Consider me a crazy pet owner, but I love to make special treats for my 4-legged friends. I usually like to whip up carrot cupcakes for Justin’s birthday or make some bacon treats for Darcy’s birthday. This week I made some “just because” treats for Justin. They were incredibly easy to make and they used pantry staples. They smelled so good that when Kevin walked in the kitchen, he thought I was making cookies for us!
Justin, and the other horses at the barn, gobbled these up! If you have a favorite horse or pony, you can bake these treats for them in about 30 minutes!
Carrot Horse Treat Recipe
Ingredients
– 2 cups grated carrots (about 4 large carrots)
– 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
– 1/4 cup molasses
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 1 cup oats
– 1 cup flour
– optional: 1/2 cup of your horses’s feed or a sweet feed
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix together the carrots, oil, and molasses until combined. I used my stand mixer to mix everything. Add the salt, oats, flour and optional feed and stir until it’s combined. It will be a sticky, dough-like consistency. Form into small 1″ size balls with your hands, or use a small metal scoop like I did. Place them on a parchment or sil-pat lined baking sheet and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until they are golden.
Chris
I decided to make these, but added bran and flax seed to them. Teaspoon size dollop, flatten, and baked for 20 minutes. They turned out awesome. Can’t wait to give on to my horse! (I added a bit more molasses and some water to add more moisture.)
Sarah
ChrisGood idea! I will try adding some bran and flax the next time I make them. I hope your horse loves them as much as mine does!
lucie vallee
can these be frozen? i’m asking as we are baking some for the barn’s xmas presents… if i could get a head start on them that would be great lol
my other question is how long do they stay fresh?
Sarah
lucie valleeI haven’t tried, but I’m sure they would hold up from fine in the freezer. Once baked, they keep for about 4-5 days in an air tight container in the refrigerator. I hope your horses love them as much as mine!
Carrot Horse Treats | RMSAAM
[…] Recipe adapted from: https://www.sarahhearts.com/2013-08-29/horse-treats/ […]
Robynne Catheron
I love making my own horse treats, and these look great! Our horses don’t get fed any added sugar, but maybe I can replace the molasses with a bit of unsweetened applesauce and an egg. I can also replace the flour with oat flour that I grind in the blender from whole oats, and I can use non-GMO, organic soy oil instead of vegetable oil. I also like to add chia seed to their homemade treats, and sometimes pumpkin seeds, sunflower kernels, raisins, or freshly grated ginger, I found that whenever I peel carrots for us, I can freeze the peelings in a freezer bag, and chop them up for making treats later.
Thank you for this recipe, I think I’ll make these today!
dayna
i don’t have horses but i’m sure evrett the horse i ride will love them
Andrea Bertucci
Hi Sarah,
This recipe is fantastic! I’m the graphic designer for a kids magazine called Trot4Kids. Would it be alright to showcase your recipe there? I would provide you with a credit and link to your blog.
Sarah
Andrea BertucciHi Andrea, yes, of course! I was a horse crazy kid and loved baking treats for my horse then as much as I do now!
heather
I have an old gelding and my boys love to feed him treats after they ride him but he needs soft treats. I was wondering if these could not be cooked and just refrigerated?
Sarah
heatherHeather, when these bake up they are very soft and are more like muffins than typical hard horse treats. You could definitely give them to your gelding unbaked, but it may be rather messy. My 22 year old gelding love them!
mOON cHILD wILD
I would substitute bran for the flour.
Emma
hey I can’t wait to make these but is there any other way to make them fresh for a long time
Sarah
EmmaYou can freeze them after you bake them! They’ll keep for a couple months that way. Just let them defrost to room temperature before giving them to your horse.
Francesca
Thanks for the recipe. I substituted with whole wheat flour and added some brown sugar too. My horses and dogs love them!
Sarah
FrancescaGreat idea! Glad your horses AND dogs loved them!
Hannah
I have a 29 year old saddlebred who I rescued 12 years ago and he absolutely loves them
Sarah
HannahThat’s so great to hear!
Debbi
About how many does this make? I use a feed through fly supplement and have been looking to make treats with the supplement added to make it easier to feed. I would just need to make sure I add a scoop for each treat. (roughly)
Sarah
DebbiGreat idea to put supplements in them! It makes a little over 2 dozen when you use a small cookie dough scoop or a heaping tablespoon for each one.
Silvia
Can I use honey instead of molasses?
Sarah
SilviaYes! Definitely! I’m sure your horse will love them!
Elles à Cheval
Hey, Sarah!
We are a group of spanish horse bloggers and we have fallen in love with your recipe! <3
Can we use your recipe in our blog? we will mention you and link it to your post :)
Sarah
Elles à ChevalAbsolutely! I hope your horses love it as much as mine does!
Hannah
This sounds so yummy my horse would love these.
Maria Hamilton
Going to bake some Carrot treats for my friend’s Horses!
One of her Horses Monty loves jammy Doughnuts so he likes anything sweet!
Hope mine turn out as good as the one’s made :)
Thanks Maz :)
mikayla swallow
so great this is
Kathryn
What can I use as a substitute for molasses? Or can I just completely skip that step? I was thinking peanut butter but I’m unsure!
Sarah
KathrynI’d recommend using honey in place of the molasses since it’s a similar consistency and horses love it too!
ZaraCastrohk
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but there is solution for this. Just search for; Masquro’s strategies
Paula
Mmm 350°C or 350F?? I’m from Spain so we use °C but we don’t have ovens that can reach such a high temperature
Sarah
Paula350° F!
Paula
Amazing!! You should do more horse treats recipes
I added one and a half tablespoons of peanut butter to make it a little bit thicker and my horses loved it ?? I’m looking forward to your next recipe ?
Sarah
PaulaYum! Happy to hear your horses love them! I’ll add a new recipe for the holiday season!
Debbie/Marcelline/Ellis Titus
Debra/Marcelline/Ellis had a snow day from school and we decided to make horse treats we were very lucky to find this recipe. We substituted cow feed of ground corn and oats for oats it worked great can’t wait to feed them.
Maria Hamilton
I’ve made these treats for my friends horses quite few times now,
very easy to make, and the Horses love them!
Destiny
Do you use quick oats for this? I’m having a party tomorrow and everybody loves giving treats to the horses ??
Sarah Khandjian
DestinyI used regular oats but you can definitely use quick oats. Horses love those too!
Dani
I made these for the horses at my friends barn! One of the mares had a goal this last year and needed to put on weight. Would take raw carrots or apples to get extra calories so I made these treats. Cheaper than store and she loves them!
I also usually add extra molasses which could be why all the ponies love me.
Teri Green
I just read this. I am going to make these treats for my friend’s horse Coco. It is a lot cheaper to make them than to purchase them in the store. Coco is kind of a picky horse but I think she will like them. Thanks for the post.
Teri
Atlas Biomechanics
https://www.atlasbiomechanics.com
Teri Green
I just read this. I am going to make these treats for my friend’s horse Coco. It is a lot cheaper to make them than to purchase them in the store. Coco is kind of a picky horse but I think she will like them. Thanks for the post.
Teri
Atlas Biomechanics
Rebecca O'Neill
I love this recipe. I added chopped up apples, some brown sugar and cinnamon. They definitely need more molasses and they are so moist. I baked them in mini muffin tins, iced 2 spoon method. Worked great. The horses loved them, so did the trainer ?????
Sarah Khandjian
Rebecca O’NeillYum! Love to hear that!