We all love spoiling our horses year round, but during the holidays? Our horses definitely get extra treats on holidays, especially on Christmas. Many years we also like to make up a Christmas treats bucket for the horses at the lesson barn where my daughter rides. Check out our festive bucket idea below and copy the tutorial to make one of your own!
Christmas Gifts for Horses
We love making up treat baskets and buckets for our horses! These buckets are also fun to gift to our lesson barn and our neighbors who have horses. They are so easy to put together and you can add elements to match any theme or holiday.
During the Christmas season, I love incorporating peppermint sticks (or candy canes) into these treat buckets. (Many horses love peppermint!)
We typically use buckets to hold our treats, though stockings can be great treat holders too.
Horse Treat Bucket Supplies
To put these Christmas Treats buckets together, you will need the following supplies:
- Bucket (I used a 5.5 QT galvanized steel bucket from the local farm store.)
- Horse treats (store bought or you can make your own)
- Candy canes or peppermint sticks
- Carrots
- Apples
- Santa Hat
How to Assemble
These buckets are so simple to make! One word of advice: do not buy your fresh foods (carrots and apples) until the day or so before you intend to give the gift. You want the produce to be as fresh as possible!
1. Add a few carrots and some apples to the bucket.
2. Sprinkle some horse treats around the bottom of the bucket, in between the carrots and apples. Next, add some more produce, treats and peppermint sticks.
3. Continue adding items until the bucket is nice and full. Yes, I filled up this entire bucket and realized at the end that I liked the look better with the carrots upside down! So I started over again and swapped most of the carrots.
4. The final step is to add a Santa hat! The red in the peppermint sticks or candy canes really pops when you place the Santa hat over the top of the bucket! I did not use anything to attach the hat to the bucket, I simply slid the hat over the bucket handle.
If you have trouble making the hat stay on the bucket, you could use large safety pins to secure the hat.
That’s it!
How cute is that bucket?
Tell us – what are your favorite Christmas gifts for horses? What kinds of treat buckets do you put together for your barn? Drop us a comment and let us know!
