carrotts and change in horses behaviour

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padderpaws

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Has anyone had any experience or opinion on feeding their horse carrotts and noticing a change of behaviour. My horse was fed a large quantity of carrotts and within twenty four hours was miserable and had started bucking. he has never bucked before. Just curious.
 
padderpaws said:
Has anyone had any experience or opinion on feeding their horse carrotts and noticing a change of behaviour. My horse was fed a large quantity of carrotts and within twenty four hours was miserable and had started bucking. he has never bucked before. Just curious.
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they are high in sugar, so could cause behaviour changes i guess... especially lots of them, it's like giving a child loads of smarties.... they climb the walls!
 
Hi there.

The Tb mare that i used to have would go really giddy if fed too many carrots. Must admit i didn't realise that it was the carrots till the YO said to stop giving her them. The odd one now and then was fine but not in every feed.
 
Our horse started bucking all of a sudden, and didn't seem himself, turned out to be mild colic! I would personally be slightly worried that yours has the same....
 
A friend of mine was adamant that her horse would become (more) aggressive and grumpy if he had carrots, she also knew of a racing yard that didn't feed them for the same reason. Apples etc. were ok though.
 
horses can be allergic to them-can come up in lumps-friend's horse did and she also went quite grumpy-took her a while to realise what it was-now she's a different horse
 
Yeah I know when my horse is fed too many carrots as he goes a little loopy.

I was on the phone to a behaviourist for other reasons about the this horse and he asked if I fed carrots as there is something in them that can send horses loopy. Apples, bananas etc are fine but there is something in carrots. But I had alreadt figured out that about the carrots but it was always handy to remember.
 
I can't feed my TB carrots... or anything with sugar for that matter... it sends him gaga. Funnily enough, it was his reaction to carrots initially that started my suspicions.
 
My Appy mare is not allowed carrots as they make her horrible to ride. She is a spooky creature on a good day, absolutely horrid if fed carrots.
 
Yes! At the riding school I used to work at we had a trailer-load of carrots delivered and the horses and ponies were given a couple of pounds each of carrots at each feed - not for long though as several of them went a bit loopy and others got the trots!!
 
Now I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong but I have been told that this may be because the carrots have been sprayed with Nitrogen.
We had a little horse who out hunting one day decided he would try and go backwards as fast as he could for a good hundred metres or so. He had been with us for 4 months with no problems at all. When a friend said she had had to turn her horse away for 5 days because he had lost the plot due to the hay he had been fed had been sprayed with Nitrogen the penny dropped - the carrots must have been too.
The little horse would only need half a dozen carrots to send him completely laa laa and dangerous - hence we never fed them to him again !!!
 
Carrots were mentioned on the IH Feeding and Nutrition course (Ian Vandenburge) and I think the explanation was the Beta carotene or colourants in carrots - naturally occurring, but had the same effect on some horses as blue (or red or whatever) smarties do with kids with ADHD (or is it just the ones I know??)
Definitely happened with my former livery - an ex racer who's owner would buy her bag after bag of carrots on the weekends. Horse would be a saint during the week when she wasn't around, stuffing the mare full of carrots... There may have been other factors at work there though!!!
 
I've done the same course (Feed and Nutrition) and as a result do not feed carrots at all. The boys are chilled out and relaxed. TBH though, I haven't fed carrots for a few years now after someone suggested high sugars sent some horses loopy.
 
Very interesting thread. My 2 mares where getting a bit over excitable as a result of being in and me being too nice and feeding lots of hay. They have now been out for a week full time and I have restricted feed and got them both to normal energy levels. Gave carrots this am and my riding mare was very excitable and forwards going tonight when ridden. Other mare fine as normally has carrots during winter anyway. Will not give carrots 2moro morning and see what shes lke to ride in the pm.
 
Apart from sugar.... vitamin A in carrots is possibly 7x more than the horse needs and can aggravate the liver in horses. Horses need much less vit A than a cow. They get all they need from grass.

Save yourself a fortune and give carrots as a treat!! Once in a while, not as part of the feed.

Check out safergrass.org as on there is very useful info on minerals perhaps we modern owners should take into consideration....
 
As well as being sprayed with nitrogen they are covered with organophosphates as well. My mare has hormone-induced epilepsy and it was made far worse by giving her just a couple of carrots a day. Organophosphates have an oestrogenic effect so think what they are doing to children :( Organic carrots only in my shopping basket!
 
I had a horse who never colicked in his life but if I gave him more than 1 or 2 carrots, it made him scour really badly.
Was told of a horse who was inadvertently fed a bucket and a half of carrots and when they went into the stable in the morning it had acted like a mega-wormer... the whole place was sprayed with liquid poo, and worms everywhere... I guess because the drastic change in diet had ousted them? (not sure what type of worms).
They're very sugary, I know of someone who gave oodles to her laminitic pony because she felt so sorry for him being kept in on a diet etc. Sure enough, another attack of laminitis. :( :(
Having read this thread, I might bin the carrot order now...
 
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