# Molasses-How much? Please help!



## wild_spot (Jan 30, 2008)

Why are you feeding molassess?

It is kind of like feeding lollies to a kid. It is straight sugar and not good for them. It causes huge spikes in blood sugar and can lead to Insulin Resistance and Laminitis.


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

I assume you are adding molasses for a reason (I have not searched old posts to see if there are other posts about it).

If the reason is just to get your horse to eat something then I would just start with just a little (like you did) and see if it works. As little is possible to get the job done.


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## horsesroqke (Nov 5, 2009)

*We are feeding it to her because it is high in Vitamin B, and it is good for there nerves, and it helps there coat sheen. We are cutting it down to 1 tbsp every second day, for the reasons above. Also, instead of fighting with her for half an hour, we are going to add it with wormer since she's a pain to worm  Sorry for not stating what we were using it for. *


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## sachmo (Jul 9, 2010)

None, none, none. Molasses are not a good thing to feed your horse. There are other alternatives and perhaps you could look into a flavoured wormer, they are out there.


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## luvs2ride1979 (Nov 9, 2007)

I agree, none. If you want b-vitamins, buy b-vitamins. If you want good coat sheen, then use flax meal or black oil sunflower seeds. Molasses doesn't have much of anything useful for a horse's diet. If you need to use it to mask medication or dewormers, that's fine, but I would not feed it daily.


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## luvs2ride1979 (Nov 9, 2007)

Also, feeding something every other day does not do any good for a horse's diet.


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## churumbeque (Dec 20, 2009)

working a horse regularly and lots of grooming will make a shiny coat


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## horsesroqke (Nov 5, 2009)

*Why do they sell it in bulk lots if its no good?
Just wondering, and we've brought it now, so i'll just have to use it up
*


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## horsesroqke (Nov 5, 2009)

Oh we have tried plenty of flavored wormers, none work


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## wild_spot (Jan 30, 2008)

Because it is an old fashioned feed additive. New research is showing how much damage high sugar and high starch diets are doing to our horses - So now we know to avoid it.


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## luvs2ride1979 (Nov 9, 2007)

You have to teach a horse to accept dewormers. None of them taste good... It's up to you to MAKE your horse take it and deal with it. Shots don't feel good and aren't fun, yet most horses stand for them well. A horse has to be trained to take shots too.

"They" sell lots of things that aren't good for horses. You don't have to use it up, sell it to someone else or throw it away.


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## horsesroqke (Nov 5, 2009)

*I have been strongly advised to keep giving it to her in moderation. After research, it's very high in vita b, potassium, and helps re grow bald spots which she has a lot of. Yes, it is sugary, but in moderation doesn't hurt your horse. Its only about 55% sugar. Also sugar in little amounts is good for the horses digestive system. Even 2 tbsp twice a week for her coat etc, I will give it to her only about 3-4 times a week. BY the way it is Blackstrap Molasses
*


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## luvs2ride1979 (Nov 9, 2007)

Why do people in Oz like to recommend odd feed additives at infrequent intervals? It doesn't make any sense to me. Someone else from Aus said she and all her friends gave their horses raw eggs twice a week... UGH! What kind of horse advice are you guys getting down there? It all sounds quite ridiculous...

Sugar is NOT good for a horse's digestive system! They get plenty of natural sugar in their hay and grass. Refined sugar and molasses is not something a horse's system is made to digest, no matter what kind of molasses it is.

Also, feeding something in small quantities infrequently isn't going to do any good. If you want a healthy horse, feed the horse as close to "natural" as possible. This mean good grazing, good hay, and a balanced/complete "feed" that contains as little grains and sugars as possible. I like to use alfalfa (lucerne) pellets or chaff with a complete vit/min and a little flax (linseed) meal.

If your horse has "bald spots", then there are holes in its diet. He could be lacking in copper, selenium, B-12, E, etc. Or he could have too much selenium, iron, maganese, etc. Adding things willy-nilly is not likely to fix these imbalances.


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## wild_spot (Jan 30, 2008)

> Yes, it is sugary, but in moderation doesn't hurt your horse. Its only about 55% sugar. Also sugar in little amounts is good for the horses digestive system.


