Beet pulp info?

[MyMia]

I've had Charlie for more than a year now, and he's still "ribby" according to the vet. He eats 8 qts of senior grain a day (he's 20+ years old), plus 4-6 flakes of hay, and hasn't gained as much weight as we'd like. The vet suggested beet pulp, so I got some and the directions said to soak it for 2 hours before giving it. My question is, can you soak it overnight without losing any nutrients/calories? I have to go out 2 hours before feeding to soak it and I either keep forgetting or I'm not here to put it to soak. If it can soak for longer than 2 hours, it would be good, but I don't want to lose the fattening benefits of it. Any suggestions would be great!

Oh, his teeth are floated regularly, so it's not that he can't chew his food.

[ownedby7horses]

I used to soak my beetpulp over night & my horses were just fine! Definatly NOT ribby!

[MyMia]

Thanks! I'll start soaking overnight and see if he finally gains weight.

[vicklynn]

Beet pulp is fine soaking over night. Be sure to keep it cool though. If you leave it outside in heated weather to soak, it'll go bad.
In the cold of winter, you would be fine leaving it out. Of course it might freeze and your horse wont like it.

[rums_mom]

We never soaked it over night, just about 30 min to an hour. Rum seems to do fine with it.

[walkinthewalk]

My metabolic horse has gone from being an air fern to having trouble keeping weight on.

I like beet pulp but it is a temendous amount of work, plus I have read on other message boards that some horses will choke on beet pulp. It seems to be a small percentage, but it would be my luck-------------

I feed pelleted, stabilized, calcium fortified rice bran, along with a pelleted vit/min supplement.

The rice bran started out being around $18-$19 a year ago. I just bought (2) 50# bags today for a total of $45.00.

The upside is that I only need to feed 1 pound twice daily (plus the vit/min supplement) because it is 20% fat.

Point-being, if soaking the beet pulp gets to be too much because your life is already full, the pelleted rice bran might make a good Plan "B". :cowboy:

Aside from hay and the herbal supplements for the EMS, the rice bran and vitamin/mineral supplement are all my metabolic horse gets and he is maintaining his weight nicely:)

[vicklynn]

We never soaked it over night, just about 30 min to an hour. Rum seems to do fine with it.
I buy the shredded stuff, and do the same rum. Just add enough water to soak it up good while Im getting ready, doing other things, then walk out the door, a little wet still, but it works:cowboy:

[Palogal]

A horse can choke on it if it's not wet enough...been there, done that... It's not pretty. Soaking overnight is fine as long as you don't leave it out in the heat, then it starts to stink.

[FredRock]

We soaked it overnight when it was warmer out. You have to cover it or else these little fruit flies flock to it, and depending on how long it sits it gets kind-of warm and almost fermenting. After a two cases of colic the barn stopped using it. (The beet pulp was one of the only things the two horses had in common.)

Personally I wouldn't soak beet pulp overnight if I could help it.

[Peggy Sue]

at that age I would be soaking ALL of his feed... at least half hour if not over nigth then getting wetter in morning before feeding makes it easier to digest for him

the beet pulp does not have to be soaked UNLESS you have one that tends not to chew well, bolts feed or has teeth issue ;)

[rums_mom]

Yep we use the shredded kind as well.

We put Ludi on Red Cell which helped him put on weight. My BO said his wife's horse is a hard keeper and whenever they need to get weight on him they use Red Cell.

[MyMia]

Thanks for all the replies!

I was under the impression that soaking it was because it swells that way, and won't swell in the stomach and thus cause other problems? I'm probably wrong (usual state of affairs!!).

The temperature is dropping pretty well at night so I'm going to try soaking it overnight; hopefully no fermenting problems. I'll be sure to smell it first to make sure! Charlie's never colicked on me (let's hope I didn't just jinx him). It'll be nice to not have to remember two hours before...

Thanks for the alternatives, too. I'm going to use up this bag (I still have 3/4 of a bag) then we'll see how he does. Maybe if he's getting it regularly, he'll gain weight, finally!

[Peggy Sue]

the beet pulp needing soaked it a myth ... if you want I can find you the link to that article... I would not even think about Red Cell the only thing I have seen from it is too much energy

[Gypsy Rose]

Another thing that might help for the weight gain is a good pre/probiotic.

A senior horse's digestive system isn't as efficient as when he was younger. The probiotics will help the beneficial bacteria in the gut, which wil help him utilize any feed you give him more efficiently.

That, with the suggestions already posted, might be a good thing to try.

[Syble413]

[QUOTE=walkinthewalk
I like beet pulp but it is a temendous amount of work, plus I have read on other message boards that some horses will choke on beet pulp. It seems to be a small percentage, but it would be my luck-------------[/QUOTE]

To reduce the chance of choking, I always soak the beet pulp around 30 minutes & then add a good crunchy grain to the pulp. *(not sweet feed pellets cause they get mushy) The grain mixed in forces them to chew longer instead of gulping the pulp down. I don't have any scientific evidence of this........just an observation that has worked for me.