Horse food that is.
Riv has been eating basically the same thing every day for almost a year now:
- About 20 pounds of locally grown hay (sometimes better quality, sometimes not so great, but usually not too bad)
- About 3 pounds Tribute Calm-N-EZ (low non-structural carbs, high fat, no corn, no molasses)
- Anywhere from a cup and a half to half a cup (depending on the time of year) stabilized rice bran
- Anywhere from half a scoop to a scoop and a half (again, depending on time of year) beet pulp, soaked up in warm water of course.
With adapting the rice bran/beet pulp depending on what he needed (less in the summer, more in the winter), he's been gaining and then keeping weight quite well and I have been very, very pleased. This is a horse that was on 5 pounds of high-cal sweet feed twice a day when I got him (in very light work), so we've come a long way!
We found a new trimmer recently and so far I'm quite happy with her work, though of course we'll have to see how it goes long-term. Anyhow we were discussing food. She recommended switching his supplemental forage from beet pulp to some kind of an alfalfa mix, saying that she had seen repeated issues with beet pulp making shelly, chippy bare feet.
I've never heard of such a thing. She thinks it's that all U.S. beet pulp is genetically modified--I would lean toward the idea that it would be because all beet pulp has a fair amount of sugar, even if it doesn't have molasses added--but either way I am curious. I know SO many people who feed beet pulp quite successfully and obviously it hasn't been a terrible thing for us, but alfalfa blend would have less sugar and overall higher calories.
Any thoughts? I am leery of changing feed in late November, but I am curious!
I've heard that sugar beets are one of the big commercial crops that is grown almost entirely from GMO seeds – but then again, I've heard about GMO alfalfa, too. I steer as clear of GMOs as I can for my family. Unfortunately, I can't do that for my animals; not enough land to grow my own feed, and not enough money to buy organic. It's a conundrum; it's a sin-sick world.
ReplyDeleteExactly! I just don't have the money to get organic/non-GM certified food for him. I wish I could, but that's life!
DeleteI somehow missed this post and wanted to pitch in with more info for you. :) I've never heard of beet pulp causing shelly feet, especially if you are giving supplements + grain + hay and he has access to pasture like River does. Beet pulp completely by itself (as in no hay, no pasture, just beet pulp) would certainly be an issue as it has an inverted calcium:phosphorus ratio and doesn't have much more nutrition to it other than the fiber it contains. Which is precisely what makes it so safe to feed and so fantastic for weight gain and hydration. Unmolassed beet pulp has no sugar whatsoever, and if you buy the molassed variety of beet pulp, you can eliminate the sugar by soaking until soft, dumping into a colander, and rinsing all of the molasses out. This is the protocol for feeding insulin resistant horses. The "emergency diet" for IR horses is just straight beet pulp but minerals should be added to the beet pulp so the horse is still receiving adequate nutrition, as stated by Dr. Eleanor Kellon: she is an equine vet that has done some truly ground-breaking studies in the nutritional management of metabolic horses. Maybe your trimmer has encountered a lot of horses on only beet pulp? I have no idea why your trimmer said all of this, to tell you the truth.
ReplyDeleteSugar beets are all genetically modified, but so is pretty much everything we feed horses except for hay. Since like you I can't afford organic horse feed (which tend to be made up of high starch whole grains like oats and barley, which can cause a whole slew of other problems like ulcers and hyperactivity, organic or not), I feed the best of what I can find grain-wise and supplement accordingly when needed. I use beet pulp just like you: to add bulk or water to meals when I'm either concerned about weight or about hydration respectively.
Here is a great link with more info on pros and cons of beet pulp from www.thehorse.com: http://www.thehorse.com/articles/33471/beet-pulp-faqs
Alfalfa can be beneficial for weight gain but in TBs especially it can cause some hyperactivity: it's low in sugar but is very high in protein. Lily will eat it like candy but I have to be careful with how much I feed her or she will go more than a little bonkers on it. I feed 1-2 flakes/day if I'm concerned about her weight and she's still getting plenty of exercise.
I know I'm preaching to the choir, but this way you have some cold, hard facts on the benefits of beet pulp in case your feeding method is questioned again. I think your protocol is awesome for an OTTB and if it's working, by all means don't change it! :)
Ahh you're so smart lol! ;) Thanks! Yeah I like this trimmer's trimming (I think) but not her feeding style. But she has some super easy-keeper kind of creature and trims a lot of QHs and some warmbloods so she doesn't know what it is to try to take care of a harder keeper I think. Maybe that has something to do with it.
DeleteHer idea is based on several horses she saw that went on beet pulp (including one of hers) and had shelly feet. But there's soooo many things that can contribute to shelly feet that I really don't feel like there's any kind of real evidence. And his feet are good, she said so herself--just dealing with cracking from the summer. Which was almost exactly tied to the new grass coming in, and getting behind on his trim cycle.
Anyways. Thanks! :D I am so so SO happy with his weight right now and not changing a thing! :)