That's funny - My horse who ties up is on a completely grain and sugar free diet, and one teaspoon sets him off. 

It's your choice wether to feed it or not, but it is *NOT* good for horses, and the slight nutritional value it may have can easily be made up by feeding a good vit/min supplement.


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## wild_spot (Jan 30, 2008)

> Why do people in Oz like to recommend odd feed additives at infrequent intervals? It doesn't make any sense to me. Someone else from Aus said she and all her friends gave their horses raw eggs twice a week... UGH! What kind of horse advice are you guys getting down there? It all sounds quite ridiculous...


Hey, don't tar us all with the same brush - I could say the same about Americans who all stall their horses for ridiculous amounts of time :]

There are good and bad in any country - But trust me, there are some good poeple here :]


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## luvs2ride1979 (Nov 9, 2007)

^^ Good to know not all Australians feed wierd things, lol. My TB x Arab gets "high" on the natural sugars in oats. Just 1 lb a day is enough to make him hyper and hard to handle...


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## luvs2ride1979 (Nov 9, 2007)

Ha, we're posting at the same time! lol I don't stall my horses either. I never have understood our love for barns... I think it was a tradition that came with us when most of us immigrated from England and colder parts or Europe.


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## wild_spot (Jan 30, 2008)

^ Lol, and our wacky advice comes from old farmers who pass on what their dad's dad used to do and refuse to listen to current research. I know because my dad is a farmer and I still don't think he quite believes me when I say that the old sweet feed we used was creating most of Bundy's issues - And he refuses to let our horses get to a healthy weight before feeding them up again!


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

Well I'm not going to join in on the health crazed debate here, but will just say that I would think that the amounts of vit./mineral in the molasses is probably fairly minimal, so feeding it every other day, most likely won't do much good. If she needs more minerals, I would strongly suggest getting a free choice mineral that you can put in her paddock with her. If you are feeding the molasses in order to get her to eat something, I honestly see nothing wrong with it...especially if she is getting such a small amount. Just moniter how she acts on it, and if she seems out of sorts, or hyped up, you may want to cut it out.


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Woah little offended at the Aussie comment above. As Wild_Spot said, please don't tar people with the same brush just because one or two people have given out unsound advice.
Hell, the amount of 'stupid' advice I've seen people from the US give on here, I could say that EVERYONE from the US has no idea of how to look after their horse. 

Back on topic. OP, yes molasses contains various vitamins/minerals, but the amount you have to feed for these to make a significant difference, will mean that your horse is getting far too much straight sugar in it's system among other things. 
You are better off to look into various pre-mized supplements if you are that concerned about the vitamins/minerals in your horse's diet. There are fantastic supplements out there that cover all the different vitamins your horse needs in its system, rather than feeding molasses that has very few benefits. 
As for coat shine, I feed sunflower oil and my horses have all gleamed on it. It's cheap, easy, and is also a great alternative to expensive hard feeds to fatten a horse up, there are more calories in just 1 cup of oil than there is in 1kg of many different types of feeds. 

Even better than going for supplements, just make sure your horse has a balanced diet to begin with  Allow it access to plenty of good quality meadow hay, and work out a good feed mix that your horse responds well to. 
If you want to be even more pedantic, get a blood test done on her to tell you what vitamins she is lacking in, and work from there, rather than just chucking anything and everything in it's feed because you've heard it's got some mineral or the other in it. 

For the worming, don't mix the molasses with the wormer. What you can do is just coat the tip of the wormer, that goes in the horse's mouth, with molasses so horsey gets the taste of it 

Better still, try mixing a little bit of custard powder with water, and fill an old worming syringe with the mixture. 'Worm' her every day, or couple of days, with the custard mix in the lead up to worming her for real, so she expects a nice taste with the wormer


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

ooh, yeah, and another easy way to gleam up a horse's coat? Lots of brushing with a soft bristle brush...

My mare...she recieves no special supplements other than loose mineral, and some alfalfa/timothy mix pellets. Forgive the 'wet' spot...she had a good workout, and had been hosed off (no shampoo), and the only spot not dry yet was where the saddle sat...lol!


