Senior feed for horses

[babyblue]

@ae

a few kinds are available. Id have to check though.

 

[welsummerchicks]

arabianequine, as I specified in my post the most cases of choke with beet pulp are with feeding it dry.

I've seen acouple of chokes on beet pulp, the horses involved, were all fed dry beet pulp or only wetted for a few moments before feeding.

And another poster said he fed it wet and STILL had a horse choke.

 

[arabianequine]

Quote:
I too have had horses have problems with Beet Pulp and I soaked mine for a long time (made am meal at night and night in am) I stopped using it, I went to Rice Bran, which I like, but the Amplify Supplement is by far superior. My Halter gelding is picky and will eat RB before Amplify. My 23 year old broodmare tends to drop about 2 months after foaling, she gives about 200% to her foals no matter how much she eats. This year she has a LARGE foal and she , while dropping a little weight has maintained much better on Amplify, Oats and alfalfa pellets than years previous when I poured high fat textured feeds down her.

@ welsummers.....I was not directing what I said at you.....I know you say you have seen them choke too on dry beet pulp. I was going off what lockhearts said (I put this in bold/does not say choked just they had problems) and scbatz33. Regardless I am just not gonna use it either way. Since it seems pretty even in problems dry or wet and it was weird anyways to me. I am pretty happy with Strategy for now

Not sure if it is good for older horses but I know it makes the horses look nice and puts the weight on them in my experience.

 

[welsummerchicks]

Arabianequne, if you are saying something that is getting to sound overly biased/inaccurate then yes I will respond in hopes of encouraging a more balanced view, but I recognize that people develop very strong opinions in the horse world and that isn't always possible. You have decided from a few very strongly opinionated posts here that beet pulp is a dangerous feed, then I feel badly for you, but that is how horse people develop their prejudices against things that often are very useful.

Each feed is useful in a given situation with a given horse. The feed you prefer, makes one of my horses hyperactive and hypervigilant.

Like any horse feed, if it works for a horse, it works; if it does not, then one has to pick from other options. Horses vary in metabolism and habits. A feed that works for one doesn't work for another.

Beet pulp can be extremely valuable for putting weight on thin horses. It is an ingredient in a great many feeds.

Because it contains safe forms of carbohydrates and sugars, because that is mixed with its own fiber, it is safer than many other feeds - when wetted.

Scbatz's experience with having a choke when it was properly soaked, is unusual - most horses will not choke when it's properly soaked. If a horse DOES choke on it, then one needs to not feed it to that horse. One can feed a small amount and watch - as one does with any feed - because there is no feed a horse can't choke on.

In fact, I have a horse that frequently has mild chokes on long hay.

A good many horses eat beet pulp soaked without any problem. With our routine it works very well. I have used it for many years - I'd say over 30 years, without any trouble with my horses and without any trouble in any barns I've boarded at - I've only seen problems at barns I visited - and I've boarded at large barns with 65+ horses - no problem all that time.

It is likely that choke often is related to management - or to pre-existing problems (no one can see when a horse has a narrowing of the throat from a previous choke, or other injury for example).

You decided you don't like beet pulp - that's fine. But it can be a useful feed.