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If you don’t want to make your own…but want a hand made safe product…try the one from The Simple Equine (It’s better than my DIY one…).
This DIY is my solution to an expensive product. I use some sort of bit butter every ride on Spice (and did for Champ as well) and it’s become a bit more expensive to maintain than I’d like (man that stuff is expensive for what you’re getting)! I decided to use my soap-making and lotion making skills and create a bit butter for myself to use. I’ve been using this recipe for about 6 months now and I couldn’t be happier, so I wanted to share it with you! It’s such a fast and easy DIY! The hardest part is buying the ingredients! You will need to buy more than you need for this recipe…but that just means you can make more bit butter whenever you run out (or make some for a friend). While more expensive initially than buying an on the market tube, if you use up your oils and make many batches it’s significantly cheaper per ounce.
There are several bit butters on the market, but they’re not all 100% natural food grade ingredients. If I’m going to put something on my horse’s mouth daily…I want it made with high quality food grade ingredients that are safe and I’d feel comfortable putting in my own body.
Ingredients Needed:
- Microwave
- Digital Kitchen Scale (needs to measure to 0.00 places)
- Spatula/Mixing Spoon
- Glass 4 cup Measuring Cup/Bowl or other high temperature bowl you can microwave (the oils will be HOT)
- Container for Bit Butter (needs to hold 5 oz or more to work with this recipe)
- Beeswax pellets (melt easier than sheets of beeswax)
- Cocoa butter
- Mango Butter
- Jojoba Oil
- Sunflower Seed Oil
- Vitamin E
- Peppermint Essential Oil and Peppermint Flavoring
Decidedly Equestrian Bit Butter Recipe
1 oz Beeswax
1 oz Cocoa Butter
1.25 oz Mango Butter
0.75 oz Jojoba Oil
1 oz Sunflower Seed Oil
1/3 TSP Vitamin E
Peppermint Essential Oil and Peppermint Flavoring
Have all your ingredients out on the counter. Put your microwave safe bowl on your digital scale at TARE to bring the measurement to 0. Measure out 1 oz of beeswax into the bowl. Add 1 oz Cocoa Butter (total oz 2 at this point). Add 1.25 oz Mango Butter (3.25 oz total at this point in the bowl). That’s all your hard oils/waxes. Next you’ll add your 0.75 oz Jojoba and 1 oz of Sunflower Oil (that will bring your total to 5 oz).
At this point you have all your oils together and you will need to microwave your bowl to melt down the hard oils. Microwave for 1 minute, then check on it and stir if necessary. Then do another minute (check and stir). Then another minute…and so on until all oils are liquid and blended together. If you have some stray chunks not melting, try and stir a little longer and that will help dissolve it. Really pay attention to how hot the oil is getting. You can SERIOUSLY burn yourself.
Once all the oils are melted and mixed together add your 1/3 TSP of Vitamin E to the mixture and a few drops of your essential oil and/or flavoring. I did Peppermint essential oils AND flavoring. Make sure that you pick appropriate flavoring/oils for your horse. Many essential oils will drug test if ingested and many aren’t horse safe…so make good choices (the only one I recommend is peppermint. I otherwise just recommend you use food flavorings). You can buy flavorings at stores that sell candy making/baking supplies. You can get all sorts of fruit flavors as well as peppermint and vanilla at most places if your horse doesn’t like peppermint.
Pour the oil into your container. If your oil is TOO hot and you’re pouring into plastic, be aware the bottle might distort/melt. This is why I told you to warm it up one minute at a time (to prevent the oils from getting too hot). If you’ve warmed your oil up too much, just set it aside for a minute or two to cool down before you pour. Once poured, set the jar aside without a lid on it and let it cool. It will harden up and you can place your lid and take it to the barn!
I made mine a little harder with more beeswax because I like it to stay where I put it in the corners of the horse’s mouth instead of melt away. If you want a softer bit butter, you can always reduce the amount of beeswax and cocoa butter and add more mango butter and sunflower oil.
Enjoy!