Molasses is basically pure sugar, so even in small amounts I would try to avoid it.

If you want to make treats that both a bun and horse can have though, why don’t you try taking alfalfa pellets (PURE ALFALFA, check the bag to make sure no binding agents or preservatives are used!), mix in some flour and a tiny bit of corn oil just to get it to a “dough” consistency, then bake.  I’ve done this before for my horse and after some experimentation, it works well.

I would replace the flour with pure bran and omit the oil to get a harder result. Wouldn’t worry about the molasses as these would be treats used sparingly and even some pellets contain molasses.

I would not like those treats for the bunnies- those are based on the experience of feeding a 1000+ lb animal.  There is already apple with natural sugar and the molasses would just add even more.  The American Pet Diner rabbit treats that I have from the BB store- do not have any sweetner other than the fresh fruit.

I have baked treats for horses- first the horse I leased and now the mare I bought.  One way I have found to keep them “drier” and more hard treat like- is when you finish baking them- turn the oven off and leave the cookies in the oven for a few hours or even overnight.  The residual low heat removes more of the moisture.  This is great for the summer when moist cookies are likely to spoil very quickly in a barn environment.  In the winter when it is cold out- I don’t worry as much since leaving them in my tack bin is like having them in a refrig!

I looked at horse cookie recipes online- very similiar to what you have found and did my own adatptions to them.  I used canned pears as an ingredient since I have tons of homemade canned pears from my Mom.  I used other dry ingredients other than flour like ground flax meal and stabilized rice bran.  I looked at other expensive horse cookies to see what made them better than the run of the mill cheap horse treats.  I like the idea of using hay pellets OR their own grain and using a food processor to make them into a dry ingredient.  Or I have baked muffins for my parrots and I soaked their food pellets in the wet ingredients for quite a while to make them mushy and able to blend into the other ingredients.

As long as you end up with something that is a dough like consistency- you can bake it.  And the nice thing is that horses, parrots, dogs NEVER complain about the texture- if it is too dense, etc. 

Though I did NOT like my experiment with crushed candy cane at Christmas time.  i used those as a sweetener instead of molasses and when I baked them and left them in the oven- it melted the candy cane bits and kinda “carmerlized” the bottom- making them look burnt even though they were not.  The horses loved them- but I did not like what they looked like- so I would probably go with a peppermint oil instead next time.

I really have not done much for baking for the bunnies as even with 3 they would get such a limited amount- and horse, dog and parrot cookies are not loaded with sugar and taste bland (compared to human cookies) I worry too much about the bunnies and even only getting a tiny cookie a day- it is easier for me to feed APD or Oxbow treats.  You could always make the dough- pull out some for the bunnies- and then add molasses, etc and make the rest of the dough for the horse treats.

I should also add- to find some healthier ingredients for horse cookies- I shopped at my local health food store. 

And I really do not do much baking in the summer- it has been 85 degress plus here in Michigan the past 2 weeks! 

You will have to gets some pics of Nitro and post them in the Lounge!  There are tons of horse owners and horse lovers here on BB!