Apples and carrots are the classic horse treats but you might find your horse is a willing convert when you offer up some of these homemade cookies and other goodies straight from the kitchen to the barn!

Our Shammie (1972-2006) photo from August 2005.

Serve up buckets of hot mash made with bran or oats and you'll receive happy nickers in return. Remember if you are introducing a new kind of feed or grain to your horse, start gradually with small amounts until your horse becomes accustomed to it. You can substitute your current feed for the primary ingredients in these recipes, if you desire.

Wind Song Horse Cookies

In memory of Donna’s Topsy, Missile and Wind Song

1 3/4 c. mixed grain (such as a corn, oats, and barley blend)
1 1/2 c. flour
3/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
2/3 c. dark brown sugar, packed
3 T. dark corn syrup
egg white from 1 large egg (well beaten)

Preheat oven to 375° F. Combine the grain and flour in a bowl and mix thoroughly. In a second, larger bowl, combine applesauce, brown sugar and corn syrup. Stir in egg white and then the dry mixture. Combine well. Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving 2 inches of space between each. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until dark brown. Remove to a wire rack and cool. Yield about 25 cookies.

Crusoe's Cookies

My husband, Dan and I had a great time playing in the kitchen last week, experimenting with several horse cookie recipes! I think we came up with a real winner - every horse I've offered them to has gobbled them right down and asked for more! All the ingredients are easy to obtain and most of you will already have them in your barn and house! You can do your own experimenting with different ingredients and make your own recipe! I’ve named them after my new Arab gelding, Crusoe, because he insists when he sees me feed them to other horses, “Those are MY cookies!” Enjoy! - Danelle S. 4/2/01

8 cups dry cob feed (corn, oats, barley mix)
3 cups ground carrots
1/2 cup corn oil
2 cups flour
2 cups molasses (use livestock grade from feed store - it's cheaper!)

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl until well mixed. Let stand for at least an hour (so the grain can absorb some of the moisture). Stir the mixture well. Drop by rounded teaspoonful on to a well oiled cookie sheet. Using your fingers and the teaspoon 'smoosh' the cookie into a round slightly flattened shape. Bake at 350° F for 12 to 18 minutes, depending on your oven. These will burn easily so be sure not to leave them in too long. I bake mine in a convection oven for 12 minutes and that's about perfect but you'll probably need to leave them in longer if you have a conventional oven. Put the cookies on racks to cool then store them in a tight container. This recipe makes between 6-9 dozen cookies depending on how big you want to make them!

Steamed Oat Mash

One of our horses' favorites served up on a cold winter morning!

1 or 2 T. salt
A ration of rolled, crushed or crimped oats
A few cut up carrots
A few cut up apples
1 c. molasses or 2 T. linseed meal for extra taste

Mix all ingredients in a feed bucket. Combine with suitable quantity of boiling water (completely soaked up by oats). Cover and let steam until cool enough to feed to your horse. (30-45 minutes preparation time).

Variation: Use applesauce instead of apples and carrots.

Bran Mash

Especially good for pregnant mares during the late months of their term!

8 - 12 c. wheat bran
1 c. rolled, crushed or crimped oats
1/4 c. corn oil
1/4 c. molasses
1-1/2 to 2-1/2 c. boiling water
1 carrot, sliced
1 apple, sliced

Combine bran and oats in feed bucket. Add boiling water to desired consistency. Stir in oil, molasses, carrot and apple. Cover and allow to sit. Serve when cool enough to feed.

Apple Horse Cookies

1 c. sweet feed such as Omolene®, Country Horse, Wet C.O.B. (molasses mixed with corn, oats, barley) etc.
2 - 3 c. wheat bran
1 c. flax seed
1 T. salt
4 large apples, shredded
1 c. molasses
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 c. applesauce

Mix molasses, brown sugar, apples and applesauce in bowl. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Gradually combine wet and dry ingredients together, only using enough of the wet ingredients to make a thick dough. Add more bran if necessary.

Line cookie sheet with foil and spray with oil. Drop batter onto cookie sheet in tablespoon amounts. Flatten with a fork. Bake slowly at 300° F. for 1 hour, turn cookies over and continue to bake for another 45 minutes until thoroughly dried. Reduce heat if cookies begin to brown excessively or to burn.

Store in covered container or zip-locked plastic bag and dole out as special treats to your equine buddies.

Feeding Wild Birds

Native wildlife and birds which inhabit your neighborhood of course are not pets, although you may come to think of them as individual characters as you observe their comings and goings and see interactions with other local residents.

During the winter months, Grandma Barbara and Grandpa Dee feed their local covey of California Quail, as well as other wild birds that winter in the area. Ross gets credit for creating the "suet log" and "hanging feeder" which is still in use even after several years. The birds love it. Grandma Barbara notes that she only uses it when the ground is covered with snow.

Here is a simple recipe that Grandma Barbara mixes up (every day) to fill the drilled out holes in a log style bird feeder. This is a particular favorite of finches, sparrows, juncos and chickadees.

Mix together one part peanut butter, one part suet and one part wild bird seed. Pack the holes of a log-style bird feeder with the mixture and hang the log in a high place safe from cats and other predators.

Amounts optional -- use whatever is on hand that will make a firm consistency for stuffing the holes. It never occurred to me to measure the ingredients -- just keep adding until it feels right. - BE 12/28/03

Bird Feeder Maintenance -
Be sure to replace any missing or broken dowels which serve as perches for the birds to use for ease in feeding. (12/03)

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