# Need ideas to get a picky horse to eat BEET PULP !



## cakemom (Jul 4, 2010)

Are you using pelleted or shredded? Red won't eat soaked pelleted but loves dry shredded. 
When we were feeding rice bran and he wouldn't touch it some flax oil mixed with it was the miracle
cure.
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## mbender (Jul 22, 2009)

I would put a 1/2 scoop grain and a 1/2 c. of beet pulp. Soak it a bit and stir in about 1/4c. Molasses. Now that's not too much waste and how do you know until you try. My horse goes bonkers for her grain. Otherwise she wasn't finishing her grain. Let me know how that goes. Good luck. If you want go with 1/4c. Beet pulp to start. Small enough where he isn't noticing it as much and increase it from there.
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## ptvintage (Feb 12, 2010)

Try buying beet pulp that already has the molasses mixed in with it. That's what I get for my TB.


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## mbender (Jul 22, 2009)

Isn't that the pellets?
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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

I would eliminate the sweet feed -- that's not going to help him with weight. Try playing with the consistency of the beet pulp: thinner or thicker, and adding flavours as suggested.

I wonder if rice bran would help him? Has anyone ever done that for weight? Maybe if you really can't get him to eat the beet pulp, he'll go for bran.


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## cakemom (Jul 4, 2010)

Rice bran built weight very well for us, we only went to beet because of the feed store not carrying rice year round.
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## dee (Jul 30, 2009)

Mix in a little alfalfa pellets. They aren't particularly expensive, and will also help with his nutritional needs. Soak your beet pulp well and drain off as much of the water as you feel necessary. In the winter, I use lots of hot water to soak the beet pulp (we use pelleted) and don't drain it at all - my horses love a warm mushy meal. 

Anyhoo, add about a pound or so of alfalfa to the soaked beet pulpe and mix it well. Daughter's paso's previous owner swore she wouldn't eat beet pulp, but she really chowed down on it with the alfalfa mixed in.

We had to switch the paso from alfalfa pellets to timothy pellets - didn't realize the alfalfa was making her crazier than she already was, but since she got used to the beet pulp, the change from alfalfa to timothy was easy...


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## MIEventer (Feb 15, 2009)

OOOOH! I know how you feel! My TB Gelding, is an EXTREMELY picky eater. I swear, sometimes *shakes fist in air* lol.

My TB wont eat strait Beat Pulp either, no way, no how, nuh uh! I have tried apple sauce, molasses, carrots, warm, cold, blah blah blah - he wouldn't touch it. So I gave up with the Beat Pulp for quite some time.......UNTIL! *insert horn toot here* lol - I was told to try Tripple Crown Senior.

OMG, I love this product! I was feeling Purina Senior for quite some time, until I found out that their foumula's are not fixed, they change quite frequently, and the list of ingredients is not always up to par - so I switched under the advisory of a few Equine Nutritionists to go to Tripple Crown, and I am thrilled!

Triple Crown Senior Formula | www.triplecrownfeed.com

To boot - it is crammed packed with Shaved Beat Pulp! And yes, Nelson gobbles it up - all of it. He licks the bottom of his feeder and he gets into his bucket *The bucket I put his feed in, to mix with his suppliments before it gets dumped into his feeder* and licks that non stop until I take it away from him.

Look into it! That doesn't mean you have to buy it - but ask around. There are 2 other fellow Boarders who were feeding Purina Products *1 Ultium and the other Senior* and they saw what I was feeding, and returned their newly bought bags of Beat Pulp, and invested in the Tripple Crown Senior. More bang for your buck I think, since it already has everything needed in it, plus the shaved Beat Pulp.


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

ptvintage said:


> Try buying beet pulp that already has the molasses mixed in with it. That's what I get for my TB.





mbender said:


> Isn't that the pellets?
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


No, not necessarily. I know the Blue Seal brand pellets do not include added molasses. You can buy both shreds and pellets with or with out added molasses.


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

I tried beet pulp while back and had a similar problem - they refused completely (even mixed with sweet feed and/or molasses). I'm feeding this pelleted feed now: http://blueseal.com/equine/productpages/8_Carb-Guard.pdf It's mainly beet pulp, but for some reason they really like it (I make a mash out of it by adding hot water 20-30 mins before the feeding).

If you still want to go with the beet pulp you can try to add molasses to it.


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## mls (Nov 28, 2006)

If he doesn't like it - you are not going to change his mind. Use a rice bran pellet (Empower is wonderful), get rid of the sweet feed (empty calories), senior feed and alfalfa pellets.

Tons of free choice hay and water.


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## JulieinPA (Nov 27, 2010)

GUESS WHAT ! I got him to eat it ! YAY !!!! Goes to show what a little persistance will do :wink: I just mixed the soaked beet pulp (it's the shredded btw) with the sweet feed and senior feed (the senior feed IS the Triple Crown Brand), and then I put molasses in it. I also added an "almost" 1/4 cup of olive oil as well. I mixed it all together.

And he ate it !!!! All of it !!! WOOT!! WOOT!!


Now to reply to some of your suggestions :

Everyone : Thanks everyone for your suggestions !!! If the molasses wouldn't have worked, I would been going through one by one trying what you each suggested. But luckily, the molasses worked and I don't have to keep fiddling with it now to get him to eat it. 

NorthernMama : I got the sweet feed mainly because the girl that had him before me was feeding him solely sweet feed. 9lbs of it a day. So I wanted to mix the sweet feed with the senior feed so that for one thing it would help his digestive system adjust to the new feed, plus I already knew he liked sweet feed - so I wanted to make sure he'd EAT the senior feed, so I mixed it with the sweet feed to entice him as well. I'm only giving him 1/2 quart - 1 quart per day of the sweet feed.


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## traildancer (Oct 27, 2010)

Glad you had success. My suggestion was going to match someone else's. When I started with the beet pulp I mixed it with quite a bit of whole oats after soaking. Now all the horses will eat it plain if that's all there is. I ride a lot in the summer and feed the beet pulp when we are camping or packing in. The first year that I did, my horse went in to winter without his ribs showing. I think it really helps keep/add weight on.


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

Yay! Glad you got him to eat some. Maybe you can wean the sweet feed out of there eventually... Time, it all takes time..


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

My horse wouldn't touch beet pulp until I mixed a little bran into it. He dove into it after that!


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