Shred the carrot and the apple into a large bowl. You can use a food processor to shred if you don’t want to do it by hand.

Add in the oil, oats, and molasses to your mixing bowl. Stir to combine well so that all the oats are covered in the molasses.

Pour the mixture into a 9×13 greased baking sheet. You can use a cookie sheet if you have one with sides on it. Pat the treats down with a spoon or with your fingers so they are flattened into the pan.

If you don’t want to grease the pan or if it hasn’t worked for you in the past with this recipe, use a wax paper lined baking sheet instead.

Bake at 200 degrees for about 40 minutes or until they begin to get crispy.

DO NOT OVER COOK THEM! It’s very important to watch the treats as they cook in the oven (no matter what time my recipe is for) and watch for doneness. Your oven might cook much slower or faster than mine and this is a particularly picky recipe.

Remove the treats from the oven when they are golden brown (NOT BURNT!) and let them cool for a while. The treats will harden slightly as they cool. Once they are hardened you can score them into pieces.

Variations for Homemade Horse Treats

If you are having a hard time getting these to stick together, add in a little bit of whole wheat flour (and a little more moisture like vegetable oil or coconut oil) to give them something more to help them stick.

Replace some of the molasses with 1/2 cup peanut butter to give it a different flavor for your pet.

You can use quick oats if you don’t have old fashioned oats. That may also help them stick together better. You could even use steel-cut oats if that’s all you have.

Replace the oats with oat flour.

Replace the shredded apple with applesauce. (This variation will work even better if you are using flour in your recipe as well.)

Add in a bit of flaxseed (whole or ground) for added nutrition.