I am very touched and happy to have received this award from GreyHorseMatters, whose blog I always so much enjoy and also find very beautiful in its layout - just pleasing to visit. Stop by and say howdy if you haven't been there already!
And I am exploring the wonders of freshly moistened beet pulp as a winter treat and a medium for the delivery of supplements and my beloved probiotics. Here you see Montana tucking in to a nice warm bowl of winter equine health:
I have not perfected my system yet - it is still putzy and takes thinking - but before I am ready to leave for the barn I must boil a full kettle of water and put one cup of dry beet pulp in each of two containers with lids. When water's boiling nicely I pour over the beet pulp about 4 parts of water to one pulp. I let it steam while I put on all my 374 layers of winter barn clothing.
Then I load up baggies with their supplements and probiotic. I am now using exclusively Horsetech brand of both since they are fresh, very good quality, competitively priced, free fast delivery, and chocolate chip cookies included with each order! That's my little commercial for HorseTech; I'm sure I will receive a large check in the mail soon.
Montana gets Reitsport with all the joint stuff, and Johnnie gets Glanzen-3 for "hoof, coat, and attitude!". I see the attitude every day so it must be working.
I don't put the dry supplements in with the hot water because I don't want to damage them. The beet pulp will cool and expand slowly over the next 2 hours, as it sits in a picnic cooler in the trunk of my car wrapped in a towel. (Did I mention I live in a cold climate!) By feeding time after riding, it will still be just perfectly warm enough to make the horses realize they are getting a different sort of treat.
Both my horses adore this beet pulp combo. I do add a cup of sweet feed/grain to it just before serving. The probiotic (Pro-Lactic DFM) is super for preventing winter hay-belly, which I believe is gas and irritation from eating too much poor hay, and also for getting the max nutritional value out of all food. John is susceptible to hay belly and Montana is a bit of a hard keeper so they both benefit just like magic.
It gives me such a good feeling - last night I was walking Montana back to his pasture in the soft cold night, the sky stretched above us like deep navy blue velvet pierced with a million stars, all that good stuff in his insides starting him off on his long horse night of dozing and strolling and dreaming - what a joy.
7 comments:
We usually use beet pulp too, it's great for giving them their supplements and they love slurping it down.
The description of the night sky and your walk to the paddock sounds beautiful and peaceful.
GreyHorse: So you are a beet pulp fan too! I just thrill to the way they gobble it down, and giving them something warm in winter is just a pure pleasure. Montana likes to lick his bowl obsessively and get each tiny crumb.
Congratulations on your award. I have heard about beet pulp, we haven't used it. Grain in the winter. I bet the beet pulp doesn't give them as much "fire?"
I've done some reading on probiotics lately and it seems it's important to use a guaranteed product. Guaranteed to have a variety of live microorganisms. Your Pro-Lactic DFM has this, while so many probiotic supplements do not.
Sadly, I've found no comparable product yet over here.
Beet pulp - thank God it's available here!
~lytha in Germany
TrainWreck: Yes, beet pulp is famous for being a 'quiet' food source. My TB gets hopped up on grain.
Lytha: It is so interesting to see what Germans do and do not use. Wonder what the German for 'beet pulp' is? I was not cognizant of the guarantee factor for probiotic. Relieved to know that Pro-Lactic passes the test.
I use Beet Pulp and pro biotics. My mare has a stress tummy. ugh..
She is NOT a finicky eater, yeah.. Yet she acts like she doesnt want it , but you turn your back and she's eyeball deep licking the bowl! YEsterday was moving day, so new post and pics tonight!
I too feel better as a horse Mom when I have sent her to bed with a warm belly :)
Congrats on the award :)
Cessa gets beet pulp too. I did a lot of reading before I started feeding it and was kinda surprised to find some places say that you don't have to soak it.
I still soak. Not with boiling water though, just plain old tap water.
If it makes things easier you can start soaking up to 24 hours before you feed.
(this depends on a few things such as temperature and humidity... spoiled beet pulp is NASTY!)
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