With grass being a common meal for equines, have you ever wondered if celery, too, is a good choice for your horse? After all, it is not rare for horses to be treated to vegetables and fruits by their owners occasionally so as to increase their nutrition intake.
Feeding celery to horses may seem tricky due to its stem, but the crunchy vegetable is certainly safe and healthy for the animal. As a matter of fact, celery can serve as an ideal choice for horses suffering from insulin resistance. This probably brings you to wonder what other vegetables horses can eat. Well, let’s explore that later (in this post) and focus first on the pros and cons of feeding celery to horses for now.
Benefits of Horse Eating Celery
Celery not only has low sugar content, but it is also fibrous and extremely beneficial for humans and horses alike. Horses, in fact, love to eat this healthy treat, which helps resolve their metabolic issues, as well. Besides, you can also feed celery to your horse by whipping up delicious recipes instead of serving it raw all the time. Indeed, horses may refuse to consume boring food sometimes!
Coming to the health benefits of feeding celery to horses, it won’t be wrong to say that this particular treat offers a whole package of nutritional value for your equine buddy. First and foremost, the fiber content in celery can help in cleansing and regulating the digestive system of your horse. The animal has a small stomach and quite frequently faces stomach problems. Celery also helps in keeping it well hydrated throughout the day.
The high amounts of minerals and vitamins present in celery can enhance a horse’s skin as well as eyesight. Whereas, Vitamin A also acts as a strong antioxidant that helps in preventing cell damage in the equine’s body. Vitamin B9, present in celery, facilitates the production of red and white blood cells while simultaneously breaking down carbohydrates to release energy.
Celery is also a brilliant source for vitamin C, Phosphorus and Magnesium. These nutrients, thus, aid in generating collagen to repair damaged tissues, maintaining and repairing the bones and teeth of your horse and improve the functionality of its nerves and muscles respectively.
Click here to have a detailed look of the nutritional benefits of feeding celery to a horse.
Risks Associated With Feeding Celery to Horses
Although all parts of celery are edible and equally healthy and can even be offered as a treat to overweight horses without affecting their health, there are still certain risks associated with horses eating celery. So is celery good for horses? As mentioned earlier, yes indeed it is!
Regardless, here is what you should take care of while feeding celery to your horse to avoid any issues:
Choose Fresh Celery
Celery containing parasites or microorganisms can cause serious gastrointestinal problems in horses. Hence, it is vital to make sure that you chose fresh celery for your equine each time you wish to prepare a recipe as a delicious delight. Remember, you want to treat your horse, not initiate a colic or allergic reaction by giving it food with rotten parts.
Wash before feeding
It is also important to thoroughly wash the vegetable before feeding it to your horse in any form. Not doing so may result in harmful consequences. Because there is a high chance that the celery you’re feeding your horse has been sprayed with pesticides at the farm. In fact, fertilizer might also sometimes remain sticking onto the celery leaves which can be really toxic for consumption. Thus, a proper wash can eliminate this risk for good.
Cut into Small Pieces
Sure a horse is apparently a big animal, however its throat is pretty small which means swallowing large solid chunks is likely to increase the risk of choking. For this, it is necessary that the celery be cut into small pieces. A horse that loves celery is likely to pick up a huge chunk in a single bite and try to swallow without even chewing. You need to prevent this from happening.
How Much Celery Should You Feed Your Horse?
A maximum of 2 pounds of celery should be given at a time, that too, only twice or thrice a week. Because even though celery has a lot of nutritious benefits to offer, it is better to feed it to your horse in small quantities.
Furthermore, horses can consume all parts of celery, which means both the stalk as well as the leafy part of the vegetable. This is advantageous for a horse owner as they can easily take any part of celery while whipping up a recipe to create different variations offering the same health benefits. The only thing they need to take care of is to not exceed the 2 pounds per feed limit, else their pet might feel sick instead of energetic.
Treat Your Horse With These Delicious Celery Recipes
Once you find out that your horse is fond of celery, you’ll find yourself cooking up different variations of the meal to treat your equine buddy. Not only is celery a unique treat for horses, it is also available easily all year round, hence, convenient to prepare, too.
Check out these delicious yet easy to prepare recipes with celery to give your horse a surprise:
Sweet Celery Soup
Feeding celery to horses in the form of bran mash occasionally can surely make them happy.
What You Need
- 8 to 10 cups of bran or the equine’s regular grain portion
- 2 chopped celery stalks
- 2 chopped carrots
- Half cup molasses (optional)
- Hot water
Method
Take a bucket and stir the bran or grains in hot water until you get the desired consistency. Next, add in the molasses and then stir in the chopped stalks of celery and carrots. The soup is all ready for your horse to devour!
