Strange question re carrots!

[Murphs_Mum]

Following on from various posts re horses being incrediably excitable at the moment (mine included!) and discussion about feed, am I totally imagining it or did I read somewhere years ago that feeding high quantities of carrots can cause excitability in some horses?

Would love to know if any nutrition experts out there!

 

[muffy32]

yep thats very true, my lad goes nutz when I fed him carrots

 

[SSM]

Donkey loves carrots - but fizz bang?? No still the same old donkey

 

[filly190]

Perhaps I should eat a load, and give more to my hubby, get him off the settee!!

If this is true, we will be having carrots, never mind the horses. Could do with some extra engery, mucking out and working full time is killing me

 

[riotgirl]

I wish they made mine a bit more fizzy!

 

[rema]

I'm with you on that one!!.Might go and buy a sack of carrots!.

 

[riotgirl]

All around the country tonight there will be people force feeding carrots to their neds in a bid to make them a bit livelier!

 

[vicm2509]

I might up Barons dose of carrots if its true!!

 

[fairhill]

I've heard the same thing, but it's never worked on my horses. Is it something to do with their fairly high sugar/starch content

 

[rema]

The price of carrots will rocket (if you pardon the pun)

 

[Murphs_Mum]

Yes it was to do with starch/sugar content. Hard to tell if it's affecting my boy but he does have quite a few! So many things have changed lately that it could be anything - He's quite good fun though!!

 

[lisaward]

my lot,x6 eat between 1-2 ton a week and they don't fizz up

 

[bellasmum]

Metabolically you would have to feed pounds and pounds of them a day to get a reaction if of course they are going to react

 

[SSM]

[ QUOTE ]
my lot,x6 eat between 1-2 ton a week and they don't fizz up

[/ QUOTE ]

But they will turn orange

 

[Sooty]

I think it must depend on the horse. Toffee can eat any number of carrots and is fine, Beano goes loopy on more than couple! He has to stick to swedes.

 

[Kelly1982]

Never heard of this but i have been told not to feed high quantities of carrots to horses with laminitus or EPSM as they have sugar in them so maybe that has something to do with it.

Better not start feeding them to my horse then

 

[KatB]

And really high levels of carrots can make their feet drop off cos of all the selenium in them! No kidding! But is serious amounts.

 

[SJFAN]

Well the old saying holds good I guess - moderation in everything!
Pat Smythe adovated giving carrots rather than mints as titbits as better for production of salive as well as having some nutritional value.

 

[Vicki1986]

mine doesnt seem to, mind you she only has one per feed as i worry she will get fat

 

[Kelly1982]

But carrots are healthy, well thats what Doctor Gillian says anyway LOL

 

[SJFAN]

I don't think Gillian McKeith's own appearance is much of an advert for healthy eating!

 

[bellasmum]

Here Here!!! totally agree! Hee hee!!

 

[Happytohack]

Definitely to do with the high sugar content, which is why laminitics should not be fed carrots.

 

[k9h]

They can turn the coats on black horses. A friend has some frezions that she does carriage driving with & when she fed the quite a few carrots they lost their black gleam & had a brownish tinge to their coats.

 

[lisaward]

Quote:
my lot,x6 eat between 1-2 ton a week and they don't fizz up


But they will turn orange !!

but they do have great eyesight ,LOL

 

[ru-fi-do]

Mine don't really have many carrots, about 3 in thier night time feed. My mare had a small bout of laminitis last year and the vet advised me to steer clear of carrots as there is more sugar in them than people realise and they can actually unbalance your horses feed too. But before i cut down on feeding them i didn't notice mine getting fizzy, but every horse is different.

 

[Peanot]

Sorry not had time to read all replies, need to get some sleep,

, but when I first had Rox, she went loopy on carrots. It was a process of elimination, with everything that I was feeding her and it was the carrots along with something else. She has calmed down loads now though and she has matured a little, so I have just started to feed them again in a larger quantity and she is taking them ok at the moment. She was a bit of a nutter tho when I bought her.

I phoned her old owner and she confirmed that she never fed any of her horses, all warmbloods, carrots as they hotted themn up.

 

[Tia]

None of mine get carrots - too high in sugar for my liking but even when I have offered them on the rare occasion they don't know what to do with them. My lot never get hyped up, breeding perhaps, or maybe because they never experience that "sugar-buzz".

A couple of my boarders do feed their horses carrots when they come up a few times a week and I definitely see a difference in their horses attitudes when they have been fed them. One of them becomes particularly excitable and bargy on them; and yet all week when I feed them their normal feeds these horses aren't like this.

 

[H's mum]

Carrots are bursting with sugar - they send H absolutely whappy - and are strictly on the "do not feed" list

Kate x