Sugar Beet

[tremorfa]

I have a 17 year old, absolutely bomb-proof cob called Clyde. I have had him for a month and have gained in confidence so much with him. I took him out on my own for the first time a week ago, as I have to get him to RDA on my own. We were doing really well until we saw a donkey! Three times we tried to go past, but each time, he turned tail for home! Nothing nasty, just fright. My husband led him past in the end and, apart from a few snorts, he was fine. We have walked past since, no problem. His previous owner says he should not have spooked, there is a donkey just down the road from where he was. Yesterday, he spooked twice in the field, once when he thought he saw something, and once when my husband threw something in the hedge. On both occasions, Clyde's spooks were very "girlie" and quite funny. I am not worried about the spooks, just the cause. Just before the donkey incident, I started him on sugar beet, that is the only thing different in his diet. My daughter says that, as it is sugar based, it can cause fizziness in some horses. Has anyone any experience of this? I have stopped the beet, just to see. Also, on Monday, he had a mild attack of colic and the vet gave the usual jabs. Could the spooks in the field have been a leftover from them? Sorry to be a pain, but I have just started riding again at the age of 56 after years away and I am worried I might be doing something wrong!

 

[Soph83]

<span style="colorurple">Could be the cause but it may also just be him settling into a new environment (I assume you only just bought him?), also is he used to going out alone or with compnay? Argo is fine with others but when we go out alone she stares at tree stumps thinking they are going to eat her.
If you think it's the sugar beet try feeding speedi beet instead. </span>

 

[the watcher]

It could be the sugar beet, you could change to quikbeet or sppedi beet which are much lower in sugar. It is more likely though that having tested you once with the spooking this will continue until you get the better of him. You are still in the very early stages with him and new horses will try and test the boundaries at some point, yours has just taken a little longer to do it.
I would be more worried about the colic

 

[Soph83]

<span style="colorurple">re the colic, did you introduce the sugar beet into his diet gradually? Some horses are sensitive to a change in diet. </span>

 

[Parkranger]

Told you mother!! hee hee

Soph - I forgot to mention that actually - you do need to make changes slowly rather than just add something to their mix.....

x

 

[Magicmillbrook]

I would agree it may me a combination of change of environment and testing you rather than feed. I would also suggest changing to a sugar beet with no added sugar. Sugar beet is actualy the fibre of beet after the sugar has been extracted. Modern extractiuon techniques mean that there is realy very little sugar left in the beet.

 

[tremorfa]

Thanks very much for the advice. I will try a week or so without the sugar beet, see how he goes, then maybe try the low sugar alternative

 

[Soph83]

<span style="colorurple"> I'd definitely reccommend speedi beet! </span>

 

[spaniel]

Sugar beet is not sugar based....its fibre based and has a small resiude of sugar left in it after processing. You are using the waste product after everything has been extracted. In your average sack of beet pellets theres probably a kilo of sugar.

I think its much more likely that your horse is settling into his new home. You cannot expect any horse to be totally braindead, they will all have a spook at something no matter how bombproof they are described.

I would take advantage of some of the superb free advice now available from feed companies such as Spillers, Dodson and Horrel, Simple System (phone numbers on sacks or the net), they will be delighted to advise you on a suitable diet for your new friend.

 

[Happytohack]

[ QUOTE ]
Sugar beet is not sugar based....its fibre based and has a small resiude of sugar left in it after processing.


[/ QUOTE ]

This is true of unmollassed sugarbeet, however unless you buy specifically umollassed, most sugar beet pellets have mollasses added to them for so called palatability and the sugar contents is high. Speedibeet and similar ones are unmollassed.
It could also be that we are having the autumn flush of grass which has affected some horses - there was a post recently about "whizzy" horses and it was amazing how many were on their toes.

 

[Parkranger]

exactly what I was going to write! I've seen it totally freak horses out before ...... it all depends on how the individual horse processes the sugar - much like humans.

For example, I've eaten a load of pic n mix this afternoon and I'm literally falling asleep at my chair. I have a friend who you have to peel off the ceiling when she's had too much sugar!

I think there is an element of trying on - but then alot of cobs are a little bit cheekier and if they can get out of work........

 

[MillionDollar]

High energy feed canNOT cause fizziness! Feed company advertising has caused this.

High energy feed = more weight put on
High energy feed does NOT = fizziness, this is a myth!

e.g. when you eat a mars bar a don't suddenly have loads of energy. And if you keep eating the mars bars you don't get more and more energy, you just put weight on!!! Or i think thats all what athletes would eat.

Feed companies con horse owners eg. Ride and Relax- it won't make your horse relaxed. Also there is no difference between a mix and nuts- its another con- the mix just looks nicer.

You can argue with my fact all you like, but if you ask the top Dodson and Horrell nutristionist you will be told the same (this is who gave us a lecture about this, and dodson and horrell are the only ones that don't advertise this- no barley so no fizzy horse nonsense).