Note that if you are preparing celery soup with bran, make sure not to feed your horse this mash more than two times in a month.
Peanut Butter and Celery
Peanut butter might seem like an odd choice for horses. However, it can serve as an excellent add-on in staple recipes, just like this one.
What You Need
- Four chopped stalks of celery
- 1 cup peanut butter
Method
Firstly, wash the celery properly and then cut it length wise to smaller pieces. Next, spread the peanut butter inside the hollow of the cut celery stalk. What do you have ready? Crunchy peanut butter sticks!
Barn Mash Celery
One of the healthiest treats you can offer your horse is a barn mash. This includes a mix of different fruits and vegetables which your pet loves. Moreover, if your horse is a picky eater, this is perhaps your best opportunity to sneak in some celery in the barn mash. This is surely going to serve as a tasty as well as nutritious additive. Furthermore, the animal is bound to appreciate the distinguished flavor.
Also, adding celery in a barn mash for your horse is also a good idea if you are introducing it for the first time. Just make sure to add in small quantities so as to check for any allergic reactions.
FAQs Related to Horses Eating Celery
Can a horse eat celery? Now you know that the answer to this is a definite yes! However, it is understandable if you still have a few questions lingering on your mind. Scroll on to find out the answers to the most common queries.
Can horses eat the leaves on celery?
Celery leaves are absolutely safe! As a matter of fact, the leaves are believed to be packed with more nutritious value as compared to celery stalks.
What vegetables are bad for horses?
Onions, tomatoes, cabbage, regular potatoes, Brussels sprouts, avocados and peppers are some of the most common vegetables that are harmful for your horses. Apparently all of these veggies have excellent nutritional value (for humans), but should never be fed to horses because of the potential health risks they entail.
Can Carrots kill horses?
Even though carrots aren’t going to kill your horse, they can choke them. And feeding too much at a time can also lead to adverse effects.
Despite the fact that horses love carrots, it is not part of their regular diet. And if not served appropriately, carrots can get stuck in their digestive tract, eventually causing them to choke which can lead to death. Hence, it is a bad idea to leave out carrots for your horse to munch on without supervision.
Can horses with metabolic issues eat celery?
Horses can eat celery even if they have metabolic issues. In fact, since the vegetable is low in sugar as well as carbohydrates, it is an ideal treat for equines facing problems like insulin-resistance. Regardless, consulting with a vet prior to introducing any new treats to your horse is always a good idea and much recommended.
What vegetables are good for horses?
Apart from celery and carrots, other popular vegetables that are considered safe and healthy for a horse include the following:
Corn – an excellent source of Vitamin B-6, Magnesium, Iron and Potassium that can easily be mixed into barn mash to feed a horse.
Pumpkin – This may sound like a weird choice due to its sweetness, but a lot of horses actually enjoy its taste. Besides, pumpkins have a high water content, thus, keeping the animal well hydrated. To feed pumpkin to your horse, just slice the top and scoop out its flesh. Cut it into small chunks after discarding the seeds and watch your horse devour it with pleasure.
Beetroot – Beet pulp is actually a great source of digestible fiber, making it a superb substitute for poor quality hay. It is also ideal for older horses that have difficulty in chewing hay and digesting it.
In addition, cucumber, parsnip and turnip too are good options to feed your horse with.
Can horses eat peanut butter?
If a horse does not have any metabolic disorders, it is completely safe for it to eat peanut butter. Moreover, peanut butter and celery make an excellent combination to treat your pet occasionally. All you have to ensure is not to add too much peanut butter with any other food for your horse. Because it may be more harmful than beneficial.
Also, since peanut butter has high amounts of sugar, it is not advisable for the equine to indulge large servings of it. And don’t forget to check for nut allergies in your horse.
Conclusion
Figuring out what food, other than grass and hay, is safe as well as healthy for your horse may be a challenge. This is especially true for horse owners with a pet that is a picky eater. However, feeding celery to horses tends to come by as a saviour as the animal not only loves the crunch of each bite, but also the deliciousness of this low-calorie sweet treat.
Nonetheless, celery is highly nutritious and even though it is an awesome food choice for your horse, it can also be harmful and cause serious illnesses. This is why it is vital to pick fresh celery, clean it thoroughly, and cut in bite-sized pieces before feeding it to your horse.
And always serve the lovingly prepared food to your equine buddy in moderation in order to avoid indigestion and allergic reactions.
