Guest blog Cavalor by JRS: how (un)healthy are treats?
We all have a bag or bucket with treats in our tack box in case we want to reward our horse after a good performance. This reward is often used to learn horses certain exercises. Though treats for horses are not always that healthy but is that a bad thing?
What are treats made of?
Most horse treats contain, just as candy for humans, ingredients such as sugars and cereals. With sugar, it’s likely to think of empty calories and you would rather not give those to you horse.
When you look at the composition of treats, you see that the soil constituents are quite similar to the ingredients of concentrates or muesli. These are often grains such as wheat, barley, oats or corn. Nutritional additives like vitamins A, D and E are often added. Besides, elements such as Biotin and iron are included which makes it even better for your horse.
Dextrose, molasses or honey indicate that the product contains a form of sugar. Molasses aren’t only very tasteful, it is also very sticky and therefore useful to stick the ingredients of the treat together. Treats are concentrated with extra flavour and sugar. It is precisely those sugar and molasses that aren’t welcome any more these days. Obesity in horses is very bad and recent research has shown that more and more horses in the Netherlands are too fat. This increases the risk of conditions like insulin resistance or laminitis.
The effect of sugar
Every horse needs, besides many other nutrients, sugar to provide energy. When a horse needs lots of energy when providing a high effort, a treat won’t contribute that much. These required sugars are extracted from grass, hay and concentrates.
For instance: a horse grazing for four hours in the field ingests an average of 250 grams of sugar, one kilo of concentrates contains about 70 grams of sugar, one apple contains about ten grams of sugar and one treat about 0,28 grams of sugar. (Keep in mind that these averages can vary widely). So are treats still that bad?
Dosing
Hay, grass and concentrates all contain sugars, which means that the small amount of sugar in a treat won’t make a difference when looking at the daily ration of your horse. However, you mustn’t give too many treats. You have nothing to worry about if you only give your horse a treat once or twice a day!
Healthy horse snack
Do you want to reward your horse more often, for example, if you want to learn him a new exercise, but you want to be responsible regarding the amount of sugar your horse ingests? You can shop a healthy treat like the Cavalor Crunchies! The Cavalor Crunchies are a healthy and tasty snack. These cookies are rich in fibres and vitamins with pieces of carrot to ensure a delicious taste. Also, these treats contain no molasses.
In the end, when looking at the ratios, a treat more or less won’t make any difference. Do you want your horse to lose weight healthily? Start by looking at your horse’s daily ration together with a specialist.
JRS is the Equestrian Brand Expert of various high-end equestrian brands in the Benelux. The equestrian sport develops rapidly and JRS wants to stimulate these changes. Which is why they operate not only as a wholesaler but also as a knowledge centre.