What would yo do if your horse ate alot of raw sugarbeet?

niagaraduval

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I am confused.

I read on the thread by Pelly that she put a hose down her horses throat because it are a tub of raw sugarbeet. Someone said that it was to make it swell up very quickly. Sugarbeet should be soaked for more than 12 hours!?
What would you have done if this was your horse?
It would never happen to my horse, as he isn't fed sugarbeet, but if this did happend what would be the right thing to do? I thought the vet would have to be called out to empty the horses stomach.
What's the right thing to do in a situation like this?

Thankyou. I'm just confused.
 
Umm, our old horse once broke into the feed room many years ago and ate a LOAD of dried sugar beet - think it was shredded beet not cubes. He must have had about half a sack! He was absolutely fine to be honest (think he had a iron stomach)

He also once ate a fair bit of dried cement (another tack room break in by him!), this didn't cause him any trouble either. He lived to the ripe old age of 36! Personally I would just keep my eye on the horse, don't panic uduly. you know your own horse and you will know whether he/she is not 'right'. By all means ring the vet, ask their advice. A healthy horse's gut can cope with a lot more than we give them credit for I think.

My old pony once pulled off and swallowed a large toggle button from my jacket when I was a kid. I thought he'd die and was v upset but he didn't. I never saw it again though!
 
You would think the shock of having a hose pipe shoved down the horses throat would kill it anyway if not drown it
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I can't possibly imagine that this is good advice in that scenario - I would definitely ring the vet.
 
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You would think the shock of having a hose pipe shoved down the horses throat would kill it anyway if not drown it
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I can't possibly imagine that this is good advice in that scenario - I would definitely ring the vet.

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I can't imagine it actually happened either, but if it did, it was really stupid.
 
My understanding, from reading on this forum in the past, is that alot of other countries feed sugar beet dry without problems..
Afterall..horses chew their food not swallow it whole. I would imagine its only a major problem if its been bolted..just like ordinary nuts.

I've always soaked mine tho..
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After reading some recent posts by 'pelly' and also threads shes posted on other sites re how she likes winding us up here on hho i think she may be at it again with this comment.....
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Pelly feeds sugar beet?

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*runs and hides, sniggering*

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Why is that funny, have I missed something?
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I'd call the vet.

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Nothing's funny Don't worry about it.
 
I said it about the swelling - I meant the water would make the sugar beet swell inside the horse's gullet and stomach, which would be very very dangerous, and probably kill it, and she was lucky she didn't lose her horse.

Shoving a hosepipe inside your horse is a daft idea whatever, let alone doing it with sugar beet.
 
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Umm, our old horse once broke into the feed room many years ago and ate a LOAD of dried sugar beet - think it was shredded beet not cubes.


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I think (but am not sure) that shreds are less dangerous than nuts in this respect.
 
You can get some, which my husband uses for dairy goats, which only need ten mins soaking, so I am assuming are not so dense and therefore dangerous.
Sheep eat sugar beet nuts as they are.
My sister's labrador ate some, and it killed him, despite prompt veterinary attention.
Not worth the risk imho, I'd always get the vet.
 
I remember Limerick University conducting trials regarding feeding dry sugar beet to horses at a stables near me. I never got the details but it did seem that horses coped extremely well not colicking etc???
 
A horse at my old yard did this once - she smashed her door right off its hinges, opened the barn door, opened the feed bin and ate about 3 sacks of barley and at least one sack of sugar beet (she was a big horse if anyone's wondering!). Amazingly, she was fine. Had the vet check her as a precaution as she was a bit colicky in the morning, but by midday she was fine.

So I'd call the vet but not panic too much.
 
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You do realise that there is a difference between RAW sugarbeet and unsoaked sugarbeet!!!!!

Unsoaked SB is a processed food stuuf produced for the equine market.

Raw SB is a root vegetable........http://uk.encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861784497/sugar_beet.html

We fed our horses RAW sugarbeet in turkey if we could get it and they loved it! (Without water)

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yes thank you, I do. Being in farming it would be hard not to understand this, given that I am also not a total moron.
What gives you the impression that I was too stupid to understand the distinction?

The sugar beet which my husband uses for the goats is of the processed variety, but only needs brief soaking as opposed to the long soaking of the standard variety.

When I need your help, or that of an internet encyclopaedia to identify common british crops, I'll shout.
 
When mucking out my horse, I have come across a pelted plastic bin bag. The colour caught my eye and I had to investigate it.

Also he has eaten an empty packet of crisps (Quavers) which must have blown into his field, also found on his droppings.

He broke out one night and ate all the feeds of the other horses, about 15 and all the haynets and still demaned his own breakfast the following morning!

Thank goodness he has guts made of cast iron!

In the event of ingestion of unsoaked SB, I would call the vet and cross my fingers.
 
When we kept our horses at liverly one of the other liveries bought her feed made up by a local feed merchant. She discovered that they had used unsoaked sugar beet nuts in the feed. Her mare was ok and had been fed about half a bag full before they realised the problem. So I think I would just keep a close eye on the situation. I would not 'push a hose' down the horses throat and seriously doubt that anyone else would either.
 
Actually Skewbald I wasn't offering you any advice I was refering to the main topic of conversation and highlighting the error in that headline.

It just so happened that in between reading the last post of yours and typing in what I wanted to type that it looked as if I was answering you.

There's no need to be so bloody rude either. Not everyone has your encyclopedic knowledge.

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take all food and water off them and call aa vet for advice and watch them like a hawk for laminitis and keep them off grazing.
i would not be too worried if they were the shreds that can be soaked in but if they had eaten half a sack of the pellets i would be abit concerned.
i wouldnt put a hose down their throat though.
 
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