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## Pizmo (May 30, 2010)

Horsesroqke, I think you should take the advice given by these guys, they really know what they're talking about.
I can understand you wanting to 'use it up' as you have probably spent your hard earned cash on it, but I would use this as a learning curve & get rid of whats left - take it as a loss _or_ you may actually save money down the line as a result from *not* feeding this to your horse.

BTW New Zealand isn't part of Australia haha


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## horsesroqke (Nov 5, 2009)

*Thanks for everyone's opinions. My final decision is to just cut it out of her diet.


 Thanks everyone. 
*


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## wild_spot (Jan 30, 2008)

Glad to hear it :]


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## Gluey33 (Jun 2, 2008)

What brands of feeds do you have available? Any more info on what your feeding? Always start with a good quality hay and work from there.


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## horsesroqke (Nov 5, 2009)

*Gosh, umm, we feed her Fibrepro chaff mix, and meadow hay. Her winter coat is already shedding so i hope her coat starts to come up shiny haha!*


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## waterbuggies (Jun 9, 2009)

Since you asked for opinions and opinions and opinions only, I say don't feed any. Molassess is like giving a 5 year old kid a Mountain dew. The first one might not cause a problem but as they add up, so does the the sugar high. 
My experience: the feed store stopped carrying my normal pellet feed so I started getting a sweet feed. The older rescue I had could stand to add a little weight so I got it and added it over a couple of days. My Belgian was the sweets most laid back bombproof guy you could ask for, but after a week on sugar he was jumpy, spooky, hardheaded, idiot. I stopped the sweet feed (give it to my dad for the cows) and a couple of days later he was back to his old self. I'll try and never give any sugary stuff to them again.
As far as the wormer, try applesauce(my guys like applesauce a little sugar but not like molasses). Get an old worm tube and clean it out and put applesauce in it, and give it to your horse until they are comfortable with the tube being swirted in their mouth. You can give her applesauce for a few days then give her the wormer with a chaser of apple sauce.


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## Gluey33 (Jun 2, 2008)

I just looked up the fibrepro chaff. Check your bag label for whats in it. The bag says it has mollasses in it allready.


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

Kayty said:


> Woah little offended at the Aussie comment above. As Wild_Spot said, please don't tar people with the same brush just because one or two people have given out unsound advice.
> 
> Hell, the amount of 'stupid' advice I've seen people from the US give on here, I could say that EVERYONE from the US has no idea of how to look after their horse.


Stupid isn't relegated to just one country, unfortunately. It's spread over the whole globe equally, although at times that doesn't appear to be the case. Pockets of intense stupidity can be found everywhere.

U.S. citizens as a general rule are horrible at geography. Why that is, I couldn't tell you. New Zealand isn't part of Australia, for those of you who think it is. It's an island about 1,200 miles off the south east coast of Oz.

As far as molasses goes, feed as little as possible. Most feeds contain trace amounts of molasses, but sweet feed drenches the food in it.

My gray Arab gelding is spooky and reactive at the best of times. On sweet feed, he's almost uncontrollable. He doesn't get sweet feed.


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## gizpeptig (Mar 2, 2010)

Ok, so I'm alittle confused.. yeah it makes sense to me not to feed mollases to a horse. Its just like giving a little kid a few lollypops and saying these will help build your bones strong  Just my opinion.. it may have nutritional value but sugar is sugar. Good job deciding to kick it out of your horse's diet.

But I was a little confused because sweet feed has mollases in it? _So why do major feed companies put mollases in their feed?_

And if you want to get rid of the mollases you aren't going to use.. *DO NOT THROW IT AWAY!* Make cookies.. or pecan pie  Why waste?


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

gizpeptig said:


> But I was a little confused because sweet feed has mollases in it? _So why do major feed companies put mollases in their feed?_


Because molasses is cheap and makes crappy feed more palatable to horses.

Molasses _will_ help with weight gain, but better alternatives are corn oil, canola oil, beet pulp, flax seed, and rice bran.

Like humans, too much sugar is bad for horses. A little isn't going to hurt them (unless they're IR), but too much is just as bad as feeding a child nothing but ice cream and cookies.


