I read that beet-pulp will put bulk on a skinny horse. How do you feed it to the horse? I heard that you must first soak it for at least twelve hours before feeding,otherwise it could cause the horses stomach to swell with fatal results. Is this true?Also,is linseed poisonous? Ho do you feed this,too?

-- Marie (lucricausa@highland.net), January 28, 2002

Answers

Beet pulp is GREAT for horses!!!

For ALL the info, go to http://www.shady-acres.com/susan/ and scroll down to "Beet Pulp: the myths and reality"

There is a lot of misinformation out there. You can in fact, feed beet pulp dry with no ill effects, but most horses like it better soaked, and you can add other goodies/medicines/supplements in there as well.

But read the info on Susan's page. She is very well known in the endurance world.

-- Tracy (zebella@mindspring.com), January 28, 2002.

We have a 38 year old mare with few teeth left. Beet pulp has done wonders for her. I soak it because she can eat it this way without continually dropping it back into her grain bin. Soaking isn't necessary though. The goats like beet pulp too.

-- Robin (follette@ainop.com), January 28, 2002.

I fed linseed meal to a rescued old mare a handful once a day over the fall and winter (along with Equine Senior and hay) and she shed out beautifully and with meat on her bones to boot.

-- Susan in Northern Michigan (cobwoman@yahoo.com), January 29, 2002.

What is beet-pulp? I live in South Africa, here to get a horse fat these are the steps I take - 1) deworm the horse 2) file teeth 3) inject with a vitamen B12 4) feed small meals four times per day. In South Africa our main source of feed is maize. I believe that soaked Barley also puts on weight. Linseed we boil in water for at least 3 hours it becomes a very gooey mess, we feed it cold about a hand full 3 times per week only when the horses change their coats, I once put it in a plastic 5L bottle with the lid on and it exploded. Alot of people add sunflower cooking oil to their horses food about one cup also 3 times per week for their coat.

-- Julie Skinner (jskinner@tellumat.com), January 29, 2002.

Tracy, As soon as I saw the title of this post, I thought of Susan Garlinghouse's website, glad you supplied it in a timelier manner than I could have. Susan is a genius, I am ride endurance and she is one of my gurus! I feed beet pulp dry at home, wet at or before competitions or conditioning rides to keep ahead of dehydration. It is wonderful stuff.

-- Debbie in MO (risingwind@socket.net), January 29, 2002.

There has been (and will continue to be) controversy as to whether to soak beet pulp before feeding or not. What it boils down to (no pun intended) is that some horses will be able to handle it dry, and some will not. It is better to start out with a very small addition dry, if that is the way you intend to feed it, and increase gradually to prevent impaction colic problems from arising.

I prefer to cover the dry pulp with hot water and let it rehydrate for about 30 minutes. You can also cover it in cold water and let it sit more like 12 hours to rehydrate thoroughly, but I usually don't plan that far in advance and in hot weather, some fermentation may already be setting in if you let it sit that long. Basically, find out which method works for you and your horse.

Many complete feeds (such as Triple Crown senior and perhaps Equine Senior) contain beet pulp in their formulation for added fiber (neccessary to digestion) and are designed to be fed dry AS A SUPPLEMENTAL FEEDING. The bag instructions specify that if it is to be a sole diet, it should be soaked in water first. I was trained in soaking pulp, and I feel that whether it is 'neccessary' or not, I am willing to spend two minutes pouring on hot water rather than risk a couple hundred dollar vet bill. I'm a little touchy about the subject at the moment -- one of my friends just lost her $40,000 horse to impaction colic two days ago, so I'm keenly aware of keeping my horse's gut hydrated.

Roasted(not raw) soybeans are also a good way to put condition on a horse, about a cup per day top dressed on grain. I have used linseed meal (by product from pressing the oil out) available from feed mills in past -- it is a very fine product and should be mixed in small amounts in with coarse feed, such as oats with hulls on, beet pulp, etc. since it tends to make a doughy mass on its own and can also lead to colic problems. Horses with chronic weight problems often do well on a liquid supplement called Ration Plus (available from Valley Vet, I think, or possibly Weiss, or Omaha Vaccine), which is given in small amounts every day. We've used it on ex-track horses with all kinds of digestive problems and trouble keeping any weight on, and it has done a great job of clearing a lot of that up without loading on the carbs -- only problem being that it has a strong odor and probably flavour as well. Some horses don't like it. Adding a bit of molasses over it usually takes care of that.

Beet pulp (for the other Julie) is short for sugar beet pulp. It is the left over fiber from sugar beet roots after the sugar has been extracted. It is sold dry in sacks in either shredded or pelletized forms, and mixed into a number of commercial horse rations in the US, Canada, and UK.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), January 29, 2002.