Last week SmartPak asked me if I would mind doing a product review for Christmas–the only requirement was that I be honest. Never one to turn down free stuff, I agreed to do the review and waited expectantly for the mail. A package arrived from SmartPak a few days later containing a one pound pack of Cantering Chef Pepermint Crush Horse Treats. Being 700 miles away from my own horses, I called Erika Treis Peterson, who is an advanced eventer based here in southwestern Michigan, and asked her if I could use her horses as test subjects for the Cantering Chef review.
I arrived at Erika’s lovely farm in the afternoon while she was teaching a lesson and I went out into the middle of the arena to stand with her and make a game plan for our very scientific test. While I was chatting with Erika, I opened the bag of treats and immediately a minty aroma rushed out, causing one of the lesson horses to walk over and investigate. I fed him a couple of treats, which he gobbled up, and then I went to try the Peppermint Crush on a few of Erika’s pickier eaters, including her advanced horse Under The Influence. “Jake” took one sniff of the treat I offered him and ate it readily. I started to move on to the next horse, but Jake pawed and did that thing where horses raise their upper lip in a smile (is there a technical name for that?), so I went back and he devoured two more. The rest of the horses in the barn gobbled up the treats as well, and, while it seems a bit like stating the obvious to say that the horses liked horse treats, they loved the Cantering Chef Peppermint Crush treats.
I’m not the kind of guy who will feed my horses something that I wouldn’t eat if I was a horse, and I actually DID try a bite of one of the treats. Anyone who knows me can tell you that me doing something like this is not only likely but probable. The treat was actually pretty palatable–I could definitely taste the mint. As an aside, I actually did this with Ivermectin dewormer once and I had a headache for the rest of the day, so I wouldn’t recommend doing that. But, these are horse treats, after all, and I recommend giving them to your horses.
I made sure to save half the bag for my horses. Otherwise it might have been a very long spring as they took their retribution dressage ride after dressage ride. When I got home from Erika’s barn, I offered one of the treats to my two German Shepherds, who can be very picky eaters, and they loved them as well. The treats are filled with excellent ingredients such as molasses, peppermint oil, flour, and steamed oats, and I think the moral of the story is that all animals like eating quality treats. I wonder if Santa’s reindeer would like them?
If you’re looking for some great Christmas gifts for your horse or friends at the barn, be sure to click the link below or the SmartPak banner in the EN sidebar to check out the treats. As always, shopping with our sponsors and letting them know you do so is a great way to support Eventing Nation.
[Cantering Chef Peppermint Crush Treats]
Go eventing.
