Bett Pulp

[Indian*R*A*I*N*Dance]

When clipped, my 3 1/2 year old (soon to be 4 year old) doesnt have the best top line. At a show I was told that feeding beet pulp would fill it out. If so, how much beet pulp should be fed and how long should it be soaked(I want to feed it wet not dry)? Will it cause him to get a 'belly'? He is currently on 2 cups of Triple Crown light and 1 1/4 flake of hay a day. Thanks =]

EDIT: I ment to write Beet Pulp not bett pulp

 

[weerunner]

I just started feeding beet pulp to my kids too for the same reason. I am giving between 1/2 and 2 cups of beet pulp to each horse depending on how hard they are to get the weight on. I am finding that the toplines are coming along nicely and I've only been doing it for 1.5 months. I'm sure someone with more experience with this will chime in.

 

[GrullaBlue]

I imagine if you fed too much, it could cause a belly...I don't know for sure. I feed it to keep weight on my hard keeper (25 y/o Arab). I soak it in hot water, and let it soak until it's luke warm.... I've let it soak for hours, and it really doesn't seem to change the consistency at all for me anyway. Although I've heard it expands faster using hot water.... but I figure it's nicer to feed warm in the wintertime. You might get different answers on how long to let it soak...I've seen 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 2 hours, 4 hours.... I'd say mine soaks for about 20 minutes before I feed it. But I use hot water (I don't boil it, just run the tap until it's as hot as it can get).

Angie

 

[targetsmom]

I feed soaked beet pulp all the time, with amounts varying. Here is how I do it: I store beet pulp in our pantry and measure out what I need about 20 minutes to 1/2 hour before their dinner. I usually soak in warm water. The amount I soak is for dinner AND BREAKFAST the next morning. I bring the leftover beet pulp from supper back in the house so it doesn't freeze or get too warm. The longest it sits soaked is about 14 hours. I did read on here that it is perfectly fine to do this, after I had been doing it for years!

When the temps get as cold as yesterday (zero!) I leave the soaked beet pulp in the house until JUST before I add it to their grain and feed very fast!! Even so, if they don't eat it fast enough some freezes. In the summer, it can also go bad in the dishes/buckets if they leave some. I also feed plain beet pulp without molasses because Princess is insulin resistant. I would not start with plain though, as it seems to be an acquired taste! You can also rinse it before you feed it and remove most of the sugar/molasses.

 

[Becky]

My show horses get anywhere from 2 ozs - 4 ozs dry weight beet pulp 2 X day. Those are horses ranging in size from 27.50" to 33".

 

[maestoso]

Like any feed, it is best to start out more conservatively and then increase in small increments as needed. 1 cup is a good starting point. Most of my show horses are on between 2 and 3 cups soaked per feeding. If you get pelleted beet pulp it should be soaked for a while, over night maybe. Shreaded beet pulp only needs a few minutes.

While I loved Triple Crown products for my big horses, you may want to try a different feed. If your horse is lacking in top-line or needs to fill out, TC Light is maybe not the best choice(unless you are feeding it for a medical reason). There are plenty of non-sweet feed grains that are much higher in fat and/or protein that would be more appropriate for a horse that needed to fill out.

 

[Indian*R*A*I*N*Dance]

I bought a bag of shreaded beet pulp, let is soak for an hour and a half and then gave him about 1/4th of a cup of it, LOVE IT! So seems like it will be something i will continue using.

Matt, what would you suggest as a good feed? PERSONALLY, I dont like the Triple Crown Lite, never have...looks blahhh, I've just gone with what my mom has said haha.

 

[maestoso]

I would up him to a cup of it right off the bat, it's a fiber, not a concentrate, so 1/4 cup really isn't going to do anything for him. It's much more likely that he'll need around 2 cups, but a cup is a good place to start to get him used to it.

There are lots of good feeds. The diet I use for the show horses is a mix of Enrich 32(a multi-vitamin, 32% protein supplement) and whole oats. The mix I use varies per horse but it's usually anywhere between 1/2 to a full cup of enrich 32, and 1 to 2 cups of oats. If a horse really needs weight, I will add to that a sweet feed like omolene 300.

Before that, I only used omolene 300 and whole oats, but not every horse needs the sweet feed, and I preferred the higher protein in the Enrich 32. The higher protein did a good job of putting weight on the topline as well.

Depending on who you ask, you'll get lots of recommendations for "good" feed. Those are just two ways I've done it. Our horses were on TC Low Starch way back when and it was awful. The farm we bought the horses from used it because she had several horses with insulin resistance problems, and for those horses, the feed served it's purpose, however after a while we realized it wasn't doing our show horses any justice. After that we used the platform mini feed. That was an equally poor choice. Several people will say that it was great for their "easy keepers" but it didn't work for us.

It will also depend on your area. In some areas it is harder to get certain feeds.

 

[rubyviewminis]

Every winter I start my four on two cups dry and 6 cups very warm water to soak in the house 1 hour sometimes 1 1/2 hours. Then they have a warm breakfast and dinner and I can mix in the joint supplements, Karbo Combo pellets, salt and such in it. If I let it soak less time they won't eat it all because those hard pellets aren't pouffed up yet and they are spoiled. I up it a little every week until they are on 4 cups dry, soaked at 2 1/2 times warm water. They also get 2 oz Progressive Pro Add Ulitmate each. It is wonderful for easy keepers, and I switched from Enrich 32 because I was finally able to get Progressive balancers here. My 5 year old mare is 33", 2 yr old is 30.25", yearling is 28.50 " and then I have the weanling on Safechoice and she only eats 1 cup of that per feeding with beet pulp and some soaked hay pellets. They are also getting 50/50 meadow grass hay and alfalfa. per their individual body weight. When the weather is warmer say above 40 I soak beet pulp in cold water overnight and I like the texture better, but on those subzero mornings the warm feed is better for them. We also use heated buckets and troughs. I split 1 tablespoon of salt between the four in winter and they drink water very well. In summer and spring they have salt licks they love so I don't have to add any. It works for us and them and they shine and are a good weight with plenty of onery spunk to play with their ball.

I forgot to say that my yearling and two year old needed more protein in a balancer than I realized, they lost their topline, so I switched them from Safechoice to Enrich 32, and now on the Progressive. In my opinion there is no better quality than Progressive feeds. I noticed a big difference in 3 weeks after the swich. I also had if figured out that I only spend slightly more now even tho the Progressive feeds look expensive. They are fed less like most high end feeds, so it is better for them and isn't much more.