Easy to Make Fly Spray That Really Works
August 26, 2021
Learn How to Make Your Own Horse Pill Pockets
Do you have a picky horse that just won’t eat pills or supplements? Lionel, my 25 year old horse, can sniff out anything abnormal in his feed. Due to his age, he is in need for more supportive care, which means some additives in his meals. Hence my solution, DIY horse pill pockets!
These soft treats are perfect to hide any size pill from your horse. I guarantee your horses will gobble them right up.
Creating a malleable treat that can hide any supplement or pill, meant meant finding the right wet to dry ingredient ratio. Consequently, the key ingredient for these horse pill pockets is molasses.
Be careful if you have a sugar sensitive horse, this might not be the recipe for you.
The Ingredients:
I’m big on natural ingredients. Everything I feed my horses has a purpose. As a result, these pill pockets are full of beneficial nutrients as well as serving their purpose as a pill disguiser.
For this recipe, I use Old Fashion Oats to make my own “Oat Flour” for this recipe. Oats provide 9-12% protein, are high in fiber and are easily digested by horses.
You can buy it here if you don’t want to make your own.
Keep in mind it is vary simple to make your own Oat Flour as long as you have a food processor. Make sure to process enough to oats make 2 cups of flour.
Additionally, I add chia seeds and ground flaxseed to my pill pockets due to their added digestive health benefits. Both are high in omega-3 fatty acids which have proven to support gastrointestinal function, decrease inflammation in soft tissues and joints, support healthy skin and hair, and improve overall immune system health.
I have used a few different brands but this combo is my go to now – providing excellent quality and cost,
I also use “Sweet Feed” in this recipe. I highly recommend using Triple Crown Senior Feed. This feed is very palatable for all horses and carries a lot of minerals and nutrients that are beneficial. Not to mention, it’s easily sourced and easy on the budget!
It should be said, one bag of “sweet feed” will last you a lifetime if you’re only using this for this recipe.
Once all your ingredients are all together, make sure you mix thoroughly. This is important because you want your pockets to be moist enough that you can open and close them without crumbling.
The molasses is the “glue” that holds all the ingredients together so make sure you mix well!
Baking:
Once everything is mixed, use a cookie dough scoop to evenly distribute the mixture into two Mini Muffin Tins. This means you’ll end up with 48 pill pockets for your horses to enjoy!
Make note that baking time is minimal with this recipe. Set your temperature of your oven to 300 degrees, however remember oven temperatures can vary. You don’t want too much heat, it will dry out your pill pockets.
Once in the oven, 7-10 minutes is all the time they need to bake to the perfect consistency.
Keep in mind, if left too long in the oven they will dry out too much, turning them from soft pill pockets and into hard horse cookies!
If anything, under bake them at first. You can always put them back in.
Horse Pill Pocket Recipe
Having trouble getting your horse to take medicine? This easy recipe for horse pill pockets will have even your pickiest eater wanting more!
Ingredients:
- 2 c Oat Flour
- 1 c Old Fashion Oats
- 1/2 c Ground Flaxseed
- 1/4 c Chia Seeds
- 2.5 c Sweet Feed
- 1 c Molasses
- 1 c Unsweetened Applesauce
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 300˚F
- Spray mini muffin tins with non-stick spray
- In a food processor or blender, blend old fashion oats to use your pre purchased oat flour
- Mix all your dry ingredients together – oat flour, old fashion oats, ground flaxseed, chia seeds and sweet feed
- Next, mix the applesauce and molasses into the dry ingredients. Make everything is thoroughly combined
- Using a small cookie dough scoop, evenly distribute mixture into the muffin tins
- Bake for 7-10 minutes, do not over bake!
- Finally, let cool before storing in air tight container
Notes:
Creating this recipe took some trial and error, but it was so worth it. Most pre-made pill pocket options on the market are rather expensive. After paying $32 for a months worth of pill pockets for Lionel, I needed a better solution.
Overall, I pay less than $0.01 a pill pocket. This makes it totally worth the 20 minutes it takes to whip up a batch of these. Try this recipe, it’s almost too easy!
Happy baking friend,
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I’m Maria, a lover of furry things, coffee and anything creative. This blog is where I love to share affordable home decor ideas, great DIYs, yummy recipes, unique crafts and so much more.
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4 thoughts on “Learn How to Make Your Own Horse Pill Pockets”
Hello!
I have a pony rescue with Cushings and high blood sugar. I’m wondering if you have any ideas of what I could sub in as the bonding agent that would have a lower glycemic index than molasses? I’m thinking I could just leave out the feed part. Thoughts? Are eggs acceptable ingredients in horse treats if they’re baked? If I add pumpkin maybe could I just adjust the oats and flax accordingly?
In the meantime, he takes his meds in a grape, but that’s not ideal as it’s solid sugar. Thank you so much for your help!
Ok, so my heart horse has a metabolic disorder and we played a lot with diet! Follow me here…
Check out Chicory Root (this syrup might e a perfect substitute.) Here’s a link to all the potential good benefits of adding chicory root into the equine diet.
I would start with that as a binding agent instead of the molasses in this recipe. I wouldn’t add eggs, as they’re not common in the equine diet and horses aren’t carnivores. You could add pumpkin for moisture, but I’m not sure about the binding quality of pumpkin. Try less dry ingredients if you choose a sugar free natural applesauce and/or pumpkin as a binder.
My metabolic horse loved mash so his pills would always get added to molasses free bran mash and he’d gobble them up. My other picky child…needs all the treats for persuasion!
Let me know how it turns out! I have a good feeling about using that syrup as a substitute.
Cheers,
Maria
Thank you so much for this recipe I use it all the time with my draft rescues.
Sarah,
Oh I’m so happy your drafts like it! It’s the best treat for those who haven’t had enough love in their lives. Keep doing what you’re doing, rescuing isn’t an easy job. Bless you!
XOXO,
Maria