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Erica DeVoti said:

> This is a post for anyone deciding to feed beet pulp.  I know the
directions and many advocates >say you can feed dry....BUT DO NOT FEED
DRY!!!!  SOAK!!!!

Susan said:
> Based on *peer-reviewed data* (as opposed to "testimonials" which I venture
to guess verge on the shall we say, highly emotional and not particularly
objective), the most common source of obstruction is hay, followed by
pellets of any composition, followed by grain, followed by everything else,
including beet pulp.
---------------------------

On the way to more degrees than I really needed, I was subject to quite a
bit of statistics and experimental design training. While I have tremendous
respect for scientific method and your expertise in equine nutrition (not to
mention your writing ability), I would have to disagree with you on this
one.

While what inputs correlate well with some outcome make for excellent
studies, and do help us make better decisions that work most of the time
(good thing for vets - you see a lot of horses), I'm much less concerned
about what causes choke in the average horse than what causes choke in my
horses. Partially based on your advice, we did feed dry pelleted beet pulp
to our horses, and it appears that we can safely do so for all but two of
our horses. For the other two, it is a very repeatable experiment that
feeding dry beet pulp (in one case, just not thoroughly soaked beet pulp
will do) will cause choke often enough to be a hazard. Neither of these two
horses have choked from any other cause while under our care (several years
each).

While I'm well aware that a sample size of 8 isn't anywhere close to large
enough to draw broader conclusions from, and I'm not trying to predict what
could happen in the larger population, but from repeatable experience with
25% of my equine population, I find that soaking it is safer. A sample size
of 8, while not meeting the 95% confidence level you'd like to see, could
still be significant - you just have large error bars.

Given my experience, observations, and scientific training, I would tend to
question these studies you cite. Perhaps the research methodology is flawed.
It wouldn't be the first time that peer-reviewed data turned out to be
flawed. All it takes to end up with the results you cite when there really
is a correlation is a failure to identify some other contributory factor.
You can easily overwhelm a signal by adding in enough noise. For example, an
interesting experiment would be to feed horses wet beet pulp for long enough
that they knew it was something yummy, then switch them abruptly to dry, and
see what happens. An obvious confounding factor would be that if the horse
doesn't like beet pulp, then it wouldn't eat enough to choke.

Like you, I don't like anecdotal "data", I don't like the lack of scientific
rigor in our sport and industry, but when it comes right down to it, I don't
care nearly as much about the average horse as I do my own.

I frequently refer people to your web site as a source of information and
find your advice in general to be excellent, but on this one specific
matter, I don't agree.



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