 

[Parkranger]

Thats a complete load of rubbish! Why do you think sprinters eat chocolate before a race and long distance runners eat more complex carbs (ie pasta) as it's slow burning.

I'm not an expert on the nutritional facts of horse mixes but I can guarantee that if I fed by boy a heating mix we'd be rodeoing down the road....end of!

I DARE you to give your horse a bucket of unsoaked oats and see what happens......

 

[Parkranger]

Aren't dodson and horrell food manufacturers......?

 

[MillionDollar]

Its absolutely fine believe what you like, it does not bother me, but im doing a degree- one of modules is on feeding horses and we had the dodson and horrell speacialist in who taught us for ages about this- so take this up with her.

And my horses are fed, barley, oats and sugerbeet of different quantities.

I think you missed my point if you keep eating mars bars you don't get more and more energy you put weight on!

Please phone dodson and horrell and you will be told this, fizziness is not caused by food, but by other factors.

 

[Soph83]

<span style="colorurple">I think a lot of the feeds that say they do this and that is a bit of a marketing ploy but I don't agree that fizzyness can't be caused by feeds.
Sugar etc has different effects on different people. When I was younger coke used to send me off my rocker so my mum banned me from it!
And ye it does make you fat too. </span>

 

[K9Wendy]

I wish I could find a food that would give my horse more fizziness, she is 3/4TB and very fit, but she is not silly or spooky in the least, just not in her nature. She has been on competition mix, conditioning mix, oats, sugarbeet and at one time on ride &amp; relax and there has been no change in her temperment at all!

 

[MillionDollar]

Exactly!!!

TBH when my year was taught this we had a huge debate about it- we said fizziness can be caused by feed, but our lecturers were like NO it can't!!! lol.

So thats why we had an expert in. Plus some of our lecturers have had published papers about feeding, so i think they know what they are taliking about. This is why i now know that fizziness is not caused by feeding, especially after reading all the hundreds of papers on it, lol.

 

[Soph83]

<span style="colorurple">But can this be the case for EVERY horse?

My friend is adamment that a certain brand of nuts, just normal nuts. Makes her pony fizz up and she knows her pony VERY well? </span>

 

[harry]

Sugar can have the same effect on horses as tartrazine (sp?!) on children - hyper! Marriages nutritionalist gave great lecture on this - all depends on how your horse metabolises sucrose etc. One of mine goes mental on normal polos if given too frequently - sugar free are fine; similarly menthol aggravates one of my other's headshaking symptoms. Another gets whizzy on sugar beet or spring/autumn grass or hage. Blue chip also affects one of them but the others are great on it! Sorry to disagree but sugar content has a great effect on horses temperaments!!

 

[TequilaMist]

Hi I had a 17hh clydesdale x TB who was a babe in everyway-until we met a donkey!!Couldn't get her by it at all.Had to get off and lead her even then she snorted and pranced all way by.Someone said afterwards that horses often react this way when they see/smell donkey for first time but don't know if thats true.She was on sugarbeet that didn't make a difference to her but each is different.
Not sure about the colic tho sorry.

 

[Parkranger]

I respect the fact that you're doing a degree in this subject but you cannot ignore the simple facts of how peoples horses react to certain things - put horse on dried oats, scrape them off the ceiling, take them off, all good again....sorry the proof is in the pudding!

 

[MillionDollar]

No you're right, all horses are different, but you have no proof! You have not conducted experiments or no anything about how food is metabolised, not being rude or having a go btw. So for your benefit i have found some of my lecture notes-

 

[Judie]

Not getting into this debate but can my horse have those oats, I'd love him to fizz up the lazy sod!

 

[SirenaXVI]

[ QUOTE ]
High energy feed canNOT cause fizziness! Feed company advertising has caused this.

High energy feed = more weight put on
High energy feed does NOT = fizziness, this is a myth!


[/ QUOTE ]

Totally agree, although it is certainly true that SOME horses seem to deal with the excess energy by becoming fizzy, this is more likely to be due to an intolerance to certain cereals or for instance, alfalfa, which, on paper, is fibre and should not cause over exhuberance but in practice it does in about 20% of horses,

 

[SirenaXVI]

[ QUOTE ]
Not getting into this debate but can my horse have those oats, I'd love him to fizz up the lazy sod!

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL! Sadly oats probably won't make him any lazier if that is the way he is, they will probably just make him fat

 

[sorona]

Friends horse goes absolutely loopy on it and looses all sense of reason, mine however, dont seem to be affected by it at all and it a fantastic feed stuff for all 5 of them!

 

[Parkranger]

Ok but the only 'proof' I have is that my old horse was completely normal on standard feed (this was going some way back in time!) we added unsoaked oats to his feed and you literally had to scrape him off the ceiling.....took him off a week later (as we didn't know it was the oats) and he calmed down....too much like a coincidence to me!

How come if I eat chocolate, I get a rush of energy and then a slump? It's a proven medical fact that simple carbs have this affect on people while complex carbs release in the system over a longer period of time, thus creating a more prolonged bout of energy - surely the same can apply to all mammals?