Opinions on carrots as a feed please!

F

FionaM12

Well-Known Member
Joined
9 August 2011
Messages
7,357
Visit site
Hi, I posted a request for advice re my recently arrived jumpy nervous mare a few days ago. I've recently returned to riding after a 35-year health-induced gap.

I am touched and heartened by the lovely and considered responses to my request for advice, thank you all. However, I have another query.

Other than grass and hay, all I feed her is a few carrots each day. I don't think she needs them nutrionally, I just like to give her something tasty in her stable when she's brought in from the field. Plus, they're cheap, available and she loves them.

However, as I explained in my other thread, she's so nervous I'm finding her hard to handle. It had occured to me that maybe carrots, being high in sugar, are not helping. Then someone in the other thread said the same thing.

What does everyone else think? Are carrots a bad idea for a highly-strung horse? In which case, what would you suggest (if anything) I could give her as her "reward" for coming in from the field?

I wasn't planning to give her any hard feeds unless I find I need to when we get into winter. In her previous home she was entirely forage fed.
 
Personally I don't give treats other than the odd Apple in their feed. Groom her instead - it will help to bond you. The trust will come, it just takes time :)
 
Carrots are known as "poor mans oats" so you may want to cut them out :p

ETS mine doesn't get any treats for anything at present. She had a lot from her previous owners, and although not too pushy I don't want her looking to me for treats.

A nice scratch or a groom is just as good.
 
Last edited:
Although carrots are quite high in sugar, I think her behaviour is probably down to you being new to each other than in her having excess energy. Are you hand feeding her or putting them in a bucket for her? I'd always feed her from the bucket and only after you've finished doing what you want with her so that she doesn't expect them as soon as she comes in and isn't looking for them the whole time. As LaurenM says just spend time with her, grooming her and generally getting to know her, and deal with her calmly but firmly. Learn where she likes to be scratched, they're all different my boy loves a rub behind his ears but my old boy was more fond a of a rub between the eyes. She'll soon leanr that you're good and kind and want to be good and kind for you too hopefully.

You could also mix her food up a bit with a few other vegetables - swedes and parsnips are very good (although parsnip also quite high in sugar) as are things like greens, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli now and again. I don't buy anything specifically for my horse, he just has the outer leaves and peelings from the veg I eat!
 
It probably isn't the carrots but they can make a horse excitable so if you're in any doubt I'd cut them out. Own brand pony nuts from your local feed store are cheaper than carrots if you jsut want to give a handful a day so they have something to much on.
 
Thank you.

I mostly feed them in a bucket but I must admit to the odd piece off my hand.

I was having difficulty getting her in from the field, and thought the fact that there'd be a few carrots in a bucket waiting for her each time would help encourage her. She's getting better at coming in now.
 
Carrots are not a feed. Low cal fibre nuts or mollassess free chaff is what I woud go for.
I wouldn't dare give my newfie carrots. Turns him into a raving loon.
 
i dont give my mare carrots as they seem to make her quite excitable and shes lively enough without any extra oomph....many years ago my friend had a riding school and as carrots were very cheap at the time, she replaced their lunchtime horse and pony cubes with carrots... within a couple of days they all went crazy, dumping riders etc. the only management change was the carrots, so she cut them out and all went back to being their usual selves. needless to say she didnt try that experiment again!!!!! i use apples if i want to give mine a treat and they dont affect her negatively.why not just give her a handful of something like happy hoof or alternatively a few high fibre cubes if you want to encourage her to come in. also a good long groom with scratches in the right place will do wonders for bonding.. good luck with her and remember it takes time for you both to get used to each other....:D:D
 
As the owner of an extremely highly strung horse I have to be very wary about his diet. He, however, has carrots with both buckets everyday. He never fizzes up on them, can't give him too much in the way of starch/ cereal, he goes insane! But as with everything to do with horses it is suck it and see, each one is an individual and needs treating as such. Only time will tell with your horse, gradually you will learn what suits her and what is a no, no.
FDC
 
We've always fed carrots on our yard as a succulent through winter to make up for cr*p grass........ is this wrong then ? (the yard owner has always said it and iv never questioned it ..)

eta - mine only have 1 or 2 little ones anyway so makes no odds to me :)
 
My horse cant even sniff a carrot or apple he goes nuts [well more nuts than he is already] has he has trust issues i give him sugar free polos for good behaviour which is rare.
 
MrVelvet said:
We've always fed carrots on our yard as a succulent through winter to make up for cr*p grass........ is this wrong then ? (the yard owner has always said it and iv never questioned it ..)

eta - mine only have 1 or 2 little ones anyway so makes no odds to me :)
Click to expand...

I don't think so. It why I have always fed them, plus they are anti-carcinogenic
FDC
 
Well mine get carrots in their feed, and a carrot when I turn them out in the mornings, so they will stand nice and quiet when I take their leadrope off and a carrot when I bring them in so they stand nice and quiet, while I clip said leadrope on to bring them in, and I have never had any trouble with any of them and I have 4.
 
The natural horsemanship guy that helps me with over energetic youngsters told me years ago not to feed them as he has found they can and do have a bit of an explosive effect on some!!
 
I don't feed Bertie carrots because of the high sugar content. Instead he gets a few skinny slices of apple in his feed or used as a lure to bring him in from the field which is necessary sometimes! Little tip, keep your apples in the fridge and take one apple to the yard at a time they will last a lot longer. :)
 
The three ponies I had in over winter were getting a bucket each a day in two feeds, the three horses got a bucket twice a day, they are all different types and temperaments and it didn't wind any of them up. Having said that they do send the occasional horse a bit silly so if you suspect the carrots then cut them out for a couple of weeks and see if there's any difference in her behaviour.
 
My normally sane cob gets hyper when fed carrots. Have talked to other owners who found the same, so I don't feed them at all. If I give him a 'treat' it's a handful out of his dinner.
 
I feed mine a couple of carrots a day and I can't say I notice it makes them excitable. I always give them a treat when I catch them and when I let them go - means they are always pleased to see me and stand nice and quietly to take head collar off etc and no neither of them bite or try and mug me.
My mare doesn't actually like being groomed (is very ticklish) so bringing her in for a groom wouldn't exactly be a treat:)
 
mine only gets them if she works for them!!! - she has to do stretches to get them - we do physio 'carrot stretches' - but boy she has to work to reach them. - I use carrots as using treats i have had fingers bitten! I can at least hold end of carrot!

cant say i notice a difference and mine is as buzzy as they come if given wrong feed
 
We give carrots as an optional extra in the feeds . most liveries want them .

Carrots are high in sugar. It is recommended horses with Cushing's syndrome, insulin resistance or equine polysaccharide storage myopathy (EPSM) avoid being fed large amounts of carrots…or any other treat containing high levels of soluble carbohydrates (sugar).

Be careful when feeding carrots so choke is not caused. Slicing the carrots into long thin slivers will prevent a large chunk from becoming lodged in the esophagus of the horse.

There have been a few isolated cases of horses acquiring a slight change of coat color when being fed large amounts of carrots…people who over-indulge in carrots can also acquire an orange tint. Once the carrot consumption is decreased the color will revert to the natural shade.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top