How long for the "carrots" to get out of his System?

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basilbrush2009

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Moved my horse yards yesterday for various reasons, i think his fizzy behaviour both on the ground and ridden is alot to do with him being fed excessive amounts of carrots

Posted a thread recently asking peoples opinions and was so surprised to find that carrots do have this kind of effect on lots and lots of horses

He will not be seeing any carrots any time soon but how long do you think it will take before they are out of his system so to speak.

How long do you think i should wait before trying to ride him again?
 
basilbrush2009 said:
Moved my horse yards yesterday for various reasons, i think his fizzy behaviour both on the ground and ridden is alot to do with him being fed excessive amounts of carrots

Posted a thread recently asking peoples opinions and was so surprised to find that carrots do have this kind of effect on lots and lots of horses

He will not be seeing any carrots any time soon but how long do you think it will take before they are out of his system so to speak.

How long do you think i should wait before trying to ride him again?
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My Mare is exactly like this, goes nuts on half a carrot. Usually give it a couple of days after shes had some, maybe lunging once or twice.
 
The problem is that you are not just waiting for the carrots to pass through from one end to the other but must wait for the effects of the carrots to wear off. You will probably start to see an improvement in a couple of days, or even before but it could be up to 3 weeks before all the effects have disappeared, especially if this has been a long-term problem. Depending on the horse, though, it is unlikely that you will need to wait for 3 weeks before you can ride again. The best thing that you can do is to monitor his behaviour daily, make sure that someone is with you the firstt iem you ride, be prepared to change your plans and take it steady, letting the horse set the pace.
 
hmmm this had never crossed my mind before. I always to carrot stretches after I work my horses. What could I use instead to 'carrot' stretch. I wonder how much difference there is between carrots and parsnips?
Or carrots and grass?
 
Pearlsasinger said:
The problem is that you are not just waiting for the carrots to pass through from one end to the other but must wait for the effects of the carrots to wear off. You will probably start to see an improvement in a couple of days, or even before but it could be up to 3 weeks before all the effects have disappeared, especially if this has been a long-term problem. Depending on the horse, though, it is unlikely that you will need to wait for 3 weeks before you can ride again. The best thing that you can do is to monitor his behaviour daily, make sure that someone is with you the firstt iem you ride, be prepared to change your plans and take it steady, letting the horse set the pace.
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This ^^

Took three weeks for Grey Mare to settle to her normal level of lunacy once we'd stopped all high sugar feeds.
 
This is surprising really because I thought they were supposed to be good - full of vitamins etc.

Mine get 3 big carrots & 1 apple in their feed every evening. I also feed the odd sugar cube from time to time. Haven't noticed that they are particularly speedy ? My boy is always a nutter and would have never thought that it came from the carrots ? The other one is 23 and retired so doesn't do much anyway apart from potter about :)

Should I stop feeding them ? Do they do any good at all ?
 
Carrots, apples etc.are ok for many horses as a small treat but they are high in sugars which horses are not evolved to eat much of. Excess sugars upset the hindgut as well if they spill over into it. So it also depends what else you are feeding and the sugar and starch content.

Op, I would feed something like yea sacc as well. Don't forget with the current weather (frosty nights and sunny days) sugars will be accumulating in grass so that may be a factor as well.
 
I have always given carrots as a treat and have done carrot stretches as advised by physio. I have always owned lively type horses and never connected the two. It was my instructor who told me feeding carrots to horses is like giving kiddies sweeties - expect the same reaction!!
 
pony&cow said:
hmmm this had never crossed my mind before. I always to carrot stretches after I work my horses. What could I use instead to 'carrot' stretch. I wonder how much difference there is between carrots and parsnips?
Or carrots and grass?
Click to expand...


Strips of celery can be used for carrot stretches and doesn't have the sugar in it that root veg has.
 
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