Feeding carrots

HaffiesRock

HaffiesRock

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How many do you feed?

In my mind, carrots are healthy so does it really matter how many you feed, but at the same time there must be a limit?

I tend not to bother in the summer as they go off quicker than I can feed them, but in the winter I feed 5 or 6 a day. These are normally thrown in the field for him to find.

What does everyone think? x
 
I read some where they are like 11% sugar of some thing like that.
I personally don't feed carrots, except very occasionally.
He manages fine without them! :D
 
That doesn't surprise me that they are full of sugar as I love them!

I've just moved him to a new yard where I have my own paddock so I can put him on a strict barefoot diet and monitor what he eats.

I think ill stop feeding carrots now! Maybe the odd one as a treat x
 
At my previous yard where the horses were off grass for months at a time I used to feed a bucket each morning and evening for horses and half a bucket for ponies for their succulent ration. None of mine ever had issues with them.
 
Mine get 2/3 carrots a day. One chopped up in breakfast and dinner and another chopped up and mixed in with their hay nets overnight. As soon as grass appears though they only ever see a carrot at the bottom of their muzzles when I put them on. Muzzle = carrot..my 2 put themselves in their muzzles!:D
 
Added extras are great assuming horses aren't on a diet. How about mixing it up with different veg every now and then? Whole swedes are great fun. We don't usually add veg to out ponies feed unless we've got spare, but that's more to do with being rather skint than anything else!
 
Other succulents.. nope. He's a pony X (little horse), good doer and there is grass in his field so that's enough succulent IMHO for him. He gets hay at night while stabled, a handful of chaff and maybe the odd apple if I'm feeling nice. Has a full trug of water in field and stable, neither of which he ever finishes, so I figure he's getting enough water.

He doesn't really like swede - he'll eat a bit of one if I put one in (last horse would have quite literally killed for a swede) but he's not that bothered by any veg. And he doesn't like apples or pears enough to do his stretches properly for them. Mainly carrots for him!
 
Mine have apples and carrots most days. Occasionally by me but mostly from passers by as the little one has such a fan club..

I would say I get 1-2 photos a day on average of people sending me photos of him scoffing what ever treats they have when passing him..

He is beyond cute.
 
Quite a few people claim that carrots make their animals loopy or induce laminitis. I am not arguing with them, but, the truth is, carrots are a very high percentage water.

I feed mine as few or as many as I have to give them.m
 
I have an EMS pony - she is not overweight but is predisposed to laminitis because of her condition. I wouldn't feed her carrots because of the sugar/starch content - celery is a good alternative as a treat!
 
Have always given mine 4 or 5 chopped up in their supper, been doing that for 25 odd years now!

What makes me laugh is how some horses leave them to last, and others pick them out first!
 
when one of my ponies had carrots in his tea every night (just one or two) i found he was a bit sluggish and not willing to do much. also his breathing was a bit heavier, i stopped giving him carrots and he has improved alot.

my horse gets carrots but only when i can get them, he does get an apple every night in his tea and one in his breakfast. i also take the veg trimmings from sunday dinner up (not the potato peelings though) so he gets brocoli, cauliflower, sprouts, parsnips (which he loves) and anything else that's there.
 
Like most things it's the quantity you feed and what is in the rest of the diet and forage. I've seen buckets full of carrots fed daily to two field kept horses for example. As treats, add up how many people are feeding treats to your horse every day and how much each person is feeding... that includes carrots, other root vegetables, polos, bread, cakes and any other sugary stuff commonly fed every day! It can amount to a huge amount of extra sugars daily.
 
As and when I have them. Sometimes a handful, sometimes none. I always start eating them, biting noise is great for enticing them over and gets me some of my healthy ration. More often than not, their treat is a handful of grass I've pulled from infront of their nose :rolleyes:

I won't do the same with apples though, they are very much a once in a blue moon treat with mine.
 
I chop them up into fine batons (very gourmet) so it would be one or two at a time but I like to think it seems like lots and I scatter them around in her hay when she has it or on the ground (I make a game of it especially in the snow!).

They are a bit sugary but unless I had a lami pony I wouldn't worry too much since lots of people feed all kinds of sugary feeds and she only has the boring ones!

I read somewhere on here that they have phyto-oestrogens in that can be bad for hormonal mares, alfalfa is the same. I haven't investigated further though so I'm not providing scientific references or anything ;-) so I might cut all that out if hormones become an issue.
 
I give my ponies two carrots each a day but only in the winter when the grass is poor. One of them is a cushings, IR pony and it does not affect her at all. When I had eight horses I used to give them buckets full daily as we lived near a carrot processing farm. The only thing that it did was make them do orange tinted poo. :-)
 
Not sure if it was carrots or not but when my mare started having them she was a Nightmare. I stopped them and she is fine again! No more carrots for her! Lol! She gets the odd one when she has worked really well though!
 
I give 1/2 carrot when turning out and 1/2 when coming in unless they are little ones!!

I really find this helps "encourage" her to come to the gate!!
 
I give mine a few carrots a day when there is no grass - I give less when there is
grass. Doesn't seem to have done them any harm tho realise they have a lot of sugar. Some fresh food is good for them I think. They also get the odd half apple.
 
I was always taught that it's nice to include something succulent in their feed , that is until a lady from Bransby once told me that a carrot is like a mars bar to a horse?? I've never been sure what the scientific basis for this assertion was and it put me off feeding carrots and apples except as rare treats to my girl who can be a tad hefty.
 
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