Benefits of Beet Pulp for Horses: The Best Guide for Every Horse Owner

Ever heard the saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink"? 

Well, here's a twist – you can lead a horse to beet pulp, and they'll devour it with gusto. But why, you ask? What's the magic behind this humble pulp that makes horses neigh with delight? we're going to uncover the sweet secret of beet pulp. 

We'll break it down, question by question. What is beet pulp? Why is it hailed as a superfood for horses? How can it benefit your four-legged companions? 

And perhaps the most crucial question of all: why should you care? not about the horse cause we know, your horse is more than just a pet; it's your partner, your confidant, and, yes, your ride. But are you giving your four-legged friend enough to keep them going strong? Let's find out the juicy details.....

What's the Deal with Beet Pulp?

Beet pulp is a unique food that you can feed your horse. But there is a lot of unknown information on beet pulp, that most of us have no proper idea of. Let's have an in-depth analysis of beet pulp:

What Exactly Is Beet Pulp?

Before understanding what beet pulp is, you must know about sugar beet, because this is the primary source of beet pulp. Well..sugar beet is a special type of plant, which contains a high quantity of sucrose in its root. This beetroot is used further to produce sugar. 

Among various steps of sugar production, the beetroot is boiled with water and the liquid sugar content is separated for further processing. The leftover fibrous portion that remains after the removal of sugar from the boiled beetroot, is mainly the most popular beet pulp. 

Well, can you tell us about a nutritious ingredient in food that will keep your tummy full for a long time even if you eat it in small amounts? Keep thinking, okay? Read the entire article thoroughly to know the answer.

Types of Beet Pulp: What's Right for Your Horse?

Beet pulp is basically available in two different forms, such as pellet and shredded form. After extracting the sugar beet, the fibrous beet pulp is mechanically processed and then dried by removing water from the beet pulp because of its softness. 

One thing to be noted, if you do not store moisture-containing food items or other necessary things in a dry form, there is a huge chance of microbial growth.

Well, the dried beet pulp is then shredded to obtain flakes, which is the shredded form of beet pulp. After the processing steps of the soft fibrous portion, when you give the pelletized shape for drying, you will get beet pulp pellets. 

You can feed any form of beet pulp to your equine companion. But the most important thing you must keep in mind is that, whatever form of beet pulp you purchase, it should be free from molasses. 

Because molasses can increase the blood glucose level of your horse, which ultimately leads to diabetes or other metabolic disorders. On the other hand, a small amount of molasses is used in the pellet form of beet pulp to increase the adhesive characteristics of the fragments. 

Again the shredded beet pulp is more quickly softened or soaked by water but the pellet form takes a long time to soften and become suitable for your horse to eat. 

Although both forms are safe to feed, when you are busy and trying to prepare food quickly or if your horse has a metabolic disorder, beet pulp shreds might be the right option for your horse. If you want to know about molasses-free horse treats, read this article on how to make horse treats without molasses.

Now, you might be thinking about whether you can feed your horse dry beet pulp or not, right?

A gentle reminder for you!

Never try to feed dry beet pulp to your horse. Because, if your horse can not properly chew the dry beet pulp, it will get stuck to its throat, which can lead to choking or breathing obstruction. When you feed forty-five percent of dry beet pulp from the total diet of your horse, it will cause choking problems. 

Beet Pulp on a Budget: A Win-Win Feed

If you want to add some budget-friendly nutritious ingredients to your horse's diet, try to have beet pulp. Because it is one of the most affordable options for the nutrition of your horse. 

When you go to a retail shop in the United States you will find the price of beet pulp is up to 2 dollars per kilogram. In a wholesale market per kilogram beet pulp is sold for 0.7 to 2.1 dollars. 

When you look at the online marketplace for beet pulp, you need to spend 100 to 255 dollars for 5 tons or 5000 kilograms. After analyzing the gross overall price you can surely accept that beet pulp is sold in the market at a very low price but considerably higher amount.

The Good Stuff - Why Your Horse Loves Beet Pulp

There is a special type of digestive magic that happens in the horse's tummy. Surprised a little bit? Actually, this is the main reason why your horse loves beet pulp. Let's reveal the fun fact…

A Happy Tummy: Beet Pulp's Digestive Magic

Horses' hindgut contains a lot of beneficial or helpful microorganisms. Confused hearing the term helpful microorganism, right? 

We know that every microorganism is pathogenic in nature except the microorganisms that remain in the gut and some other parts of the body. There is a give-and-take relationship between the normal microbiota and the horse. What is the relationship between them?

Actually, the gut flora survives in the hindgut by taking nutrition from the beet pulp that horses intake. In return, they help in beet pulp fiber digestion properly, as a result, the gut health of the horse remains in a good position and the horse gets a good amount of energy from every organ of its body. 

Keeping Weight in Check: Beet Pulp's Slimming Secret

Beet pulp contains a controlled amount of carbohydrates, which means there is a lower quantity of sugar in the beet pulp. 

The food is high in fiber and that's why your horse can digest it easily, which ultimately keeps the stomach full for a long time even if eaten in small amounts. As a result, your loving pony can lose the excess body fat easily and remain fit and healthy. 

Stay Hydrated: The Beet Pulp Water Trick

You can use both cold or warm water to soak the most popular beet pulp in it. The dehydrated, crunchy beet pulp becomes very hydrated and swells up after absorbing water. 