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

gizpeptig said:


> And if you want to get rid of the mollases you aren't going to use.. *DO NOT THROW IT AWAY!* Make cookies.. or pecan pie  Why waste?


If she bought it at the feed store it is not human grade molasses.


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

horsesroqke said:


> *Why do they sell it in bulk lots if its no good?
> Just wondering, and we've brought it now, so i'll just have to use it up
> *


It is actually higher in b vitamins than much else that's in it, but still pretty low. There are also many other healthier options if your horse needs b vitamins. If you want to learn more about balancing the horse's diet & healthy feeding, feedXL.com is a great service.

Depending on the horse, her weight, susceptibility to IR & lami(do you know about that?) it *may* be safe to give her a dollop on occasions as a treat, but as a hcp, I agree with others that it is not a healthy thing to feed a horse. Diets rich in sugar & starch do pretty much the same as this sort of junkfood diet does for people. Diabetic people also often develop bad nails, but horses have to walk on theirs, so the hooves becoming disconnected can become a huge problem, which is largely avoidable by ensuring horses are only fed healthy, low grade diets.

How can you use it up...?? 

You can use it yourself, in cooking - it's great as an alternative to sugar when making gingerbread or fruit cakes or bread(particularly yummy in rye bread I reckon. It can be used in beer making, to make liquorice, candy, added to tea or fruit smoothies instead of honey.

It is effective at removing surface rust from tools. If you have a rasp or such which has got a bit rusty, drop it in the bucket for a few days, then scrub it with a wire brush before oiling it.

It is a good organic fertiliser for your garden. It is also good in compost, to break down material, particularly fish & bone. It is used to aid mushroom spawning and (apparently!) marijuana flowering.

Used as a hair tonic to darken hair. Supposedly treatment for baldness - rub it in your scalp. A worm treatment when mixed with gunpowder:shock: or cabbage.... not sure which of those I'd prefer to try:lol:.

Used to stop noisy fan belts. Used to attract bears:?. As a fuel for cars, a binding agent for coal. An additive for anti-icing to make the product stick to the road. It is used in cement, bricks and plastic. 

There are many more uses(some dubious like the worm treatment above!), so it won't be wasted!:wink:


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

Alwaysbehind said:


> If she bought it at the feed store it is not human grade molasses.


Processed the same way, just put into different containers!:wink:


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

luvs2ride1979 said:


> Why do people in Oz like to recommend odd feed additives at infrequent intervals? It doesn't make any sense to me. Someone else from Aus said she and all her friends gave their horses raw eggs twice a week... UGH! What kind of horse advice are you guys getting down there? It all sounds quite ridiculous...


Well after replying without reading other replies, then seeing someone offended by some comment about Aussies, had to go look for the instigator!:lol: Firstly I didn't see anything strange suggested by an Aussie, but perhaps the OP being from New Zealand had something to do with it??:lol:

And you want strange? ~ I forget where I read it, but sure it was somewhere in cyberspace, was a list of 'traditional' feeds for horses in different countries. I forget most of them, but curried meat was a staple from India. Camels milk and dates was a staple in Saudi or Egypt or some such. Oh and when I was young & silly I used to smoke cigarettes... & my donk & horse enjoyed eating them! I also used to treat my horse & I to sausage rolls when we rode into town!(tho there's precious little meat in those!)

Now I've just got to think of a better argument for convincing my neighbour to stop feeding a heap of bread(his FIL's a baker) to his horse & mini pony! They're both severely laminitic(I don't do their feet) and he reckons the bread's fine because it's organic!


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

loosie said:


> Processed the same way, just put into different containers!:wink:


Um, no, but good try.

For starters, much of the animal grade molasses is actually made from sugar beets instead of cane sugar. It is more bitter than the molasses made from cane sugar.


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

Alwaysbehind said:


> For starters, much of the animal grade molasses is actually made from sugar beets instead of cane sugar. It is more bitter than the molasses made from cane sugar.


Agreed. Plus, it doesn't have to go through the rigorous testing that human food grade molasses does.

I sure as heck wouldn't use animal grade molasses to make anything I was going to eat.


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