Walking through the barn at The Shea Center, you may notice that some stalls have “low starch treat only” or “no treats” signs. Every program horse is on a specific diet consisting of hay and supplements (donated by Platinum Performance), but adding treats is a fun and functional task to integrate into therapy and adaptive riding, where clients can chop treats and feed them to their horse at the end of a session.
While treats like carrots, apples, and watermelon can be healthy for some horses, they can be harmful to others. This is because, like other animals, some horses have sensitive digestive systems. With careful guidance from the equine team and veterinarian, the horses on the “low-starch treat” list are given low-sugar alternative treats that their bodies can digest better. We also have some horses with “no treat” signs on their stalls, meaning they can’t have any treats. This can be for various reasons, but some of the most common reasons are due to special diets or allergies to items found in numerous treats.
If you are in The Shea Center barn and have questions about feeding treats, please ask our staff!