Hey ya’ll!

Whew, all this North Carolina rain has this horse photographer getting a little cabin fever! Although I couldn’t go riding in the thunderstorms we have been having, I decided to do something sweet for my mare Athena. You can read about us HERE.

Athena LOOOOOVES her treats and her favorite has always been the classic apple. I have two different kinds of horse treats in my locker at the barn but I wanted to give her something new to try, so I made these homemade horse treats!

I saw a couple of recipes I wanted to try and ended up making my own. Since Athena’s favorite treat is apples, I decided to make the cookie apple based with some carrots, oats, and maple syrup.

Next I chopped up the apples and carrots into itty bitty bite sized pieces. You can totally use a knife, but I looooove my kitchen aid chopper! I chop up the apples and do away with the core and then use my chopper to cut it into tiny bits!

I put those ingredients into a bowl, then measured out my flour, oats, maple syrup, salt and veggie oil and started to mix! You can also add your horse’s sweet feed into the mix if you would like! I mixed and mixed until it formed a sticky but dough like consistency.

Next I rolled out the cookies! In the past, I totally got fancy and pressed the dough into cookie cutter shapes to make cute little hearts, but if you want to keep it simple you can roll them into 1″ balls. I did both so I could show you! Either way, make sure you pack them tight or else they will fall apart.

I baked them for about 22 minutes. The air filled with the aroma of apples and oats, and it made me hungry!

Athena LOVED these treats! She was sniffing me all over for more! You can subsitute the oats for your horse’s feed. You can also substitute the maple syrup for molasses or honey, but Athena has a sweet tooth so I stuck with maple syrup.

Here is the recipe for you to enjoy! I hope your horse loves them as much as mine did! <3

SHP’s Homemade Horse Cookies

Ingredients

• Three Apples
• 1 cup of carrots
• 2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup of maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup of oats (or your horse’s sweet feed)
• 1 cup of flour

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Chop up the apples and carrots into small bits and pieces, put in a large bowl.
3. Mix together the apples, carrots, oil, and maple syrup until combined.
4. Add the salt, oats, and flour (or feed) into the large bowl and stir until completely combined. The dough will be sticky and a similar consistency to cookie dough.
5. Press into a cookie cutter, or form into small 1″size balls. I recommend using a cooking spray on your hands as it gets very sticky!
6. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom.
7. Let cool.
8. Store these in the refrigerator. You can also freeze them and thaw when you are ready to use them!
9. Treat your favorite horse to these awesome treats!