Angela Broadbent Photo: RNZ/Carol Stiles
It took a five-day frenzy of baking for Ange Broadbent to come up with a biscuit her horse loved.
She'd been into an equine shop looking for a treat as a reward for her horse but couldn't find one. So she stopped at the grocery store, bought ingredients she thought would be appropriate and set about perfecting a recipe.
"I used barley and they fell apart, some of them burnt... some of them went sticky and some of them were too hard."
Horse cookies Photo: RNZ/Carol Stiles
Horses made up a tasting panel.
"They liked hard and crispy. They've got massive molars compared to human beings so they actually like them really crunchy."
Four years later, seven bakers produce three-quarters of a tonne a week of the horse snacks, which are sold the length of New Zealand.
Ange started with three flavours - molasses, apple and carrot - and now has eleven.
She says humans share them with their horses.
"I do have a lady who dunks the turmeric ones in her tea to soften them." she says with a laugh.