The weather is warming up and I know many in my area are getting their gardens up and running. I figured now is an ideal time to discuss what garden-grown treats are acceptable to feed your horse!
If you’re anything like me and strongly dislike seeing perfectly fine food just sit because your garden has grown an abundance of it, then listen up.
I have compiled a list of horse-approved treats and how to best feed them:
- Watermelon: The biggest thing most people worry about when it comes to feeding your horse watermelon is the seemingly high sugar content, but wait! A serving of watermelon is literally 90% water making its actual sugar content not that high. Dice up the watermelon flesh and the rine and let your beloveds enjoy a little warm weather fun too!
- Celery: Celery contains many different types of vitamins and minerals, such as Vitamins A, B, C, and K. It also contains Phosphorus, Magnesium, fiber, and water. This makes it another great treat for your horse to ingest. They can eat both the stock and the leaves so next time you find yourself wanting to share a bite with your bestie, cut it up and enjoy!
- Peas: Peas are a great source of vitamins A, D, and B-6, as well as calcium, iron, and magnesium. And the plus side is they are already small enough so they don’t need to be cut!
- Pumpkin: Horses can most definitely chow down on some pumpkins, including the seeds too! It is important to remember to cut them into bite-sized pieces to avoid choking.
- Green Beans: Garden-grown green beans are perfect for your horses. Please don’t feed them fresh green beans from the grocery store because those have typically been sprayed with pesticides and can cause way more harm than your own home-grown green beans.
- Carrots: Do I even need to give this one an explanation?! I mean, we all know horses love carrots!
Additional fresh produce that horses can eat are bananas, grapes, apples, berries, and most of the melon family!
A few words of caution before you begin feeding your garden-grown treats to your horses:
First, please remember to cut them into bite-sized pieces so your horse does not choke. A bite-sized piece to a horse is a smidge smaller than two inches. I know I repeated this a lot but that’s because it’s probably the most important part of feeding garden-grown treats to your horse.
Second, always be cautious if your horse is insulin resistant. If you have a horse that is insulin resistant, but you still want to let them indulge in a tasty treat try feeding them either only the peel of the fruit or just a small amount of the fruit itself.
If there’s something you’d like to add to this let’s drop a comment below or reach out to me on my personal Instagram at @unbridledmama.
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