Squash and Zucchini for Your Horse with Treat Recipe

Squashes, like zucchini, are easily grown at home in most gardens. They also tend to be very prolific! So after you have used squash from your garden in the house and even given some zucchini to friends, what to do with the rest? The great thing about both of these is they make great horse treats!

Can Horses Eat Squash and Zucchini? Squash and Zucchini are both non-toxic to horses, donkeys and mules and can be fed in moderation as a treat.

Zucchini and yellow squash in old woman farmer

Table of Contents

Types of Squash

Zucchini and cucumber are probably the two most common types of squash you may see in the grocery store or consume at home but they are not the only kinds available.

Did you know that a pumpkin is technically a squash too?! Butternut Squash, pumpkins, zucchini and cucumber

How to Feed Zucchini or Cucumber

The great think about both cucumber and zucchini is that the outer skin of the vegetable is edible. This means that very little prep work needs to be done before feeding it to your horse.

The vegetables should be washed, as you would at home, to remove any pesticide residue that may remain from the field.

In the case of the Zucchini, remove the fibrous end with a knife.

Now you can either feed whole like a carrot, slice into smaller vegetable “sticks” or even cut into slices and add into a bran mash or as a treat on top of grain or hay.

Zucchini Oatmeal Horse Treat Recipe

Zucchini squash can be great in baked or cooked treat recipes for your horse. My favorite to make is a zucchini oatmeal cookie.

For the recipe, keep in mind the following:

You could substitute butter for the apple sauce.
Use sweetened or unsweetened apple sauce, your choice
These can be sticky cookies so keep in mind when storing them that you may want to individually wrap them. If you put them in the same treat bag or stack them, they may stick together.
You will want to keep these refrigerated or frozen until use.
You could substitute electrolytes for salt if you wanted.

Ingredients

1 cup Apple Sauce
1 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
2 cups grated zucchini
3 cups white flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/12 cups oats

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mix the Applesauce, brown sugar and white sugar thoroughly.
Add in dry ingredients, except oats, and mix thoroughly.
Add in the oats and mix thoroughly.
Layout parchment paper or foil onto the cookie sheet
Form small round cookie dollops
Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes depending on the size of your cookies and desired crispiness.

Other Ideas

Another easy zucchini recipe is to make zucchini bread or zucchini muffins for your horse. Most traditional recipes do not include anything that your horse cannot eat.

Freshly baked Zucchini muffins on black tray

Things like applesauce, sugars (brown and white), vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla extract, all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt are fine.

You should, however, remove any cinnamon as it may cause positive drug tets even though safe in limited quantities. The same is true for nutmeg and possibly licorice.

Rutgers puts out a pretty good list of safe vs unsafe foods you can reference when analyzing recipes to make for your horse.

Remember that zucchini squash isn’t the only horse-friendly vegetable. Check out my list of 15 Fruits and Vegetables Your Horse Will Love.

Pinterest pin - Squash and Zucchini for Your Horse with Treat Recipe

Zucchini squash and cucumbers both serve as a cool, refreshing treat for your horse, especially during summer (when they are most prolific). They can be fed raw or, in the case of zucchini, baked into a variety of yummy treats.