Ridecamp: Re: [RC] beet pulp??

> heard a lot of great things about beet pulp, and
> finally found some to try. I had been feeding the
> pellets soaked <snip> My question
> is though, if I'm feeding 2-3 pounds of the
> balanced pellets, is adding in the beet pulp
> going to through everything out of whack? 

There are some feeds where just a pound or so
can create some imbalances, but beet pulp
usually isn't one of them.  If you start feeding
enough beet pulp where the Horseman's Edge is 
mostly eliminated, then you'd usually want to
provide some source of extra vitamins and minerals
in some form.  Or, instead of straight beet pulp, 
you could feed one of the beet pulp based complete feeds
that already provide a vit-min pack.  Complete Advantage,
Unbeetable, Sweet Rely, Race Ready and so on.



 I've
> always heard it's best to feed smaller amounts of
> grain. The amount of actual grain is small, but
> the water makes it swell up so much I was
> wondering if this is too much for their stomachs
> at once? 

When you say grain, do you mean grain like oats or corn, etc, or are you 
referring to the beet pulp...?  In any event, the rule of thumb is don't feed 
more than about four pounds of grain max per meal to any horse.  If you're 
worried about the volume of the beet pulp after soaking, nope, don't worry 
about it.  The stomach empties faster the fuller it gets, so precluding outflow 
problems (like an impaction colic or torsion), it'll never get full enough to 
be a problem, especially since the water content of the feed is so high after 
soaking it.

>The horses are turned out 24/7 on a nice
> grass pasture, and I am only able to feed them
> grain once a day. They are a good weight and are
> ridden regularly, usually long slow trailrides.
> This this is ok? Any opinions? 

Sounds pretty ideal to me.

Susan G


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