their treat balls and any training, since they’re lower value - we don’t really do hand feeding, because diva will mug me and i feel guilty hand feeding lily but not her😂

i do have a jar of sugar free polos/strong mints, and a little tub of the pick n mix treats, for bed time snacks before i leave on the days i remember🤣


plus a secret bag of stud muffins, for when i’m super duper chuffed with them!
 
I use Thunderbooks meadow nuts when doing reward based training, they’re nice and small but the horses seem to like them enough to be motivated, with the super motivated ones I just use chaff, I only use things like carrots/actual treats as jackpot type rewards otherwise I think the horses would be a little too motivated 😅
 
When they get treats, they get carrots cut into fingers, occasionally apples, Stud Muffins (fed very sparingly!), extra strong mints (my highland is obsessed with them and would eat a whole pack at a time if I let him! - he also loves a small orange broken into sections - but he's a just a bit weird!!) or just about anything I see at the feed store which looks yummy. I don't feed all of these all of the time, I should add: one or the other from time to time. Feel free to lecture me on the evils of feeding treats - your words will fall on deaf ears ...... :) ... my horses are fine, and don't have bad habits developed as a result of me occasionally giving them a bit of carrot. My old horse loved a banana now and then ....
 
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