BY OLIVIA KNOTT OF DIY HORSE OWNERSHIP

I got a cute heart-shaped mini muffin pan and my first though was I should make horse treats with this. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, I present to you, Valentine’s Horse Treats. These treats are really easy to make and your horse will love them. Even Levi and Eugene who still regard things like apples with suspicion gobbled these down and begged for more.

Ingredients

3 cups bran
1 cup quaker oats
1 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup red/purple carrots, chopped
1 can sliced beets, drained and chopped
1/2 cup molasses or corn syrup and food coloring
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 bag conversation heart candy

1. Preheat your oven to 300°

2. Chop your carrots and beets.

3. Mix your dry ingredients.

4. Add wet ingredients

At this point you have 2 choices. You can add molasses or corn syrup with red food coloring. The red ones look more like valentine’s treats, but I know some people don’t like to use artificial colors. The ingredients so far have a bit of a pink tint to them from the carrots and beets, but the molasses will obscure that. I made some of both and you can see the difference in the pictures. Whichever you choose, add and mix well.

5. Place mixture in pan

My mini muffin tin is rather big (closer to muffin size) so I only filled each cavity half way. If you have a smaller muffin tin, fill to full. These treats don’t rise.

6. Press a conversation heart candy onto each treat and bake for 40 minutes.

7. Let cool on a cooling rack.

8. Feed to horses!

Olivia blogs at DIY Horse Ownership about her life living in Silicon Valley with her two mustangs and a mule. She and her husband show english and eventing, do endurance and trail riding, and are always finding new ways to DIY. You can follow her adventures at DIY Horse Ownership or on Instagram and see more DIY horse projects on Pinterest.