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I have a horse with chronic laminitis -- I've written about him before.
(not my endurance horse, a family pet) He cannot have alfalfa in any way
shape or form, no green grass. He gets only grass or brome hay and very
little oats with some MSM, biotin and vitamins. Would beet pulp be an
acceptable food for him? I know he would probably like something to eat
besides hay.
chris
>Anybody that's read any of my posts for the past year knows I adore beet
>pulp, even when the squirrel has been using it to spackle every orifice
>in the house (and anyone who hasn't read that particular post is now
>going, "say WHAT?"). My horses (maintenance, growing, pregnant and
>working) get three to four pounds dryweight of beet pulp every day,
>which is then soaked overnight 2 parts water to one part beet pulp and
>fed in the morning. All of my horses just love it and have done VERY
>well on it. Four pounds of soaked beet pulp pretty much fills a five
>gallon bucket and it occupies them all morning, which in Spudnut's case,
>means three or four fewer hours in the day that he's less likely to be
>looking for some other horrible crime to commit.
>
>As long as the horse was getting about 1.5% or a bit more of his body
>weight in hay to provide adequate bulk, I don't think you really could
>overfeed beet pulp. I just don't think a horse could stuff in enough to
>cause any problems, since it doesn't cause the overload problems that
>grain does. The one thing you do want to be careful about, though, is
>to make sure it doesn't sit in the feed bucket long enough to start
>getting sour, especially in warm weather. If for some reason there was
>any beet pulp left after maybe three or four hours (hasn't happened yet
>at my place), I'd probably remove it.
>
>However, you might also consider adding some fat to the beet pulp rather
>than trying to convince your horse to eat enormous quantities of beet
>pulp. I happen to feed alot for the entertainment value and the
>nutrients it contains, but if you had a hard-working horse that was on
>an otherwise balanced diet and just needed more calories, you'd might be
>better off upping the fat percent a bit. Beet pulp is also terrific for
>hiding all kinds of goodies in, including oil.
>
>Good luck,
>
>Susan Garlinghouse
>
>
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