Just like people, horses enjoy receiving treats. In terms of horse care and ownership, treats typically refer to food items that taste delicious but do not necessarily provide significant nutritional benefit. Here, we outline safe foods and ways to safely give treats; additionally we explore what options exist if your horse has special dietary restrictions or positive reinforcement needs.
Why Do We Give Treats? Treats can be used as a positive reinforcement strategy to reward desirable behaviors, otherwise known as positive reinforcement. Treats allow both people and animals alike to respond more positively when rewards are used as opposed to punishment. A horse has short-term memory; giving treats immediately following desirable behaviors creates strong associations between those actions and resulting in what is known as a learned behavior.
Learning occurs on an incremental basis for all animals; therefore, rewarding any time a horse attempts and completes part of an intended task correctly should serve as encouragement. If the goal of training a young horse to stand calmly at a mounting block while its rider mounts, a treat should be given when they first discover how to approach it. Treat again when the horse stands to one side, then when the rider can place their foot in the stirrup without moving them, until all behaviors have been learned. Use lavish praise when training instead of treats as rewards as this may prevent a horse from expecting one after every training session and engaging in negative behavior when no such treat appears.
Give a Horse a Treat
What Treats Are Tasty for Horses? Think back to what foods you enjoy eating: taste, aroma and texture were likely all part of the picture for you. Horses are no different: scent determines whether something merits tasting.1
Horses tend to enjoy something sweet, so commercially produced treats for them often contain sweetening agents that satisfy their sweet tooth. There are also several excellent recipes available for making homemade treats at home using ingredients like molasses, honey and oats; sugar cubes and peppermints can also make great treats given in small doses at appropriate intervals throughout the day.