Speedi-Beet, providing rocket fuel since the 90's?!

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Otis and Lucie

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Hi all,
I'm hoping I'm not alone here, but I fed Speedi-Beet years ago to my old horizontal cob, who was bone idle all his life & nothing ever seemed to affect him, not even competition mixes, except Speedi-beet which made him downright dangerous.
I've got my WB on a barefoot diet of FF & linseed meal & a scoop of D & H Just Grass but I want to put a bit of weight on it, so I decided to ditch the JG and give it a Stubbs scoop of Speedi-Beet this morning.
This evening cue the appearance of a 19hh snorting & blowing fire breathing dragon!
Please tell me I'm not the only person to have 2 horses that are affected this way by Speedi-Beet?!
 
Nope!!! My horses are a nightmare when on speedi beet. I've had to cut it right down he gets about a quarter Stubbs scoop the other gets half as he's a little better on it!! Seems speedi beet turns everything into monsters that MUST be snorted at pranced at and passed at lightning speed!!! Good the day before I have a lesson as it means I don't have to use my leg too much ;) x
 
It used to send Arnie loopy - now that he gets magnesium in his feed its not so bad but it still gives him a fair bit of bounce :D
 
made no difference to my gelding a few years back... but then again he was going through a lazy faze and not even race horse cubes or equilibrium high energy, oats and speedi beet affected him at all... now though it doesnt take much at all to fizz him up and turn him into a down right horrible horse to handle so everything is kept to a minimum... may have explained why he was so explosive in hand last year though
 
I wish it would make my bone idle lazy lump move at more than a snail's pace!! Thinking of offering him to Tesco at this rate - At least they won't have any problem catching him....
 
i never knew this aout speedi-beet......but it answers why my tb has turned neurotic over winter!!!!! i think i will get yo to quickly whip him off it!!!!!! and i may get a more sensible horse underneath me again :)
 
I have a rather nutty TB who is fine on it. Sometimes you may change more than one thing and that's what's making them nutty. Ie more time in or colder weather.
 
Me too...guaranteed to turn my mare into a complete nutter. Took me a while to work it out...she went off & on it no. Of. times & the change in her was obvious so i know it was the speedibeet. A nutritionist thought she was v sensitive to sugar....even though there's not that much in it...its too much for her!!
 
Affects our TBxID quite badly - think handstand bucks, one-eighty degree leaps in the air, etc. etc. etc. Anything with a high sugar content has the same effect :rolleyes:

I've asked the Speedi-beat people a couple of times why this would be, but they say there's nothing in it that should have such an effect :cool:
 
I suspect that horses, being sensitive creatures, each have their own reactions to different feeds.
Star has no issues at all with Speedibeet, Alfa A, or Top Spec. But I have read of many other horses on H&H who can't tolerate these and develop behaviour issues, laminitis etc.
However - put her on a 'mix/muesli' type feed and that is total rocket fuel for her. Change it to a cube and she's much more settled. (not that she gets either of these any more :D )
 
A possible reason for this effect is that speedibeet is high in calcium. The ratio between calcium and magnesium is important for correct absorption of both minerals so increasing one without the other leads to an imbalance which affects nerve function - result: scatty horse! I would like to bet that if you supplemented with magnesium the problem would disappear :)
 
Hi all, thanks for the replies, yep, it's definitely Speedi-Beet, bought the blasted bag on Saturday morning after trying trial sized bag I was sent by British Horse feeds on Friday-I now have a bag of Speedi-Beet I daren't use, let alone let madam have a whiff of.
I also wondered if it was down to a magnesium imbalance yet madam gets magnesium in her food daily anyway.
I'm just glad it's not just madam that suffers a complete personality transplant when on the stuff.
 
tallyho! said:
Speedi-beet only has 5% sugar...

Are you all talking about SUPA-BEET??
Click to expand...

Easibeet has 5% sugar too but we still had a problem.

I suspect Brownmare is on the right track with magnesium:calcium being unbalanced. If your forage is calcium rich, then the beet could be enough to tip them over the edge.

When I had problems I was at a different yard and feeding an all round supplement.

When I reintroduced unmolassed sugarbeet, I had moved yards and was mineral balancing and supplementing magnesium so had no problems.
 
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