There is a very important trick to obtain sufficient nutrition from this pellet water. So, you don't need to drain or remove the remaining water because the additional water contains a lot of nutritional value. 

Try to make your horse drink this helpful water to achieve proper organ development and burn excess calories.

Nutrient Boost from Beet Pulp

You already have an idea that beet pulp is full of different vitamins, minerals, and other helpful ingredients that boost your horse's nutritional requirements rapidly. Let's discuss about the nutrients that beet pulp can provide to your horse:

The Scoop on Nutrients in Beet Pulp

Beet pulp is a good source of fiber, iron, and calcium. Other vitamins and minerals are also available in small quantities such as protein, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium, potassium, sodium, vitamin A, vitamin- E, vitamin K, vitamin B complex, copper, and some fatty acids.

All these nutrients provide a combined benefit to keep your horse healthy and strong. However, there are certain nutrients that have unique effects on the horse's overall health. Let's discuss their ultimate goals and function to keep your horse healthy. 

How Beet Pulp Keeps Your Horse Healthy

As calcium is available at a high content in the beet pulp, it helps in the bone development of the horse and it can perform different types of physical activities by using its strong, healthy, and structured muscles. 

Similarly, due to having a good quantity of iron from the beet pulp, the horse's hemoglobin (a protein that uses iron to increase its level in the blood) level gets increased, which helps in supplying oxygen from the lungs to the entire body. 

This ultimately can help to increase its energy and strength, organ development, and reduce stress and tiredness.

Additionally, the most high percentage of ingredients, fiber, plays a great role in maintaining the overall gut health of your horse by providing a good performance in digestion. 

Let's Feed the Beet Pulp Way

By now you probably have a good idea about the role of beet pulp in horse health, but is there any idea how you can feed beet pulp to your horse in the correct way? Let's examine the beet pulp feeding instructions for the well-being of your equine friend:

Step-by-Step: Introducing Beet Pulp to Your Horse

Take a bucket containing the measured quantity of water for soaking the beet pulp pellet or shreds. Must use four portions of water for one portion of beet pulp. The water will enter into the interior portion of the pellet and shred and the volume of beet pulp increases over time. 

Normally it takes three to four hours for the absorption of water and expanding the volume of beet pulp. But you can soak the beet pulp overnight in a bucket of water because it needs time to swell the pulp properly. Now it is ready to serve your horse. 

When you are serving this beet pulp for the first time to your horse, try to give in a small amount and gradually increase the quantity over time. For instance, you can mix a little pulp with the horse's regular hay and serve it to your horse. 

Give some time for its body to adjust to this new food easily, otherwise, this food will have a harmful effect on the horse's body and various unexpected reactions will appear. 

In the case of any drug, the doctors give the patient a lower dose for the first time. If the body adjusts slowly, the dose increases according to the severity of the disease. So, you can follow this strategy for introducing a new food to your horse for the first time. 

If you experience any difficulty in introducing the beet pulp correctly to your horse, you can get help from a professional horse trainer. Read this article on how to find a reputable horse trainer for your convenience.

How Much is Just Right? Serving Size Secrets

This basically depends on the feeding goals of beet pulp to your horse. If you want to increase your horse's weight, you may increase the quantity of this food day by day and remain consistent with the quantity after two or three weeks. 

But if your goal is just maintaining a healthy weight for your horse, you can provide the required quantity of beet pulp based on the weight of your equine partner. 

The standard quantity for a per day serving of beet pulp is one to two pounds (454 to 907 grams), for a thousand-pound horse. You can feed up to four pounds or 1 kg 814 grams of beet pulp per day. 

A Healthy Gut and Happy Horse

Gut health plays a very essential role in maintaining the overall health of your horse's body. When the gut feels any kind of sickness or discomfort, it affects other organs of the body too. Let's investigate how beet pulp interferes with a horse's tummy and alters its function:

Beet Pulp and Your Horse's Tummy: A Love Story

Actually, a loving relationship exists between beet pulp and your horse's tummy. Curious to know, how?

Well, when a horse has difficulty digesting other forages, if you mix a little bit of pulp with it, that forage will also be easily digested. That means, just like the way beet pulp plays its own digestive role, it plays an equal role in the digestion of other foods as well. 

In short, beet pulp plays a significant role in ensuring the health and comfort of the horse's tummy.

Gut Health: Beet Pulp's Special Role

Since beet pulp fiber provides an important source of energy, the helpful microorganisms in the hindgut play a role in the digestion of this fiber. 

On the other hand, a diet high in harmful ingredients kills the beneficial microorganisms in the horse's hindgut, reducing the number of beneficial microbes in the body and increasing the number of harmful microbes. 

Therefore, if the beet pulp did not play this special role in protecting intestinal health, various diseases would appear in the horse's body.

In Conclusion 

As a cost-effective nutritional ingredient beet pulp is obtaining much popularity among some horse owners worldwide. But still, many of them have a lot of confusion about the benefits, feeding instructions, or some other issues. 

This article explains everything regarding the benefits, feeding strategies, and precautionary measures to be taken before feeding this popular food to your loving equine companion. If you have any opinion on this article please comment. 

Share this article with anyone you know who is planning to feed beet pulp to their horses and would like to know the benefits of this food along with all the necessary instructions.