TORONTO – From a few paces away, they look like road apples. Brownish, roundish and shot through with bits of oats. Just like the ones found in horse pastures.
But these are for sale.
The curious phenomenon at the Royal Winter Fair here drew curious onlookers, among them members of the horsey set on hand for the annual Royal Horse Show. Closer inspection revealed the lumps were heart-shaped and bite-sized. For a horse, that is.
“Horses absolutely adore them” said Gwen Davey, president of the Hamilton Horse Cookie Company, as she rearranged displays of Tally Oats which sell at $5.25 for eight ounces.
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The idea for a horse treat came to her several years ago, but the recipe proved a problem. She took the challenge to her mother, whom she said was once a home-made cookie baker without peer.
About one year later, Davey’s mother had come up with a recipe in her kitchen near Hamilton, Mass. Using Canadian oats, and other ingredients from U.S. sources including alfalfa, molasses, carrots, barley, apples and corn oil, the resulting cookies were a hit with Davey’s horses and those of her friends.
Soon they were making 750 cookies per night and had trouble keeping up with demand.
That’s when they moved production to a nunnery.
Now, retired nuns have a production line that produces about 7,000 Tally Oats per day.
“Horses go nuts for them,” said Davey. “Most animal treats are junk. We said we could do better than that.”
The fair was the first Canadian introduction of the American-made treats. A veterinarian from Guelph, Ont., spotted the cookies while in Massachusetts and helped usher them through the Agriculture Canada approval process. That approval came through less than a week from the Nov. 7 start of the Royal.
Others like it too
Designed and approved only as horse feed, Tally Oats have tantalized dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs and even pot-bellied pigs, said Davey.
“Riders will come by the booth, they’ll break them in half, and they’ll chomp on them.”
A portion of Tally Oats sales in the U.S. are designated to assist therapeutic riding programs, said Davey. She hopes a similar arrangement can be struck in Canada. The treats are so far being distributed only through pet food stores, animal feed stores and tack shops.
