Sugarbeet - can it cause problems??

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Crazydancer

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Has anyone experienced problems feeding sugar beet?

After a week of being on a third of a bucket of soaked sugar beet, my horse had what we thought was colic, but after being stabled overnight and given a mild painkiller by the vet, it went pretty quickly, and seemed to be more of a constipation really, no gut sounds, heart rate normal, no sweating or rolling etc (although he did let me know he was feeling off-colour by just going down on the floor, out flat, in the field, in a very dramatic way that launched me into major panic mode!!!)

The sugar beet was the only thing that had changed, and another horse owner said she would never use beet as it causes constipation - but after doing some reading-up on it, it seems to be fibre-based. :confused: I had soaked it properly, and was feeding it on its own, and the grazing was poor at the time. Horse lives out, 18 yrs old, had a minor colic when he was 4, but no problems since.

Anyone have any comments/views/experiences?? Ta!
 
It maybe that he had a sort of impaction colic - one of our ponies had it last year when the grass was really short and they don't get enough fibre/bulk going through their gut. All of ours including my cob who is on restricted grazing for laminitis get extra fibre all through the summer to stop it from happening. Depending on the horse/pony they get hay (soaked if necessary) fast fibre, chaff and speedibeet (non molassed). It is really important that htey get enough fibre all year. Between our herd they get non molassed sugar beet all year round as it provides slow burning energy but also means there is fibre constantly in their gut.

I suspect it was just one of those things due to not enough bulk/fibre in his gut - if it was the sugar beet it would have happened when you started feeding it rather than 3 weeks after. I guess its a bit like food poisoning - you always blame the last thing you ate even if it isn't necessarily the cause.

As for the comments of your other livery I'm not sure where she has got that from - sloppy wet sugar beet is fed to endurance horse while they are competing to get fluid and fibre and energy inside them while they are working.
 
Thanks Slinkyunicorn.... cool name! It happened in May, after we'd stopped feeding hay in the field, but before the grass really came through, so very possible.
I went for the beet for the reasons you've given, to keep a bit of something in his gut. It was after we'd had a warm spell, he'd lost some coat, and then it dropped really cold again at nights and he lost condition. I was rugging him at night, (having been unrugged all winter) and giving him a small beet feed at the same time to help keep him warm.
It was just strange it happened a week later. My god I nearly had a heart attack :eek: - went down to feed him and he was stood in the middle of the field, head down but not grazing, and didn't seem interested in feed. As I put the headcollar on, he just sighed, lay down, flat out, sighed again and closed his eyes, I thought he was dying!!!!
Knew he was going to be ok when I went to check him at 5am (3rd time that night) and he was kicking the door down. :o
Doncha love 'em. :rolleyes:
 
I too would be surprised if it was the sugar beet.

As for the other liveries remarks about constipation, total and utter rubbish, as you quite rightly say, sugar beet is a fibre feed, constipation CAN cause impaction colic but this is mainly due to lack of fibre in the diet, although there is sometimes a more sinister cause, as your lad recovered so quickly I very much doubt there is anything else to worry about.
 
Hi there

How long are you soaking it for? Are you using shreads? How much water are you putting in for soaking?
 
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